I have a few apple and ornamental cherry trees to plant, the soil I have is crumbly clay when broken up, well drained on a slight slope. When planting should I dig a 4 foot square hole and replace all this soil with good top soil, or should I leave the original clay soil and just dig it over?

Thanks

Hmm ... clay isn't usually crumbly (or able to be crumbled). What sort of colour is your soil? Remember loam is (roughly) clay + humus - is it possible your soil is better than you think?

Replacing soil with better soil can't do harm, but isn't always necessary. Mixing in some good soil or compost at planting is good enough. And a 4ft sq hole is quite large - you'd be better to dig a bit small and use your effort to go deeper. You need to bear in mind that the roots won't spread that fast, and replacing too big an area will benefit the plants around long before the apple tree gets there.

But the trouble with digging a deep hole in clay is that you run the risk of creating a reservoir - very wet good soil, and no way that the water can drain through the sounding clay. I know you say it's well drained, and on a slope, but if you dig into that slope and into underlying clay (if you have underlying clay), will it still be well drained?

No answers, I'm afraid, just some things to think about!

Julian200 wrote in
:


I have a few apple and ornamental cherry trees to plant, the soil I have
is crumbly clay when broken up, well drained on a slight slope. When
planting should I dig a 4 foot square hole and replace all this soil
with good top soil, or should I leave the original clay soil and just
dig it over?

Thanks





I would mix your clay soil with compost and re-use it, adding blood fish
and bone.
A 4' square hole is on the large side I think. Over the last 3 years I have
planted fruit trees with the hole just big enough for the roots and they
are doing very well.

Good luck with your project
Baz

On 02/20/2011 06:07 PM, kay wrote:
Replacing soil with better soil can't do harm, but isn't always
necessary. Mixing in some good soil or compost at planting is good
enough. And a 4ft sq hole is quite large - you'd be better to dig a bit
small and use your effort to go deeper. You need to bear in mind that
the roots won't spread that fast, and replacing too big an area will
benefit the plants around long before the apple tree gets there.

But the trouble with digging a deep hole in clay is that you run the
risk of creating a reservoir - very wet good soil, and no way that the
water can drain through the sounding clay. I know you say it's well
drained, and on a slope, but if you dig into that slope and into
underlying clay (if you have underlying clay), will it still be well
drained?


Hi Kay,

Hm, I have to respectfully disagree with the first part: replacement
soil can do harm, and you've put your finger on it in the second
paragraph above. I believe current thinking is that filling a planting
hole with topsoil creates a barrier to water flow, even when you don't
make a "clay bowl" to drown in.

All this said our soil here in Normandie can be pretty awful in places,
and if I don't amend some of the more difficult plants don't stand a
chance... but it does have to be handled carefully.

For apples and cherries, I'd stick with the clay soil (apples seem to
like it well enough, anyway). I think you're right, best is to have a
small hole in clay, just the size of the roots.

cheers,

-E

Thanks for all your replies, I will just mix some compost with the original soil and dig the hole slightly smaller than the 4ft I was going to do.