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john anderson starts with ... I retired last July and moved into a new house at same time. I had a number of fruit trees in pots and bought a lot more. In july 2006 in Melbourne I used a jackhammer to make large holes as the ground was so hard. I made the holes big and planted the fruit trees with a lot of new soil.Now that it is raining heavily the water is ponding around the fruit trees and the fruit tree holes seem to be acting as a well as the drainage into the surrounding clay soil seems slow. Any ideas? | About the Author john anderson thomastown 28th June 2007 11:52am #UserID: 46 Posts: 2 View All john anderson's Edible Fruit Trees |
Kath says... I am a little worried about your trees John , they are at risk of drowning. How big are they and what are they? If they are still small you could lift them and plant them in raised beds above the ground level. Or you could get the jack hammer out again and dig out a drainage trench on the lower side of the holes your trees are in to let the water out. All fruit trees love free draining soil, some are more susceptible to water logging than other and even a short period standing in water can damage the roots and your trees will be at risk of dying. A very simple drainage test is to dig a hole twice the width and depth of your spade and fill it with water. Time how long it takes to drain, if it is longer than 1/2 an hour you have drainage issues and will need to either plant in to mounded sites or work on conditioning the soil, adding lots of organic matter to the soil profile will help. | About the Author Kath Cawongla 29th June 2007 11:25am #UserID: 2 Posts: 363 View All Kath's Edible Fruit Trees |
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