planting citrus in heavy clay soil?
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Howard Martin
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Help! Great nursery plant in heavy clay soil.
Comments (2)I get plants like that all the time at trades. I'm amazed at what other peoples soil looks like-ours is pure sand. A strong blast from the water hose will break up the clay. You'll get some root damage but the plant should recover with no problem. Congrats on the new material. Tally HO!...See MoreNeed tips dealing with extra heavy clay soil please
Comments (10)I'm not trying to advertise any sort of product here, but I've used a mantis tiller in the past and it does very well at digging through hard clay soil. The soil will obviously have to be amended with some type of organic matter, and the deeper into the soil you get the better. Remember that these plants will want to be as big as possible, and the deeper the roots can go the larger the plant will be. When you're ready to amend your soil (I suggest waiting until fall to do this), do some heavy weeding beforehand. If you try to till the weeds under, they'll come back even bigger after the soil is amended. Anyways, in the fall, get as many bags of leaves as you can and dig them into your soil with the cultivator. In spring, you'll have some good soil for planting....See MoreHEAVY Clay Soil and Full, Afternoon Sun
Comments (4)Pieris are definately not going to be happy in full afternoon sun, especially in zone 7. They like shade in the hottest part of the day. I'm not familiar with Nandina or the type of Abelia you have, but perhaps talking to some good local nurseries would give you a better idea of suitable shrubs. Your site is not particularly difficult; it just requires the right plants....See MoreRoot rot with in-ground citrus; advice to re-plant in clay soil
Comments (8)I agree with Evan and John on all their advice. I think they are nitrogen starved and lacking water. Clay soil is full of lots of mineral nutrients and in CA we rarely have to add phosphorus or potassium, in fact it's not recommended to add phosphorus as it can be too much for most CA soils since there is plenty there already. However, it's almost always lacking Nitrogen. And your trees show classic nitrogen deficiency. Even though your fertilizer is for citrus, 8 is pretty low for nitrogen, at least for in the ground. At that level though you can safely feed monthly, which you may need to do. That amount of water was probably fine when it was cooler but as we are rapidly warming up all through the state, you need to up your irrigation frequency also. Unless you are watering everyday in summer, you most likely will not have root rot issues. But if you just want to be sure, get some Agri-Fos. It's the best product to combat Phytopthora. You can get it at most good garden centers. Usually once or twice a year is good, but of course always read the label. I've had good luck with it on two very old orange trees with chronic gumosis. It's stopped the progression and holds it at bay, and they've actually grown new bark and more canopy since I've been using the Agri-fos twice a year. One last thing, (sorry for the wall of text) the holes and chewed spots look like you may have had an Orange Dog Caterpillar at some time. It's pretty much the only pest that eats citrus leaves. As your trees get bigger the caterpillar is not much of a threat, but they can be hard on young trees....See MoreHoward Martin
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