Years ago I dug post holes with a model T axle which is a 1 inch diameter steel rod around 6 feet long.
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Yes - I had a very similar experience with M. fusca in Iowa. It isn’t climatological, but the soils (at least my poorish clay-till-beat-to-death-development soil). I’m very deficient in Zn and the pH is high so even if total values of Fe and Mn aren’t wildly out of wack, they aren’t very available.
After languishing for 3 years, my Kingston Black on M. fusca bit the dust this spring. I think it grew all of 2 inches in the 3 years in the ground.
Just to drive home this point of soil issues affecting M. fusca, I yanked a Yarlington Mill last spring that was also languishing and replaced it with a Franklin cider on M7. I potted that Yarlington Mill on M. fusca into the largest pot I had at the time and it proceeded to grow 2.5 feet in a summer (but from a side shoot on the main leader). It sure did like the, presumably low pH, peat moss laden potting mix I had laying about.
I’m still wondering how these trees would have done had I planted them in their original intended location, which was a low spot next to a crick that floods often. Pin oaks love it there, so the soil is more along the lines of what I bet the M. fusca would like.
Edit - Also I will add that there was no signs of delayed graft union failure or a weak union with M. fusca and the more likely to be “dirty” and virus infected old cider varieties.
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I have clay soil, but I’m on a limestone ridge so it drains off quickly - too quickly mostly so the slow dense soil can’t grab any moisture unless it’s a long slow rain. I finally learned to plant everything in deep mounds of wood chips. The plant roots still can get minerals from the clay underneath but get a broad root system that spreads out. Droughts aren’t quite so scary now, but of course the shade tree roots will travel to get in on the party, too.
I once repaired a fireplace in an 180 year old house that just had a layer of stones for a foundation. The fireplace had been closed off for decades, and all the leaves that fell down the chimney had been composting that long. Perfect rich soil, and full of roots ! The big trees outside found that little patch of gold long before I did.
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The soil pH were I planted the Malus fusca is a tad below neutral (~ 6.4). It is interesting to note that it grew some feet when you put it in the pot. Maybe I should have treated it like a blueberry bush.
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I would be digging out and making clay all the time. then throwing leaves back on top and hoping for the best. I have a coworker who throws pottery and she’s always going to people’s places and digging for clay soil to process. she pulls the clay out with water soak then puts the debris and other soil back.
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Okay. I expect this to be a bit of a test of the mound approach to planting apple trees in my area of poorly draining clay. The remnants of Ian gave us a fairly evenly dispersed 6"-ish of rain over the last 4 days. I expect the ground around the mounds to be squishy for another 2 or 3 days while things dry out. Although the temperatures have been much lower than in summer (highs only in the mid 60s), the trees are certainly not dormant and some, like Bramtot, were still putting out a few leaves. So… what signs of root rot might one keep an eye peeled for in mid-October? Any thoughts?
look at the base of your trees - they should not be cracked or weakened
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Thanks for the photos… Out of curiosity, what was the fate of those trees?
It was a pear I took out of the ground and didnt want it to overwinter; it probably could have survived but it got replaced
how high are the mounds? that and how well draining the soil used to mound them makes a big difference in tree survival. i double the coarse DE and perlite in my mix used for my trees. my best results were promix with more perlite/DE added. then i put a lightly tamped 4in of woodchip mulch on that.
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Mounds are a but over a foot high with an additional 3 inches or so of mulch. The soil in the mound is a mix of the clay underneath, commercial top soil with a bit of perlite and kitchen compost. I think it drains pretty well so I don’t worry too much about the top foot of roots. The area is sometimes wet in the spring for weeks with a concurrence of rain and melting snow. when we bought the place there were a couple of dead trees in the area. The mound planting is a bit of an experiment to see if the natural disadvantages of the location can be overcome.
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What you see there is the bottom part is rootstock and the top part is scion. All grafted trees are joined like this.
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i have heavy clay/ rocky soil here and every tree ive put directly in ground has slowly died. if you had the same experience, you wont regret doing it this way. i have over 60 plants trees done this way and they all flourished and still are 6 yrs later.
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Any particular Promix? Do you mix in any of the indigenous soil or simply make a mound of your new soil?
think it was the b.t promix. i dont mix in any native soil. i just lay down a 4’x4’ piece of cardboard, drive a stake down in the middle. place root ball on the cardboard and mound/ tamp the soil up to the soil line on the tree. tie off to the stake. mulch them and water well. for a few years you may need to add soil around the soil line as the mound settles. eventually after about 5 years the mound will have mostly disappeared, and the tree will be well established in your soil. only things that do well in my soil without mounding are elder, aronia , hazels, serviceberry and mulberry. lost about half of my raspberries to root rot because i didnt build a big enough mound for them but the 2 aronia bushes next to them are each 12ft. high and 8ft wide.
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Much of my strategy to dealing with clay soil i to use hardier plants and rootstocks.
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Any recommendations on rootstocks? I also have thick clay soil. Hopefully the dozen trees I just bought based upon my research on rootstocks hold up…
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I am growing both pears and apples right now, and just got a few more pear trees and about a dozen more apple trees.
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