How To Plant A Tree In Clay Soil & Hard Soil | Street Tree Planting

Where do you obtain the wonder ties?

Thank you for making these videos

Is there a rule on the diameter of the wood posts? Also should treated or untreated be used?

Wow boy am I prepared the next time I have to plant a fruit tree in the city of Fresno thank you so much

i've learned something about the hardpan of caliche like material at my place is it acts like a impermeable layer starting at about a foot below the surface. and every time i plant something i instinctively want to create a wider deeper area of good material for whatever to grow in, so i'll build that hole like that. and when then rains come of even plain watering over a short time, you think the tree would be happy yet all i'm basically doing no matter how much around the tree i build "above grade" slope away from the plant, the depth of hole i created isn't difficult to overwater in any situation and essentially i've built a non draining pocket that will forever drive you nuts as your trees struggle only to eventually die a very short lived life to the undraining holes. so picture that as a layer and do not dig into the hard drainless pan, or at least you'd have to build a subdrain burrito style permeated, rock filled and wrapped well to carry the water away. which would be near commercial development for tract homes "impossibly difficult." so leave the hard pan and truck in some material to make a small mound or hill that you're going to plant on. forget the native or natural fall or slope to fix. add to it to make the depth the plant needs to grow for it's life. even if you dig a hole that hole will heal itself into the clay layer it's in, healing i mean the hard layer. a couple of seasons and it's going to turn right back into the layers around it. mulch it whatever you try will only be short lived because it's more powerful and bigger than us.. it'll never be fixed when you dig into it. even if you dug the entire plot out, 10'x10 or 100'x100' you basically crate an underground lake. that's the only hope, california high deserts are notorious for crap dirt. clay, rock. silt and sand deep usually all one or the other too much. it's just a lot cheaper and easier to move into the LA basin or san fernando. alfalfa grows well in it. without any problems. the little purple flowers in that grass (alfalfa) is delicious. you don't have to moo to like it. and it's nutritious as heck. high deserts aren't cheaper to live in. with the exremes heat and cold and wind and sun will more than equal what savings you have in cheaper mortgage. all the way around.

There are lot of amendments that can be confusing. What do you recommend for fruit trees to be planted in northern california? Also if soil has clay/rocks – do you throw them away? What kind of mulch you recommend? Thanks

I also have rock hard clay and my method which works fantastically is to dig as deep as possible, at least 2ft and 2 or 3 times the width of the plant container. I add sand and compost to the point where its slightly softer than the native soil but not too soft so that water retention is about the same as the native clay but a little better. I drill 3or4 2" holes inside the holes.

Why do you need to dig a big hole if you're just returning the same soil?

Fantastic video! Thank you so much

Hiyeeee 😊. Enjoy ur vids extremely bcuz u speak slow n precise to learners of ur trade.
Anyway what did u add to the soil? Looked at ur website n dont see that big green bag of whatever u added to the soil. May i ask the name of it.
I live in vegas n our climate is comparable to urs n our soil is as urs ours caliche “new word i learn about our soil”. Pandemic help open new courage in myself to care for my lawn, trees n shrubs. I understand it better with ur help n with my local nurseries n many youtube vids. I gravitate to u bcuz u explain ur knowledge to newbies easily n slowly as well as ur voice n speech is easy to grasp.
Like i have commented on ur other vid – i plan to buy the i think maximize the all three blend to add to my lawn n trees care but ive got products i bought recently when i took on the responsibility for me to do n i also just planted a mimosa tree in April. So i have products on hand n garden tools i had to purchase to make “tinzs” happen lol.
Thank u n chip for all u do for ppl like myself to go out n have courage. Blessings n peace 😊

Great video, thanks for sharing your knowledge. Let's get this man more views and likes.

Uh oh, I live in Fresno and just had some trees planted in my front yard, including a Keith Davey, and there was no backfilling or settling done in preparation 😱

By planting all male trees, I heard this is what led to such bad pollen issues. If we plant all female trees, there also aren’t any berries for non-native trees.

Why not just plant in BIGGER POTS? hahahahha

You don't incorporate organic matter into the native clay soil, is there a reason.
I use a lot of well composted manure and organic matter with the native soil, mixed up well, and that helps here, but I'm sure you have your reasons and have a lot of thoughts put into this, because you have hard pan soil.
Okay I've watched more and I see why you do what you do, but where I am, it's very successful to incorporate organic matter, mixed well with the native soil and mound it at least slightly if the sight is challenging.
I don't like the high mounds that some call mulch volcanoes, I think it's a bad idea.

I like what you are doing there.

Hey, guess what. I am planting a locust tree tomorrow but I'm planting it in my heavy clay soil and guess which video was the first on the list? That's right, yours was the first. Your videos have helped me a immensely. Thank you again.

What do you think about the Ellen White method?

Thank you! The Wonder Ties is what I've been looking for. I hot a kick out of your watering segment;–)

Nice

Should try the Ellen White method of planting. I modified it with my own version such as surrounding the upside down bucket with ag pipes with sock then two 3 inch pipes in each corner all the way to the bottom. It aerates the roots and can be used for deep root watering later in its life.

Another video with evidence of how insane CA is regarding regulations.