Fruit Trees

Fruit trees have been struggling. In the three-months of November-December-January (2009-2010) I planted three orange trees, a grapefruit, a lemon, a guava, a mango, an avocado, and a fig. Only one, an orange tree, has been doing well from the beginning. It was lucky enough to have been planted in a spot that is fairly fertile and has decent drainage. All the rest were planted in heavy clay with little or no drainage. Planting holes were dug for each, measuring two feet wide by about a foot deep. They were not nearly big enough. Due to the extraordinary heavy rains last year, emergency drainage ditches were dug around each in July. This was enough to keep them alive, but they all suffered root damage from waterlogged conditions.

During the last four months I've been remedying the situation, one tree at a time. I began with one of the orange trees which was planted in terribly hard clay. I enlarged the hole to four feet wide and two feet deep. This required disturbing the rots somewhat. The space where the clay was removed was filled with top soil, sand, rice hulls, compost, and rotted cow manure. I also raised the tree three or four inches higher. The payback to the tree was that it now had about three times as much good soil and fertilizer around it and much improved drainage. In a little more than a week I could begin to see a difference. The leaves seemed shinier and perkier and it began putting on new growth.

The lemon tree in its new location

I've continued this treatment with the other fruit trees, and each one has responded well. The avocado tree looked so sickly that I removed it and started over with a new tree. The lemon was planted in a low area, so I moved it to a higher location. The only trees that remain untreated are the guava and the mango, and I hope to get to them as time allows.

Remedying the fruit tree situation has been a long, back-breaking process. But it's nice to see healthy trees again. Hopefully some will begin to bear fruit this year.

Happy gardening!