Hi,
I lost my Stanley plum tree due to the very bad soil in my yard and water issue. The soil (more like lack of it) is concrete like substance - mix of gravel, rocks, clay and sand. You need a crowbar to dig a whole there. And this hole will retain water. I didn't realized all this when planted my first plum tree 4 years ago and it is now dead. So far, I made a drainage tranche, brought 2 cubic yards of very reach, compost enhanced loam (Not like I choose it this way, it just happened for set of reasons... )So I made a beam about 8 feet wide on top of the old 3 feet deep hole. I took old soil from the hole, spread it on the sides, add drainage to the bottom, add some poor soil mixed with loam to raise it up... Now I have loam beam with a hole about 3 feet wide and about a foot deep. I can make it deeper with no problem as well. The question is - what I should put directly in the hole? The "original soil mixed with organic matter " doesn't work - there is NO original soil) I also don't want to put the reach loam in contact with the roots - I thinks it is too reach. I don't think it will burn the roots, but sure will not encourage the roots grow wide. And my lost tree had very small root system, so small, I could just pull 5 yeas old tree out of the ground without tools. I don't want this to happen again.
So this is what I have or can buy for the soil amendments:
Peat moss(too acid?)
Coco fiber
Vermiculite
Perlite
Bagged garden soil(usually comes with veggie fertilizer, not sure if it will work at all)
Bagged top soil
Compost
Very reach loam(they sold it to me as compost for the garden, but it is sure loam - munch heavier then compost should be and a lot of rocks)
Shredded maple/oak leaves from last fall

What would you put in the planting hole? And how deep would you feel it with the mix?

This post was edited by galinas on Sun, May 11, 14 at 19:51