After posting this, I did find this forum posting about some flood conditions an orchard had. Their summary (w/ photos):
Pear ≥ Persimmon > Peach ≥ Plum ≥ Pawpaw ≥ Apricot
https://permies.com/t/48074/Relative-Flood-Tolerance-Dormant-Fruit
This USFS persimmon fact sheet from 1993 also lists persimmons as flood tolerant under soil tolerances:
http://hort.ufl.edu/trees/DIOVIRA.pdf
I plant what nature does in a spot like that. As an example i have found some callery pears tolerate water. Pawpaw don’t mind water.
I have some wet areas that killed fruit trees 2 years in a row, I kept replacing them but they survived the third year when I made a small mound to keep the crown elevated above the flooding. Works so far. Can’t speak on long term success yet as it is still young.
I have never had luck on Prunus living long if the site is wet. Apple is more tolerant.
I agree avoid Prunus where trees have wet feet unless you mound them very high. So no cherries, plums or peaches.
Possibly the native American plum?
I see native persimmon living happily in “vernal ponds” here in Maryland. These ponds fill in spring for several months and persimmon do well in them (as does a whole raft of rare and endemic species.)
I’m taking a similar approach. I plowed up my ground and will blade it into ridges to give roots a chance to breathe. How high and wide are your mounds?
Yes, I have no experience with it. I recently added Dunbars plum ( Prunus x dunbari ) as it flowers late and it does! Flowers are not open yet! And a cross of Dunbars with American to possibly use as rootstock (seeds that is). Small pretty trees for sure. I will probably make a syrup with the plums in the future. Or jam or whatever strikes my fancy.
P.18 apple rootstock is noted to be “tolerant of wet feet”. It may be a good choice of apple rootstock for areas of temporary flooding. I have an area that holds surface water in spring, and I’ll plant my trees on P.18 in that area.
Pawpaw naturally prefer riverbanks to live. Plant more pawpaw. www.growing-pawpaw.webnode.com
Thanks for everyone’s response! Very helpful.
I’m not sure how many gallons of dirt each mound is, once compacted by the rain I’d say they are only six inches high and maybe 2’ wide. I read somewhere only the crown needed to be above the wet and the rest of the roots were just to anchor the tree. Not sure if this is true but I have been able to plant everywhere in my yard now that previously killed trees in the low areas.
Have you looked at @Olpea 's posts with pictures? He has a beautiful commercial peach orchard in eastern Kansas. He created terraces/ridges in which he plants his peach trees. I can’t find the exact posts where he mentions the dimensions. When he gets a chance, I bet he can give you more details!
Here’s a video he posted where he is doing some pruning, and you can clearly see the terrace his trees are planted on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcWc8ZDAUcg
Here are a couple videos I posted late last summer building more terraces. I originally videoed these for the benefit of any interested customers on my social media.
I recognize not all people will need equipment this large to build raised plantings. I’ve also used skid loaders to build mounds, as well as built them by hand in my back yard. Additionally I’ve built mounds in my backyard by renting a small stand up loader (small machine) to build up dirt.
On lunch break during a construction job a laborer climbed into a piece of heavy equipment to eat his sandwich.
As he climbed out he said to the operator,
“ Boy , if I knew what all these buttons and leavers did,? …I could really run this thing !
In the video I was trying to film and run it at the same time. I really needed a third hand. I kept saying in the video I was trying to steer and blade, but what I meant was trying to film and blade. Filming and grading and trying to explain was just more multitasking than I could do.
At least you were not trying to text message
You need either a mount for your phone, or a pop socket/case so you can put part of it in your mouth as your third hand. Or a hat with a mount, or some tape. I’ve thought these things through many times running the excavator at work to film the ridiculous things I have to do.
Well, the time is coming…with record snowpack this year, the yard will flood again.
Every plant and tree in the backyard survived 2-3 weeks underwater then - roses, pines, beech, irises, cedar, grass, a 50-year old apple tree, etc. It kind of surprised me.
I’m planning to leave the small paw paws and persimmon in place and let them ride out the flood. I might cut the bottom out of a few tall pots and try to bury them 6-9" around the seedlings but it would seem that the soil will be saturated either way.
I’m also thinking about sandbagging 180 degrees around a 4 year old apple tree at the bottom of a slope. And raking up the woodchips into a pile and covering and weighting them down so they don’t all float away. It’s a pain to wheelbarrow them back there.
Our walkout basement should be fine…
Wish me luck!
