Yes, I believe I have.
Boy that is ugly looking soil. I think if I lived in Eden and could afford it I’d have all that hauled away down to DG and bring in good soil. But if you can get it to drain it will work.
The percolation test will tell you what you need to know.
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If it doesn’t drain away, maybe build a koi pond? 
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If the soil drains so poorly there how come your other trees are thriving? Could it be different soil at that depth?
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Maybe build a raised bed for that location. Easier and cheaper than hauling/overhauling the existing soil.
Looking at old topo maps from the USGS, once (1936) there was the beginnings of a shallow gully there, opening to the east. So I’m disappointed but not surprised to find 7+ layers of fill.
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I love your foreman. Keeping an eye on things!
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Too small.
Dropped two inches, from 8" to 6".
Two inches in a day? That’s not very good. My soil with a hole like that would be closer to 2 inches per hr.
It is better than nothing but it sounds like there are more layers of clay down below.
I agree. Something nasty going on here. I’m considering using an 8" auger.
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Dropped 3" over the last 24 hours. Meanwhile, a nearby fountain / bird bath dropped 1/4" mostly from evaporation.
The replacement trees, left to right: Washington Navel, Minneola Tangelo, Gold Nugget Mandarin, Owari Satsuma Mandarin.
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Ok, now I have 4 craters 32" deep. One inch of water is still standing in the 1st hole. We’re bringing in an auger and drilling down a few feet until we find drainage, then back filling with gravel.
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Wow. That is some really bad draining soil, Richard. Amazing how different our soils are! Good idea, and great idea to check was was going on.
Patty
Good Lord, those are huge, deep holes. Surely you didn’t dig those by shovel only? I know it’s clay, but I’m sure you hit your share of rocks too. Maybe it’s easier to dig since y’all had all that rain? That’d take me a day to dig just one of those craters.
It’s just in that one area. I had soil geologist there yesterday and he agreed it was layers and layers of fill brought in to fill the mini-arroyo in that part of the yard when the houses were built in '60. Only two of those layers were from local soils, the 3 heavy clay layers are most likely from grading alongside the San Luis Rey River.
Yes … well, I also have a two-wheeled 8 cu.ft. wheelbarrow.
Zero rocks.
It took me a 4 days to dig the first one. It took two laborers 1 day to dig the other three.
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OK, so you’ve got an 8 cu ft wheelbarrow? But, you’re digging with a one sq ft shovel!
I know you guys had lots of rain this winter, but that soil already looks hard. I bet if you tried to do this last year, it would’ve been get out the jack hammer time.
Maybe 1/4 cu.ft.
It was pretty much “slice” and toss into the wheelbarrow.
Or a mini excavator!
Well today I got the really bad news about these holes which I’ll continue talking about in the Home Renovation II thread.