Here is how we go about planting fruit trees. We have been battling the rain over the past month and finally had a break in the weather over the last couple days.
After setting them in place where I wanted them, I cut into the sod about double the width of the root ball.
I then start digging out the bottom
And break up the bottom soil a little
I check the hole for height
Now most people recommend digging a whole twice as deep and then filling the bottom with compost, I don’t like doing that, most trees comes packed in pretty fertile soil and I am always afraid of over doing it on the nutrients for the trees.
So instead I break up the root ball and set the soil it comes in in the bottom and spread the roots out, packing in soil so there are no air spaces in the roots
I then take the soil that I had dug up and break it up and finish filling in hole
I then take the pieces of sod I had dug up and flip them over to form a ring around the root graft
And gently compact it down forming a nice sturdy base with no need for spiking the tree, I don’t like spiking a tree anymore so that the trees have a chance to move with the wind allowing the roots to work in the soil better and establish a sturdier connection with the soil.
I then cover with a layer of mulch, again making sure the root knot is not buried
Now fertilizing is still important, instead of putting it in the bottom of the hole, I utilize fruit tree spikes.
I bury one in the lower edge of the hole so that rainwater will release the nutrients down to the roots, we usually put one in the spring and one in the fall
And the trees are planted
The chickens are not impressed by my performance. 🙁
