I know we're in the midst of the PNW darkness but, really, spring is just around the corner.

My wife and I plan on planting several fruit trees this spring and I want to make sure I'm ready when the time comes. We've talked about planting several along the side of a long, straight driveway. The problem we have is that we have A LOT of clay in our soil and the spot we've looked at tends to have periods of standing water during and after heavy rain events, particularly in the winter.

My thought was that we still might be able to plant in this location if I built some large, above the ground tree boxes? I wouldn't put a bottom on the boxes and, eventually, the tree roots would make their way to our native, soggy soil but would at least have part of the tree well above the water table.

Does anyone have any experience with this? I suspect choosing the right rootstock will also be important to my chances of success.

-AP

Talk to raintree and or WSU extension for your area on types. Your boxes need to be big enough to support the full canopy in high wind and not tip over. You also have to consider that Your root mass is calculated at approx 1 ' out from the base for every fit of height. IMHO it is better to replace your soil and drain it than go with boxes . I have 30 fruit tress all started from raintree whips 20 years ago . Some tolerate wet feet more than others. The tree usually lives but is weakened and the bugs and diseases hammer it. Pears are pesticide and fungicide intensive but there are some heirloom varieties that do well.

TreeBoxes ...or simple mounds of dirt over the root ball which after settling that will sufficiently cover the root ball.

I used to do a lot of tree planting for an Arborist @ the Triangle Nursery in Bellevue and the rule was to never dig into the clay at all when planting. This is because the basin in the clay will simply create a clay pot of sorts, resulting in a puddle and drown the rootball out and kill the tree. So you can plant with a minimal hole into the dirt and mound of good soil over the rootball no problemo. Stake the saplings for a year and you should be good to go.

tree boxes are a pain in the ass, SGs other option would be the route to go IMO, the faster the tap root gets into solid ground, the better off you will be, with a box, that could be 1 to 2 years to fully establish itself...the mound method allows the root to start faster downward growth into the solid soil, and as he said, stake them, just make sure you dont leave the stake straps too tight, and dont leave the stakes in too long...

since you wont be eating anything right away, i would suggest using a good organic/hydroponic fertilizer solution to speed growth and such, also, Superthrive will only add to your success.. when the tree is established, you can back completely off the fertilizer, but still run the Superthrive...

how you prune your trees also dictates how fast and how well they grow..

Btw now is the time to plant not spring. Don' t use sand to amend your soil use humus and if its from compost make sure no apple pruning or apples were a part of the mix.

The only real good long term solution is drainage. I have a lot of fruit trees. Not as many as TJ, of course.

I planted six trees, apples, pears and cherries in a poorly drained portion of my property. All died eventually. Some lived for as long as six years but in the end they couldn't stand having their roots submerged for weeks at a time.

I think your only good, long term solution is a big French drain - maybe two.

TJ is right, that now is the time to plant. You can add gypsum to help break up the clay particles but drainage is the answer.

Dave check out documentary " the botany of desire" it's all about apples and how they got here. You be surprised by a few facts.

Thank you all for the advice. I'll have to figure how to proceed from here and seems like my plans should be revised.

+100 for the WSU publications. WSU has an invaluable Mt. Vernon grow site publication for fruit tree growing in the Puget sound. I have learned through a lot of trial and error with growing fruit trees in our climate. I grew up in Central Washington with orchards everywhere and thought I could grow the same wonderful fruit trees here. Not so. The climate here reeks havoc on dry climate trees. My wife loves goldens, but they are prone to serious disease problems here from all the moisture. I was able to find the Chehalis apple. It is the wonderful western Washington golden delicious equivalent through the WSU publication. Every tree in my orchard that was the ranked highest by WSU has done well with the exception of the Puget gold apricot. I chose one Jonagold that was ranked worth trying, but warned it could develop problems has struggled. Two losses out of 27 trees aint bad. I go organic as possible with little disease issues. Planter boxes are OK for dwarf and sentinal varietes. Check out those publications. http://extension.wsu.edu/maritimefruit/Pages/default.aspx
Good luck

Solid advice on the WSU proven Western WA varieties. I too used them as a guide and have had great success with the varieties they recommended and the PRI varieties. The Central Washington favorites simply will not do well here unless you plan to spray as much as 10 times a year.

I agree Chehalis is a good one but does not keep well at all. Others that have done very well for me are Spartan, Johnagold, Melrose, and Liberty.
I strongly suggest you go with a semi-dwarf rootstock – unless cider is in your plans. The standard sized trees get too big, are harder to handle and produce waaaay more fruit than most families want.
Spartan is my family’s favorite. It looks like an undersized Red Delicious but is much tastier, keeps okay and is very disease resistant.

Google PRI apples for other good choices.

Also consider trees with several varieties on them. You can buy them from Raintree that way or PM me for a lesson in grafting. You bring the beer.
Also consider plums. The old standby Italian does well here and Shiro excels.

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/pri/


Ketaman: have you found an apricot that does well here? I do okay with peaches, and plums, but my Puget Gold died.

Dave Vedder: I gave up on apricots after my Puget Gold became totally infested with some kind of bark beetle larvae. Little turds killed it pretty quick. I have had good success with frost peaches and I have one newer variety that looks promising. My European plums and prunes have done great when our springs are mild. I have about 6 or more mason bee blocks that help with early pollination. Totally agree with you on the Chehalis. Its a great for fresh eating. I have Akane, Liberty, Enterprise, Chehalis , and the Jonagold. The only problems I have with the apples some apple scab on the jonagold, Apple maggots like the yellow Chehalis, and too many apples. I have no apple color maggot problems with my red apples only the gold/ yellow. Maybe they are color sensitve maggot flies?

I remove anything with apple maggot because it is too much work to stay on top of and ahead of them. I know people that bag their fruit and tangle trap . Too much work for what you get. Try another cultivar .

You need drainage that is a must .I would go with a m-9 root stock, You will need to stake them ,but well worth the trouble . Jonagold Decosters are a great way to go ,also their are some early braburns that will work here . also Honey Crisp . To keep your trees in good condition apply lime every year and there are good organic sprays out there but the best is Lime Sulfur. BTW apple maggot will attack any tree, Apple maggot love all apple trees . You can either use traps which is what we do, or safercide insecticide which is organic.

I second Sodfarmer on the fact apple maggots will attack any apple. I have problems with every variety I grow as well as all pears. Some years I use the nylon covers, others I spray. Neither solution is great. But as I am down to seven apple trees the nylon socks are my first choice. I can thin as I apply the socks. Its a PITA, but . . .

I had terrible maggot problems on all of my apples, but never has been a problem on the pears, Comiche and bartlett. Peaches used to give high yields of perfect fruit, but old trees gave out and new ones I planted have disease problems. I dont like Frost because it seems mealy to me compared to the Reliance, but reliance requires spray for curl.

Ive seen a lot of fruit trees in my area growing in some really crappy clay soil as long as there is some good soil mounded up to plant in.

I don't have issues with AM's . Working with WSU they say they do not hit pears but there is a look a like that does. They say get rid of the early cultivars and any Hawthorne trees in the area , their number one target. Locate your orchard as far as possible from other orchard stock as the prime method of infestation is immigration . Trap the perimeter . The flys lay their eggs and the larvae drop to the ground and burrow to pupate. So disrupting or treating the soil is essential.

Make sure you clean up any apples that have fallen on the ground, that is also a major host for AM's

I still have a ton of Diazanon left. I wont spray it on my apples but wonder if it might be good to spray on the ground around the trees a few times each summer, especially after each big rain?

That would be a good idea

I have considered pulling out my old Diazanon from the garage. I used to use chemicals frequently at my old house. I had the best garden. Virtually pest free. I quit after the wife always complained about her feet feeling numb after she walked through it wearing flip flops. Caused me to reconsider some of my chemical treatment options. Now whet to do with the prebanned Diazinon? I will probably drop it off at the local county haz spot. I have let my chickens run the orchard last two years and the bug level and dropped fruit laying around has been a lot less.