Greetings tree planters
Its pouring rain now and I am glad I just got a few trees planted before it started. I have a homestead orchard of about 60 trees and every year I try to plant a few more as some are getting old or I want to try new varieties.
I started out about 30 years ago planting my first 50 trees and just dug small holes to fit the roots, added rock minerals and then weeded and top dressed them with manure as the years went by. The soil was pretty gravely and they grew slowly but are now mature and doing great. I have been a little more impatient lately and only plant a few trees a year so have been digging 3 foot holes and filling with compost and manure. They grow quickly but I am having a higher mortality rate. My wife says I am killing them with kindness. This year I went back to small holes but helped a friend plant some trees on his place. He wanted to try big holes and used his back hoe to dig them and filled them with composted manure. It will be interesting to see how his trees do. He was so enthusiastic I thought maybe I should try big holes again. I am wondering what experience others have had?