New orchard site selection

General Fruit Growing
1

Hi All,

Long time lurker, first time poster…

I wanted to get advice on site selection for a backyard orchard. I’m currently in the position of having a small struggling orchard with about 50 fruit trees/bushes/vines/brambles started 3 years ago. They are struggling because I was an absolute noob when I started it and did not do much to amend the soil. I am in NE Ohio, zone 6a, and the soil is mostly heavy clay. although there are pockets of loamy soil and plenty of successful commercial orchards in the area. I have since learned a lot, have been topdressing with compost and woodchips (and a little miracle-gro) and many of the trees are bouncing back.

Because of career and family, I will be moving across town and plan on taking the trees with me when I move. I want to find a house with a lot that has more amenable conditions and invest on making the move properly so the trees thrive long term. Looking at realestate in the suburbs, it basically boils down to two choices:

  1. Native woods (mostly maple, some scattered pines and oaks) which would need to be cleared, but probably have pretty good native soil and established fungal network.

  2. Grass lawn - may need to clear a few trees, the main cornern is that the soil would be hard clay and potential chem treatments from previous owners. Because I don’t want to repeat the same mistake, I would probably truck in a few trcukloads of topsoil / compost / manure and till it in before planting.

Which of these would be a better site to restart an orchard.

Other questions:

  1. The area has many rolling hills and creeeks. Should I strive for a flat land with good drainage, or is a shallow pitch preferred. Does it matter?

  2. I know that top of hills is better than bottom because of drainage, less cold air pockets, and better airflow, but how important of a factor is this? I have a friend gardener who has a patch of land in a small river valley and she swears by the fertility of the soil. If I find a suitable lot in a valley, is that an automatic deal breaker?

  3. I am taking the most successful trees with me - they are about 1.5-2" at the base and about 6-7 feet tall. The plan is to just hire a backhoe
    to scoop up the root ball and placce into new location, but the roots will obviously hold mostly old clay soil and will take time to spread into the new soil. Is there a better technique to transplant?

  4. I have other trees that are struggling to survive and have had virtually no growth in 3 years. Should I just put them out of their misery and start with new sapplings or try to resuccitate them back to health in a new location? More concerned about how long it takes for trees to mature rather than money to move/repurchase.

Any and all advice would be appreciated.

PS. Anyone with lots of experience live close to Cleveland, OH and is looking to make a little cash consulting? Let me know. I know where I want to be in 5 years, but don’t know how to get there! I don’t want to make any more early missteps and lose years learning from my mistakes.

Thanks,
Igor

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These are just my opinions.

If you have the option, I would focus on well drained or moderately well drained sites with loamy textures. I believe this is much more important than the elevation/slope element. I’d say if you find something you like in a bottom with great soil, consider it. I’ve actually never had to deal with predominantly clay soil but am very familiar with poor drainage. If the property you’re looking at has existing trees and great soil then that seems like a win-win to me. You get plenty of firewood and a really nice canvas.

Don’t rely on the websoilsurvey results for soil textures. Dig in several locations on the property you’re looking at and see for yourself. If it is loamy, and you’re digging during a dry period, look for redox concentrations.

I can’t say about moving the larger trees but I’d probably try and move the smaller ones prior to leaf out. If the soil texture is much different I would think it would be good to remove/wash most of it off and transplant bare root.

Again, just my opinions. I hope you find the perfect place.

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Isn’t anyone else going to put their 2 cents in here? I know there are lots of people here who know way more than I do.