Fruit Trees in a retaining wall (forum)

Aiden starts with ...
Hi All

I'm in Brisbane and have a retaining wall that is aprox. 80cm from the back to the front. I have dug out approx. 40-50cm deep and the remaining soil is clay. The wall is southern facing with no protection from the western sun. I would like to grow citrus, black sapote, feijoas, papaya and bananas. Will these do well in these conditions? Apart from the banana and papaya, if I espalier will this increase their chances of dong well? With the 40cm of soil removed will filling it with mushroom compost suffice or should it be mixed with something else?

Any help and advice would be appreciated. Thanks

Time: 8th April 2019 3:07pm

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Drewvale
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Fruitylicious1 says...
Hi Aiden

Good plan having your own orchard. Those plants you have chosen can take full sun but papaya and banana are both susceptible to strong wind. Rather than that they will be Ok. Espaliering is a good idea to save on space if your trees have no more room to expand sideways. I have alot of espaliered trees atm. Espaliering is more demanding than a normal tree based on my experience so prepare to put in extra work and research. If you can add clay breaker to the bottom of the trench to soften the clay the better to improve drainage. Water it in after application. Another excellent ingredient to improve drainage is perlite. Add it to the compost and local soil mixture.
Also add some local soil to your compost mixture to acclimatize the plants to the local surrounding.
Happy gardening 😎

Time: 25th April 2019 7:49pm

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Original Post was last edited: 25th April 2019 7:57pm

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denise1 says...
The black sapote and citrus tend to need more soil volume than what is on offer. Make sure the B/S is a grafted one and that the citrus are on dwarfing rootstock I would say. They will stay as small trees so you can manage them easier than big trees. You may find them needing lots of water later on when the roots fully occupy the soil..

Time: 26th April 2019 7:37am

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