Subject: Re: Soil condition advice sought

From: [email-masked](:))
Date: 24 Apr 1996 13:54:07 GMT

In <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Mark
Evangelisto) writes: 
 The question I have is what
>should I do when I go to backfill the holes? Should I just use what
>I have, or should I mix in something else in place of the sand, like
>peat and manure (and how much)? 

If you purchased trees which are native or adapted to your part of the
country, you will have trees which grow naturally in that particular
soil.  In organics today, it is not recommended to add anything to the
soil other than the original soil.  If you add anything, you will be
setting up a condition where the roots will grow round and round in
that part of the hole and eventually become potbound.  You are setting
up a pot in the soil.  The place you add the compost is the top.  Plant
the tree slightly above the soil line and add several inches of compost
to the top layers of soil along with white sugar to stimulate organisms
in the soil.  You can also add some wormcastings and lavasand to the
top layer of soil which is where the tree roots feed and get water from
anyway.  Always use a mulch system with fruit trees also.  If you do
this when you plant the trees, you will not put the roots in danger of
being smothered.  As the tree establishes, the roots will grow up to
the top foot of soil, and set its tap root into the native soil, which
is what it will be looking for anyway.  Make sense?
Victoria*

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From: [email-masked] (Ingrid K. Buxton)
Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 03:19:41 GMT

[email-masked] (Mark Evangelisto) wrote:

>Hi,

>I am expecting to receive 16 fruit trees from Stark Bros this week. I
>finished digging all the holes this weekend (boy, is 16 cubic yards of
>dirt a lot of soil, my back is screaming at me today :-) and am eagerly
>awaiting the trees later this week. While digging the holes I noticed that
>the soil on my property has the following characteristics:
... the wisdom now, like Victoria pointed out (I appreciated your
comments, Victoria).. is to not ammend because the roots wont leave...
since there is sand, and the hole is down to that point, there will be
good drainage.. superphoshate encourages root growth, necessary at the
start ... the poster (sorry, dont remember name) that pointed out
mulching and roots in top layer is right on the money... in northern
areas, this also protects roots from freeze/thaw cycles of soil and
slows the flowering of trees down in spring when a late frost might
kill the blossums.. grass is also "top feeder" so it pulls nutrients
away from tree.. after flirtation with landscape fabric and black
plastic, I am going back to layer of newpaper (ink is organic) with
mulch on top to keep grass and weeds away from the tree.... I would
encourage you to buy aluminum screening for around the trunk.. use
regular stapler to staple the ends of the screening together.. I found
that I can spray thru the screening (I also spray 1/2 thinned white
latex to prevent winter splitting).. screening keeps mice and rabbits
>from  girdling and is cheap and easy to bend around the tree without
scraping bark... 
.. popular wisdom is to not cut back the top growth by 1/3 anymore
since it usually removes the most vigorous part of the tree, but do
cut back broken branches or those that grow into the center.. I am
afraid that ordering from Stark may have been your first mistake...
rootstock is actually most important for the survival and vigor of the
tree ... if you bought fruit on dwarfing rootstock, I investigated and
wouldnt recommend what they use.. however, that is for northern
areas.. they also have natural dwarfs.. including one apricot with
edible pits.. which the squirrels found out about immediately and
stripped the entire tree of fruit during the first good set last
year.... am going to cut entire tree down cause it may encourage
vermin to go after all the other small fruits on other trees. Also,
rootstock is quite specific for area of the country you are in..
different rootstocks have different levels of hardiness and pest
resistance.. commercial growers are very careful about rootstock, so
contact local grower and ask what rootstock they use... you will know
in 3 years if the rootstock is incompatible because the tree will leaf
out, flower and then croak in spring... good luck.. Ingrid

Ingrid Buxton, PhD
Marquette University
[email-masked]