Drainage for cherry tree!
 

Bought a cherry tree today.

Read that drainage is important. I have a lot of clay. Even if I fix
up the soil in the hole I make, I'm worried about everything under
that.

Would it do any good to hammer a piece of pvc 1" i.d. pipe into the
hole so that it comes out the side of the hill about 6 feet away, or
if it's farther than 6 feet, I would use a second pipe to make up to
14 feet.

Is there a reason not to do this?

I figure it will drain liquid water that pools below the tree near the
end of my pipe, but leave the soil as dampt as it should be. Isn't
that what "adequate drainage" means?


My house or at least my yard must have been built partly on landfill,
because the property of my me and my townhouse neibhbors is flat, and
the property line is straight, but then all along the line it falls
off 6 feet. The sump pump discharge already comes out the side of the
hill, but that's a 6-inch black corrugated pipe and I'm sure they dug
a trench or put it in before they filled over it.

Drainage for cherry tree!
 

mm wrote:

Bought a cherry tree today.

Read that drainage is important. I have a lot of clay. Even if I fix
up the soil in the hole I make, I'm worried about everything under
that.

Would it do any good to hammer a piece of pvc 1" i.d. pipe into the
hole so that it comes out the side of the hill about 6 feet away, or
if it's farther than 6 feet, I would use a second pipe to make up to
14 feet.

It might be good exercise. But it won't help the drainage any. I
can't see it from here-- but a swale or french drain might help.

Otherwise, amend the soil as Sonny & Smitty said.

Is there a reason not to do this?

You might need the pipe and time to do something else? g


I figure it will drain liquid water that pools below the tree near the
end of my pipe, but leave the soil as dampt as it should be. Isn't
that what "adequate drainage" means?

A 1" pipe should fill itself up pretty good in a single season. If
you can mow the grass over it the day after it rains, you're probably
ok.

Jim

Drainage for cherry tree!
 

On May 25, 7:12*pm, mm wrote:
Bought a cherry tree today.

Read that drainage is important. *I have a lot of clay. *Even if I fix
up the soil in the hole I make, I'm worried about everything under
that.

snip

One of the packaged soil conditioners a local garden shop sells for
our clayish Illinois soil is simply calcium sulfate. For years I
thought that when some our area contractors were grinding up drywall
scrap and tilling it into the backfill that they were trying to ease
the load in the Dumpsters. Guess I was wrong, because now those places
look just fine and it was likely the gypsum in the wallboard did the
trick.
Improving soil and drainage might be your best approach.

Joe