I also line the bottom of the drain hole with gypsum which is a soil softener. It leeches into the clay soil at the bottom and allows water to drain. I fill the bottom of the drain hole with plain sand. Over many years, the fine clay particles will fill into the sand, making it like concrete, but improving the drainage of the surrounding soil too.

I love the dog! He saw you tamping down the dirt and was like: I HELP!

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

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

Thank you so much for your time to make this video. My HOA made me remove a tree recently and replace it. I chose a Chinese Pistache and have very thick rocky soil(NW Las Vegas). This was extremely well done. 😊

Thank you for making these videos

Fantastic video! Thank you so much

Wonderful video 🙏 thanks for making this video

We planted 9 trees on Wednesday by hand with just a shovel. Totally true everything is said.

I'm going to be plnting mulberry, peach, Apple, pear and cherry trees this year and We have clay soil here in my area. Thank you for this video.

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.

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

Nice vid. What you have said makes a lot of sense.

I'm watching more and I agree with this corrective staking and I like to use only one sturdy stake to allow some wiggle and I will tape a piece of bamboo or something on to the areas that I want to help straighten when young.

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.

Great video, very correct advice - some recommend to “mound up” which does fix drainage and aeration issues, however the downside to this, especially with younger trees is rooting in takes longer and is more susceptible to rooting out of the planting zone (being ripped out of the hole) because of improper planting/staking methods Great job explaining guys!

Very nicely explained sir.

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.

Oh my gosh. Chip is adorable! What kind of a dog is he? Thank you for this informative video btw.

This was a very enjoyable video. I was feeling very insecure about planting fruit trees in clay, but this is pretty reassuring. I read stone and pomme fruits are the best suited for it. Here’s hoping!

Great job. Obviously professionalism comes from years of not just personal experience but also following up after planting. One idea we found that definitely works when ground is compacted has been mulching by air Excavating a grid of surrounding holes which could help Coax new roots radially outbound past root ball and excavated hole boundary. In fact irrigating just outside of excavated pit has been proven to encourage new Root exploration. Here in the Midwest I'm afraid we've discovered the hard way how potted trees even certain fabric bag grown should automatically be suspect of producing less than optimal root system. Especially because up potting process could produce several layers of hidden circling roots. Intense street level Parkway tree observations have also sadly revealed slicing vertically using sharp Spade or blade alongside outer root ball or just teasing pot bound Roots loose fails to correct circling root Direction. And only by completely shaving outside and bottom of root ball back to location before Roots had been deflected has now become ANSI standard best management practice.. As someone who also plants hundreds of trees each year it has now become perfectly common to find original birth grade of trunk buried some two to 12 in deep. Thus We've began a campaign of educating both trade folks and public how ever widening trunk flares had evolved in order to manage against stem girdling roots. For example if a noose was placed around your neck, or placed around one's shoulders. Which would be easier to break out of? Sweeping trunk flare clean of any accumulating organic matter each spring also prevents any Wayward ground roots from higher access above surrounding grade level where trunk produces less expanding girth.

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.

Can you further explain the shading of the graft? what part should face north east? The curved side or the flat/cut side?

Nice

Top dressing the soil

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 😊

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

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

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

If you can not afford to rent those machine to drill very deep clay soil , can you still plant your citrus fruit tree in a wide hole 3x bigger than your pot tree, another word plant it in a wide shallow clay soil hole that has good drainage? Can you mix 50% clay soil with 50% Kellogg organic garden soil and 10% of gypsum. Top it with dead leaf and mulch? Video Sound like you are the professional but what about tropical fruit tree like durian tree, plant the same way ( back fill clay soil)? Excellent video, Thank you for the education.

So the holes are 4ft deep. And i plant the tree on a slight hill so if it rains heavy and extra water will not be high, wont touch roots.

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 😱

You used Optimize in this video. You could have used Blend as well. You could have also used Penetrate in addition. My clay is 18" below the surface. How deep did you dig?

What do you think about the Ellen White method?

Is approach good only for hardpan clay? Or waterlogged clay too? Does refilling the hole with native soil require it be loose? Here it's wet season and my clay soil is very wet and heavy, difficult to break down when wet.

I have similar soil in NC and it’s very hard to dig with a shovel. I want a black walnut but am needing advice on how to successfully plant one already 5-6’ tall and not kill it. Drainage is awful too with hard clay and a bedrock layer 16” below the surface. Any advice?

I can tell by that soil that you’re somewhere in west Fresno. That clay/hard pan is such a pain to deal with 😅

Where do you obtain the wonder ties?

OK..What about the flare?

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.

What is the bag used?

Unfortunately I'd have to dig a 15m hole to get past my clay here in Brisbane Australia :(

is one not supposed to 'unpack' the roots?

La tierra rica en materia orgánica y nutrientes debería ir en la parte de abajo para qué la raíz pivotante vaya profundizando buscando esa tierra rica en materia orgánica y nutrientes y así el árbol crecerá mucho más rápido y más sano y fuerte 💪

that explain why city tree stay small for forever... that pretty much seal the fate of that tree.. you can not even drill though the clay on smaller machine .. what makes one think root can penetrated without help

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.

Your website appears to be down

"The city requires"... oh, good lord

My soil is so sticky, I can role it into a ball and it will bounce on the ground without breaking up. I'm planning on planting 12 fruit trees. I'm worried they will die.

skid loader auger: ARE YOU KIDDING ME? THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT NOT TO DO.

That’s sandy silt soil though. Not clay??

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

Like

That is not clay soil…. It is compacted sandy or silt

Your soil is not very heavy.

Good video but poor dog. Keeps getting yanked around while digging

You can't plant a tree as a free person in America?.... Only in Commyfornia. 🤷‍♀️

Why not just plant in BIGGER POTS? hahahahha

That's not hard clay soil

Sounds like your city does too much micromanaging of tree planting. Glad I don't live there.

The female version of this tree is a homeowner's nightmare. It sheds large clusters of berries throughout the year and it's almost impossible to keep up with it.