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Hey /out/growers, gonna be planting a few exceptionally mature fruit trees soon (first time)
Got em for a bargain at my local nursery.
Like many, I have heavy clay that drains rather slowly.
To be on the safe side, considering these are already large trees ( >9 feet) with burlapped roots, I plan to spread out the roots over a trenched mound and backfill with the same clay with very minimal loam amendment, to discourage later root binding from abrupt soil transition.
I'm not exactly sure how deep the trench should be to promote better drainage, or if it will have any positive effect at all... I'd guess make the platform half as deep and wide as the surrounding hole, burying the root-ball about half way below soil grade, then piling up a mound on the upper half for less root surface area in the wetter, lower region.
I know you should score the sides of the hole to encourage root spread, what would be a good rule of thumb, 2-3" deep notches?
Probably overthinking this a bit, just don't want to lose any trees to root rot.
