Preparing hole for new apple tree - add drainage?

[pinns]

After a bit of thought on another thread, I ordered a family apple tree from Ken Muir and four days later they have shipped it! I don't know if it will arrive as bare roots or in a ball of soil, but either way I thought it was best to soak 'em and plant 'em immediately?

Luckily since the weather was ok yesterday I have already cleared the spot where I'd planned to put it, and dug it a bit. Trouble is, I was a bit surprised to find the nice-looking top soil gives way after a few inches to rather solid dark gray clay, quite waterlogged, looks like it may never have been disturbed, is this even suitable for an apple? Would it be too wet and nutrient-poor? I chose the spot as it's fairly sheltered, south-facing and really gets the sun.

I had a bright (read: newbie) idea that maybe if I dig deep enough I could mix something into the solid soil at the bottom of the planting hole (like extra stones or washed gravel?) so that it might drain a bit better?

Or is that daft?

And if I backfill the hole with good compost instead of the clay, would that be enough? I was just going to buy a nice bag of MP, mix the whole lot through and let it settle for a month before the apple arrived, I thought it was end of February shipping, that'll teach me to read properly. But now perhaps that whole spot isn't suitable and I should find somewhere else or get a huge pot?!

Any advice would be welcome, unfortunately I'm at work all day tomorrow but I'll hopefully be online in the evening again, sorry for the long post,

thanks

pinns

[hailtryfan]

Hello

When planting apples in very badly drained soil, I've read it's best to plant the apple in a slight mound. This means the bottom of the trunk will not be standing in water in wet weather and so less prone to rot and the roots will have more oxygen available to them.

Digging the hole deep and incorporating some stones to help drainage is a good idea. Forking over the bottom of the hole really prior well will also help drainage.

Probably a better idea to mix the compost with your soil and backfill rather than pure compost. If you don't, as the compost breaks down over time, the level of the soil in your planting hole will fall and your tree may end up sitting in a dip where standing water may become a problem.

Ken Muir sells trees on M26 rootstock which is pretty tolerant of poor drainage as long as you prepare your hole properly. It's bound to arrive as a bareroot tree so follow the instructions that come with it and soak it for an hour or two asap. If you can't plant it in its permanent position straight away, dig a hole big enough to take the roots and heel it in temporarily to stop it drying out.

Hope that helps

[FB.]

Most likely, it will arrive as bare-root.

Most soils are really heavy at the moment, due to the unusually heavy rainfall we've seen since August.
Even my usually-fast-draining sand/gravel soil is getting waterlogged now.

Even if you dig out the soil where the tree will be planted, the roots will grow far out (and down) into the surrounding soil - you won't be able to improve drainage at great depth.

I think that the best way to plant a bare-root tree is:

1. Dig a hole slightly larger and slightly deeper than the root spread.

2. Try to loosen around the edges of the hole with a fork; sometimes a spade can leave a very smooth/dense edge to the hole and roots can't grow outwards!

3. Pack some soil into a dense mound in the centre of the hole. Drive a stake into the ground, if you think that the tree will need it.

4. Place tree on the mound, ensuring that the graft will be an inch or two above ground level.

5. Spread the roots outwards and downwards (the mound will help).

6. Gradually bury the roots, using the soil that came out of the hole. Try to get roots travelling in as many directions as possible and at various depths.
Gently pack down the soil at intervals while re-filling the hole.

7. When the soil has been replaced, gently tread the soil down.

8. Mulch with an inch of compost. You can also add a surface sprinkling of fertiliser.


............


If you change the planting hole, relative to the surrounding soil, the roots will sometimes refuse to grow out of the planting hole.

Heavy, saturated soils actually hold nutrients very well. I have quite the opposite problem - light soil with poor water/nutrient retention.
Unfortunately, the problems of waterlogged soil are due to roots literally drowing (even roots need a little bit of air in the soil) and rotting, with the rot eventually reaching the base of the trunk and killing the tree.

If you are worried about saturated soil, you could plant the tree on a mound.


............

Some rootstocks cope much better with saturated soil. MM106 and M25 often suffer from root rots in saturated soils, whereas M9, MM111 M26 (and M116 if you can get it) are fairly resistant.

.

[Nicos]

I read/saw somewhere recently that a square hole is best to encourage the roots to break out of the spiral shape of growing in a pot .

[Two_Sheds]

Even my usually-fast-draining sand/gravel soil is getting waterlogged now. .

Same here. The lawn squelches
I did a count up, and we've had more wet days than dry since July 2010 (we're usually one of the driest areas of the UK)

[pinns]

Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply, and all the good advice on preparing the hole, it sounds like with a bit of hard work my chosen spot might be ok after all. I think I will print off your replies and take with me to the garden on Friday! Having a mound seems a really good idea, and hopefully I can get out for some gravel too. When I bought it I also got a pack of the rootgrow funghi as well, so hopefully that will help it survive too.

Super speedy, it has arrived today while I was at work! It is a bare root with free clots of sandy mud, and was nice and wet in the bag, really well packed actually. As for the tree, it looks really nice (not that I know what I am looking at!) The overall shape/spread is nice, the rootstock graft is quite slim, the main trunk is lovely and straight (I'm quite excited about my new baby tree, can you tell?) and two of the apple grafts, James Grieve and Discovery, have already grown into three mini branches each, although the third variety, Sunset, is quite a bit smaller, just an eight inch twig, but perhaps that's all you need?

I have another shift tomorrow so the earliest I can plant is Friday, but for now I gave it a good drink and put it into a B&Q bucket with damp compost from a grow bag (it was 9pm, I couldn't really dig up lots of soil) and put it into the greenhouse, which the Ken Muir instructions say should be ok short term.

However they also say "on no account plant out when frozen or waterlogged" and give the example as "when soil sticks to your boots" which pretty much rules out my chosen spot right now, maybe for some time! I will dig for victory on Friday but if it's still really sticky, then hopefully a much bigger pot filled with garden soil will do for a month or so. I did buy a stake with it but it's kind of an ugly silver thing, so I might look for a nicer option while it's potted.

I can't wait to get into the garden on Friday now, I wonder why planting my first ever tree seems so exciting?!