75% of what happens to a tree, takes place underground.

In this regard, soil is critical… but at the same time, in the real world, not so much. Let me explain:

 

Soil Testing

Testing your soil will reveal the level of nutrients it contains.

• Put a tree in crappy soil and there’s a greater chance it will struggle or ultimately, die.
• Put a tree in rich, excellent soil, and there’s a greater chance it will thrive.

The concept is simply, but the soil testing approach can be a bit of “chasing a unicorn.”

Here’s where it gets sticky:

TIME

You get a soil test reading back like the one above and say, “OK, I’ve got to lower my PH and raise my Potassium (K).”

The reality is, soil makeup doesn’t change quickly. Dumping a bucket of potassium, in an area, doesn’t suddenly distribute the mineral throughout all the soil. It takes time to make its way down.

So when a soil report says you’re lacking in a big way, you may have just delayed yourself in a big way.

You can speed up the process by physically applying and distributing the nutrients through tilling and manually working it into the soil. This can be a lot of work, especially if you’re putting in any real number of trees.

And in the end, it still takes time to settle down and integrate into the soil structure. 

When trying to lower soil PH, the effect often isn’t seen for a year or more.

But we’re not done.

There are a lot of variables in soil. So you throw down the amount of Potassium you were told to throw down, but was it enough?

A sandy or loamy soil will absorb nutrients faster than a heavy clay soil.

So you test again to see what your efforts yielded.  Time waiting for a second test.

It’s not uncommon for a second test to yield poor, different, or even unexpected results.

This could mean the process continues. An ongoing cycle of chasing the perfect soil conditions.

Now, let me be clear. Soil testing and amending is great to do. If you have and/or are willing to spend the time. But if you’re looking for a quick, simple single-step to help your trees, soil testing isn’t likely going to work to your expectations.

Adding is Easy, Subtracting is Hard

If you get a soil test back and it reveals a lack of a nutrient, overall, that’s pretty easy to fix…

But having too much of something, is another story.

At best, excess nutrients become a tricky balancing act of adding things to counterbalance the offending element…

But certain things, like in particular, the metals. Too much Iron, Copper, Zinc for example. Getting rid of those is tricky.

Now, if you get a report that you have for example, way too much Iron? What do you do?

• Abandon the idea of growing apple tress?
• Plant anyway, as if you never took the test?

Sadly, some folks might decide NOT to plant if there’s a big excess of a certain metal or mineral… but guess what… an excess of something, doesn’t mean your tree CAN’T SURVIVE.

You might be amazed to see the soil tests of some trees that have been thriving for many years.

Soil Moves in Broad Strokes

When you amend soil, it’s really difficult to get small subtle changes.

Soil tends to move in larger, broader strokes.

For this reason, once you start chasing that perfect soil, it’s often a real challenge to get into a specific target area.

Just talk to a blueberry grower who’s struggled to dial in on soil PH. 🙂

Ironically, a lot of soil amendment advice speaks to moving PH to quite narrow targets. Good luck with that!

Survival Of the Fittest

An argument can be made, that the more you pamper a fruit tree, the more your tree becomes dependent on your effort.

Without your help, a previously healthy tree can quickly fall to pieces.

Are you going to till in, amend, and perfect the soil for 5′ around your tree? What about the other 30′ around your tree where the roots are going to wind up?

In Landrace gardening, we implement the practice of broadcasting many different varieties of veggies, allowing the stronger ones to interbred AND THE WEAKER ONES TO DIE OFF. This key approach creates plants developed specifically for the locale they’re grown in.

The idea is, native plants thrive will less human input.

This is a STRONG concept to carry over to fruit trees. 

As an orchardist, you have to make a choice, do you want to work hard for your trees, or do you want your trees to work hard for you.

Our Crazy Changing Landscape

Soil tests do best on stretches of land (usually farmland) where the area is relatively unchanged. Collecting samples from an entire area like this, can produce pretty accurate results on the soil…

Now, let me tell you how MY particular orchard soil is. #truestory

In this one area, I have hard, heavy, wet grey clay.

• 20′ feet over, I have soft, red clay.
• 20′ feet over from that, I have Roman ruins. So many rocks, it takes me days to get through the ground.
• 20′ feet from that, I have sand.
• 20′ feet from that, I have absolutely beautiful loamy soil… filled with 9 billion fire ants. (but that’s a different story)

Ok, you get my picture. At least where I am, my soil varies WILDLY even in a fairly confined area.

This type of environment makes soil testing realllllly difficult to work with.

False Sense of Security

You run your soil tests and amend.

You follow up until the soil is seemingly perfect. You did it!!

Next year, you go check on your trees and see this!!

Reality check: If you’re going to grow an orchard, you’re going to have to become a tree doctor, at least to some level (or have a friend who is).

Perfect soil, doesn’t mean your tree won’t run into problems.

Living organisms and living soil are complex systems.

And too many people who work with soil tests, don’t spend any time learning about the different ways nutrient imbalances manifest themselves. Or how to deal with them. In the case of this picture, a tree suffering from too much calcium.

What I’m trying to say, is someone who spends a bunch of money and time testing and amending their soil and someone who doesn’t do any testing at all, can wind up in exactly the same place. And often, to some extent, do.

If you have the time and want to do soil testing, great! But if you’re not so inclined, proper planting technique can get you going. And learning how trees express their problems, will allow you to amend and fix any problems as your tree grows.

My only caveat here, is if you’re putting in a larger orchard or any kind of commercial venture.

When you have a substantial investment on the line, extra time, expense, and effort at the beginning is always a smart move. 

In my experience, for the home grower, or backyard orchardist, unless your soil is totally buggered, unless you plant the weakest primadonna trees, unless they have the poorest rootstock types, your trees will acclimate and make it through. Especially, if you ARE there to help them a bit if they run into any problems.