Apple Tree Planting?

[bigredfeather]

I will be planting 10 apple trees very soon. My soil is medium-heavy clay. I have ordered trees that are on the proper rootstock for my soil conditions. My question is: Would it be a good/bad idea to put some sand in the hole I dig for planting the trees to try and loosen the soil a bit? Is there any other recommended ideas for this situation?

 

[homesteadmom]

We just planted one apple tree @ the local nursery & when they gave us planting instructions they said nothing about that & we have clay like soil here big time. Make sure you plant with the knot to the north.

 

[bid]

Keep in mind that clay and sand are some of the ingredients for making bricks. If you have some compost that is ready to use or even almost ready to use that would be a better choice IMO. A little bit of sand...probably ok...maybe 10% at most would be all I would use...and even then I would want it to be a very coarse sand. Almost any organic matter added and mixed with the soil in your planting holes would help loosen the soil.

Good luck!

 

[patandchickens]

DO NOT add sand to clay. Unless you add quite a lot of very coarse sand, it just makes the problem worse.

Also, it is a bad idea to amend tree planting holes at all -- the tree ends up keeping all/most of its new roots right there inthe planting hole rather than sending them out into the surrounding soil like it should (and needs to).

Honestly, just dig a hole and plant the tree, don't try to outwit Nature As long as the tree is planted at the right level and the soil/drainage are suited to apple trees in the first place, it will be FINE -- doing anything else is likely to result in dead or poorly growing trees only you may not realize that for several years or more.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Rosalind]

Your soil will be OK. I'm on clay, and my apples do fine when they are just plunked in a hole in the ground. More important is keeping them watered for a couple of weeks after planting and keeping the deer away.

Trying to think if I did anything special to loosen the soil. Not really. I dig a hole about 1 foot wider than the roots spread, sort of mound a little hill of compost up in the middle, spread the roots out in the hole, then re-fill and smush the dirt down with my boot. I do kinda hill it up and make sure there's a bit of a trench around the hole, so water is directed into the tips of the roots. And of course be sure that the graft is above the dirt. That's about it.