Welcome to the trials of gardening in clay soil. What I do, asides from breaking clay lumps as you did, is to go easy on watering. If clay feels cool, I don't water, also, you're going into cool season so they won't require as much moisture. I don't know about birch but privet and redbuds grow very well in my clay soil. I just water a minute or so daily for two weeks or until I noticed new growth, then stop and let Nature take over.

That is not to say I haven't had failures b/c of unamended soil but cost is a consideration and if a native or something common I may not amend or do so just a little.

Thanks, so maybe just in the afternoon rather than morning and afternoon? Would it hurt to continue watering after 2 weeks? Should I water it deeply say, every sunday, until it gets cold and possibly in the spring?

please review the link ..

and then lets talk about replanting your plants properly ... in regard to clay soil ...

and then lets ignore everything your guy told.. after you read the part about proper watering ...

you have all fall to take care of this.. but in the meantime.. dont drown you plants ...

also ... do a perk test .. and lets see what the drainage is in your soil ...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

Cool yea I read the article and it seems I did everything right with the exception of roughing up the soil below the root ball. I'm going to let that one ride, by the same token I've read articles where it says you should not compact the back fill at all so it's hard to believe any one thing. I seems counterintuitive that leaving the soil below the plant compacted (especially if it is pure clay) would "help" with drainage. I'll def use the "Finger test" they describe to gauge if I need to water.

Backfill should absolutely be "settled in". This can be done by what some call "mudding-in" (filling the planting hole with water as you add soil, so that the soil is washed into place) or by lightly tamping with a foot or hand. Not doing this (in most soil types) will create large voids in the soil and produce perched water pockets with poor drainage. There are advantages and disadvantages to either technique (mudding-in or light foot tamping), but both are far better than leaving the backfill unsettled.

The reason to leave the bottom of the planting hole alone (not "fluffing" it up) is to reduce settling, not to increase drainage. HOWEVER, fluffing up the bottom of the hole in clay soil also isn't going to help drainage. Picture a bathtub with the drain mostly blocked. Now picture this same tub with light fluffy dirt added to the bottom. Will it drain better? NO! Even if you were able to "fluff" the soil very deeply and down to a non-clay layer (you'd probably have tie your tree to a hoist to keep it above ground, when you did this), that fluffed soil would relatively quickly reconsolidate and drain as before.

Most trees will do fine in most clay soils, but if your soil is extremely poorly draining, berms or large raised beds may be the way to go.

Where in "Lower DE" is there clay soil? I would have thought there was very little of it south of the canal.

Use mulch. That brings in small critters (like earthworms and roly pollies) as well as beneficial fungus that will break down the mulch into organic matter and gradually improve the soil below them. As the mulch breaks down, replenish each year.

Forreal davidrt28, I've always had super easy to work sandy soil here. I live in a development and it seems they went out of their way to find the worst backfill possible. Its 90% clay, 8% rocks, 2% construction debris, hah