I went to plant a tree where the red dot is in the photo below, but when I went to dig the whole I found a slab of concrete about 1-2” below that extends up to the green line in the photo. My question is would I be able to plant it on a mound at that location?
I guess it depends on what tree you are going to plant. Trees are amazing on putting their roots around, but if there is no much soil it can dry out much faster. Also you may need to support the tree - it may not be stable enough in shallow soil. If it would be my space, I would build a raised bed, to make sure there is at least 3 foot of soil bellow the surface and only plant dwarf tree. But most likely I would rent concrete hammer drill and try to crash the slab with it (meaning it is not part of your septic system. If it is, I would’t plant any trees there).
What kind of soil should I fill in the raised bed? The tree is a flavor grenade pluot on citation root stock.
The regular top soil will work - you don’t want too much of organic matter, as it will decompose and settle down with your tree in it. Make sure it is at least 4X4 feet. I don’t know anything about pluots, not my zone, but citation supposed to be dwarf rootstok, so you should be good here. But because you can’t push support in the ground you will have to be creative in how to support your tree. Good Luck!
I have FG on Citation and it is not a dwarf tree. It is quite vigorous and grew to 12’ in two years. Citation dwarfing effect is true with peaches/nectarines; with cots and pluots the trees are quite vigorous.
I had to plant it since it was a bare root. In the picture below I planted approximately where the watering can is where there is no slab underneath. Not sure if I should leave it due to the distance between the existing trees. Thoughts?
I planted a Geo Pride on Citation last year, it seemed like it grew as well as a couple other pluots on Myro. Do you have anything on Myro rootstock and if so, how have they grown?
Its not optimal, but 5’ is OK if you are willing to prune out the competing scaffolds. One other problem with that spot is its pretty close to the fence. I have 15 year old plums 2’ apart, not recommended but with diligent pruning it works.
I have Splash and Emerald Drop on Myro 29C and GeoPride, Dapple Dandy, Flavor Grenade, Flavor Supreme and Flavor King on Citation. All were planted in 2016 in a raised bed. I am not seeing significant difference in tree size related to the rootstock, however some varieties are more vigorous than others; e.g. DD, FS & FG are significantly more vigorous than GeoPride & FK. The noticeable difference between the rootstocks is in precocity, so both trees on Myro 29C has less than 10th of the flower buds present on those on Citation, however, this might be variety related too. Splash has a total of 10-15 flower buds! On the other extreme FS probably has more than a thousand…
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You may can get a 10lb maul and try busting that concrete, it may be thin like 2" thick and bust a hole 2" diameter so your tree can send roots down…
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I’ve busted a fair amount of concrete, and I agree with @PaulinKansas6b. It’ll take half an hour to break it up (counting generous amounts of breathing time) at most, and another half-hour to clear itup. You might even build a little retaining wall with the chunks!
Okay. If I bust through the concrete how big does the hole have to be? Since there’s only 1-2” of soil above concrete do I have to plant it on a mound?
No you dont have to build it on a mound but you could mound it a few 2 to 6 inches or more if you want to, to give more dirt over the cement for surface roots as well as to avoid standing water in wet seasons if needed…
I would bust an area at least 2 feet in diameter, if it isnt hard then 3+ feet would be nicer and let more deep watering and shallow roots happen! But even just 2’ should do the job, your plum roots will be able to go deep and establist a strong tree. The roots will eventually climb all over and under and around the concrete with time as well as taproots going deep to more strength and moisture…
I planted my Satsuma and a Shiro plums in 2014. About 5 ft apart. After only 3 years, I’ve found that five feet space was too close for my liking. Plums throw out several feet of canes every year.
Like Scott said, you could manage them by pruning. I just wish I had planted them at least 8’ apart.
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I would bust out at least an 18" diameter circle if I weren’t taking out the whole pad, but from your photo above I think that once you get started you might as well keep going- if the stuff is four inches or less, and doesn’t have any reinforcing steel or wire it just isn’t that big a job. It just looks like it until you get the first crack started.
This past summer I worked for a few days with a professional who is almost my age (late sixties) and he had done enough of it to make a science of it. Took him about three swings to my ten! The trick seems to be to get a crack started near an edge, and then strike a foot or so over to keep it going. Once it starts to break up and you get a chunk out it goes real fast.
Wear goggles and hearing protection and heavy pants, because you’ll send chips flying, take full overhead swings, and rest when you need to. Good gloves, for sure. Two ibuprofen at bedtime … and if you’re a beer drinker you’ll know you earned it.
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Haha 2 ibeuprofen at bedtime lol yeah glad for that option if needed! The protections too dont forget them especially eye! Hopefully its real thin like 2" old low quality stuff with no reinforcement! But even if it is strong, it needs to go since you have limited space, room for fruit is a necessity of life!!! A backhoe would come in handy!!
You don’t need it. It’s one of those “just do it things”.
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Yeah I agree! 
As Galinas said, just be sure it isn’t part of your septic system first!
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Yes it would be horrible to start tearing it out and find it was the septic or a cover over other utilities!! I never thought of that… Thats why its so nice to get advice from a list of people with a list of experiences, as the proverb says “In the multitude of counsel there is safety.”
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