We don’t have the most fertile soil out here in the desert southwest. If you’re in a part of the world that is an arid, hot climate and have attempted to do any sort of gardening, you know what I’m talking about. Our soil can become so compacted that it becomes a physically painful experience trying to use a shovel to dig a hole. Let me share with you some ways that have worked for me to improve clay soil for fruit trees.

Is it necessary to amend clay soil? The short answer is no. I’ve planted fruit trees without any amending in our clay soil and these trees have been successful. With that being said, there are ways to improve clay soil that will help your fruit trees thrive. There are so many different variables and factors to consider when planting in clay soil.

Here is some of the immediate problems with clay soil

• Lacks drainage
• Harder for roots to penetrate
• Calcium build up’s increasing PH levels
• High PH causes difficulties for plants to take in needed nutrients
• Minimal organic material
• Limited amounts of microorganisms to create healthier soil
• Virtually no worms

What does it mean to amend my soil?

Amending soil is adding various things to improve on what the soil is lacking. Amendments can help improve the drainage of the soil, so plant roots are able to get oxygen to breath.

Adding to the soil can help increase the microorganisms that help to create a living soil or healthy soil for plant life.

Amending can also help with getting plant roots a chance to build some establishment before having to penetrate through tougher layers of clay soil.

What to use to amend a clay soil type?

When I amend my clay soil at planting I use a mix of the native clay soil, a cactus soil, and compost.

I mix together equal parts of the cactus mix and compost (25% of each) and 50% native clay soil.

This mix will help with drainage, feeding the fruit tree, and starting the process of creating a healthy soil.

I’ll also toss in some worm castings, which tends to have worm eggs in them to start getting worm life into the soil.

I also toss a bit of Mychorrhizae to foster beneficial fungi for root development and to help the roots take in nutrients.

Here are some the products I use and highly recommend.

Finishing off with a thick layer of mulch on top of the soil puts the final touch on planting your fruit tree in clay soil.

After a few months, as the mulch begins to break down through the summer months, you’ll begin to see more bug activity and worm life in the soil.

Over longer periods of time, you’ll start seeing that black soil or humus that every gardener loves.

Planting without amending

Some experts will swear by never putting anything but native soil back into the planting hole.

In my opinion, one of the greatest things about gardening is experimenting, and that different approaches can work to get similar results.

The things that have worked well for me without amending the planting hole is to utilize mulching and to get fruit trees with rootstocks that perform well in clay soils.

Mulching is a key component of building a healthy soil regardless if you are amending your planting hole or not.

Mulching will help with conserving water, which is critical for the health of your fruit tree.

Over time, the mulch will break down and provide extra nutrients to the soil, while providing food for microorganisms. This breakdown process will begin to create a living soil.

Fruit trees are generally grafted to a seedling rootstock. This is done by taking a cutting from a desirable fruit tree and attaching that cutting, through grafting methods, to the rootstock.

The reason for grafting is to ensure that you will have the same exact fruit on the new tree as the tree you are taking the cutting from.

Growing fruit trees from seed doesn’t typically produce the exact same tree as the parent, so the fruit quality can be variable. Some rootstocks can handle clay soils better than others.

When you buy locally, many of the local nurseries have fruit trees that are on rootstock designed to thrive in your area.

While buying from the big box stores, trees tend to be shipped in from other areas, so they may or may not be on the rootstocks for optimal production in your soil type.

A few things that can help make it easier to work with clay soil

One tip is to run a water drip on the area that you want to dig a hole overnight. When clay soil has a chance to absorb moisture it makes it so much easier to work with, but it will be heavier.

Gypsum is a soil conditioner that is commonly used to loosen clay soils. Gypsum is composed of a mineral called calcium sulfate. Gypsum is a salt, but is also effective in leaching the salts out of the soil.

When applying Gypsum to the top layer of soil it is important to let the water run for several hours to deeply soak the area to flush the salts away from the tree roots.

Gypsum isn’t fast acting but applying over time will help with loosen up the clay.

Tools to use for digging in compacted clay soil

The main tool that has worked well for me is a standard pick axe. I just chip away with it and use a shovel to remove the dirt as it breaks up.

I’ve seen people use a jackhammer. These can be purchased or rented from a big box store. I’ve also seen tools that look similar to an auger that you can use to basically drill out a hole. 

Here are some of the tools and products I use and recommend.

Check for drainage

Fill your planting hole up with water and see how long it takes for it to completely drain.

If it takes longer than 24 hours to drain you are either going to have to do more prep to the hole or plant in another spot.

I’d recommend try to dig deeper and see if there is that layer of caliche that needs to be broken.

When calcium carbonate forms within the soil over time it creates a hard pan layer called caliche.

This is commonly found in our desert soil, due to the lack of moisture and salt buildup.

You will know when you hit caliche after digging a few feet and you hit a hard almost concrete layer that will take a pick axe or even jackhammer to break through.

If you don’t break through this layer, your roots won’t be able to grow deep into the soil, and a shallow rooted tree can be uprooted by winds.

Caliche can also cause problems with drainage if the water has nowhere to go.

Composting

Creating a compost pile or utilizing a compost bin is a great way to improve the quality of your soil.

It’s much more effective to create your compost on your own versus buy the bags from the store.

The quality is so much better at home and you know what is going into it.

Here are some of the major benefits of composting:

• Helps to provide trace elements, as well as the major elements like Nitrogen, Phosphorous, and potassium to the soil.
• Converts waste products into something sustainable
• Feeds worms and microorganisms to help feed the trees and plants
• Improves the overall structure of the soil
• Beneficial Fungi

Benefits of clay soil

Believe it or not clay soil does come with some benefits.

Clay soils actually do contain a lot of vital nutrients for plants and holds nutrients well.

Soils that are sandy tend to wash the nutrients away when watered.

Clay soils can provide a more solid foundation for keeping the trees up right, as long as deep watering is occurring, so the roots can get deep into the soil.

Clay soils tend to hold a lot of moisture for longer periods of time, so one needs to be careful about over watering with clay.

Final Thoughts

You can create the backyard fruit orchard that you dream of, even in clay soil types.

It will take a little more effort to improve clay soil for fruit trees, but if you continue to breathe life into it through some of the methods discussed you will see that over time what was once a compacted nightmare, will turn into a beneficial soil for your fruit trees.

Please comment below on anything you enjoyed from this post or experiences that you’ve had working with clay soils.