You can amend your little hole, but a tree will outgrow it in a short time. Or am I looking at it wrong?
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Depends on your soil around your tree. Its actually recommended to not amend inside your hole here as the native soil is so poor in nutrients. If the hole is too rich and fertile, it actually acts akin to a pot and rootbounds your tree. So other than PH modifiers (sulfer/lime) I don’t put anything in the hole deeper than an inch or two on the rootball (for trees, veggies are a different story).
If your soil around the tree is rich and fertile, than amending the hole can give your tree a head start, letting it grow beyond what you dug faster. Root establishment is the most important part in getting a successful tree, so amendments help expidite that process.
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I dig a big planting hole… the first 3-5 inches is some pretty good top soil.. but below that is red sticky rocky clay.. I mean head sized rocks and smaller ones too.
I take the rocks out.. and replace that volume with compost… a very good trade if you ask me. Sometimes I remove a half wheelbarrow of rocks… and add back a wheelbarrow of compost.
I add some compost to the hole.. and some to the top layer. On top of that compost layer.. I add some old composted wood chip material… then add a layer of fresh wood chips.
It is really just to give them a good start. None of my trees have ever complained about such preferential treatment.. and they all grow very well initally and year after year..
TNHunter
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It can help in cases where nitrogen is an issue. Young trees have a relatively difficult time growing as compared with a larger tree with an established root system. Giving a young tree some extra nitrogen makes a major difference.
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We have sandy loam and we do amend with biochar to increase nutrient retention. But we also spread a bit of biochar on the drip line as well.
Why do you still add ph modifiers to the hole? I would think that would exacerbate the problem of roots not wanting to venture out into the non-amended soil?
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My topsoil is pretty good for my region, but it’s still heavy on the clay side with very little organic matter. As springs are becoming increasingly drier, it makes it a little more difficult to keep the soil hydrated around new plantings, especially bareroots. The only amendments I will do is about 1/2 a spade of peat mixed into the soil in the bottom of the planting hole to help retain moisture around the underdeveloped root system of a new planting.
I’m not attempting to improve the soil by any means, I simply want to add a little more capacity for water retention in a small area beneath the tree. With the heavy clay soil here in the south, I have seen far too many trees treat the planting hole like a flower pot because someone over amended the soil.
Two reasons for not putting fertilizer in the hole a tree is planted:
- can burn roots if too much; 2. can slow the spread of roots.
This is my case. I’m in central Oregon and a large component of our soil is volcanic ash. Adding some organic matter and fertilizing annually is a must or my trees do not produce blossoms.