all that deep raw mineral soil will develop into good soil in a very short time, well short by tree time. A year with mulch and it will look like top soil and in 2 years, you will have the o, a, b, c soil horizons I outlined above. wet mud and all that aside, it's does not help to back fill with top soil and it does not help to top dress with top soil. since you have a sharp slope, probably the best thing you can do is grow a "green manure" crop like an annual grass mixed with clover or alfalfa for one year on the whole slope. use a light scattering of spoiled hay or commercial top dressing over the seeded area to help it hold and give it something to start with. That will help hold the slope and build the soil. You can rake what you cut or mow, around the tree for more mulch. You original question is how much top soil. Well, the preponderance of testimony here is ... that's a bad idea, which is why no one answered it directly. You will almost always wind up with more problems that you solve doing that. Rebuilding a good soil from the parent soil is the best way to go in almost every case. Also, the manor of planting on a slope that you mention, with the front that open, is not a stable planting for a tree on s slope. You should dig back into the slope making a flat terrace with a flat "cove" back into the hill. plant the tree so that the center of the tree at soil line is back in the cove and so that in a couple of years when the slope erodes back to the tree, the base of the tree will still be at soil line. Use the soil you cut for the "cove" on the down hill side but do not plant in that loose fill. Just let it add stability to the low side, but plant in soil that is a stable part of the hill still. Well, good luck with all this. hope we helped.

Okay, no problems :-) You're watering well through, so that's really great. I'm thinking your potting soil may be a wee bit too heavy. Citrus like very well draining soil, so you might want to re-pot with a cactus mix. I like to use EB Stone's Cactus Mix. If you can't find that, go to a very good quality gardening center/nursery, as pick up their best Cactus Mix. Also, what fertilizer are you using? With container citrus, you're better off using a 1/2 strength liquid fertilizer, and apply with every watering or at least every other watering. Many folks (as well as me), like to use Dyna Gro Foliage Pro. I do every other watering, but I also supplement with Osmocote Plus (must be the Plus formulation as it also has micros and the best NPK ratio for citrus) time release fertilizer. About every 2 to 3 months, I do a good flushing to rinse out any salt build up from the fertilizer. Let's try re-potting with a better draining mix, check the roots to make sure they're not circling the pot, and trim carefully to straighten out, and then apply the fertilizer and see if your little lime tree greens up for you and starts to flush. In order to set and hold fruit, your tree needs a large enough leaf canopy to support fruit development. Patty S.

nancy: I am totally unable to provide any insight on successfully growing fruits in Kansas. I can give you some advise on apples. With apples you can find a lot of different rootstocks. I hate the terms dwarf and semi-dwarf because the range of size control offered by many different rootstocks varies greatly. You will find that all "dwarf" rootstocks for apples are very poor and shallow rooting. They will require irrigation as needed and they will require to be staked for support for the life of the tree. Many "semi-dwarf" apple rootstocks will be ok free-standing and can get by without irrigation. M27.....called the patio dwarf. Apples get 5' maximum. Can runt out at 3' if you do not remove all fruit formed until tree gets taller. M26....Trees can grow 8'-12' tall depending on variety. Can be prone to fireblight. Bud-9...Trees get 8'-10' tall unless kept shorter by pruning. M9337 (Nick 29)....Similar in size to Bud 9 eventually but faster growing. Apple trees can be purchased on all these rootstocks if you do some searching on mail order sites. Avoid the sites that sell "dwarf" or "semi-dwarf" apple trees yet do not tell you what the rootstock is. Many will offer a variety on a multiple selection of rootstocks. In my home orchard I have apples on various rootstocks based on what was available when I bought them. Some of my trees are 5' tall x 7' wide and others are 15' tall. Lots of different choices of height controlling rootstocks are available for apple trees. Commercial orchards in my area are now all growing apples on wire (tall spindle) and planting them 3'-4' apart on M9337 or Bud 9 rootstock. I would think if you choose a variety that grows well under your climatic conditions you should be able to find a rootstock that will work well for your situation. Just be sure to stake the tree and provide irrigation as needed.

big city name might help ... dad ... in z5 metro detroit .... had an apricot tree for 30 years ... and only 3 times did it bloom ... and one time set fruit .. and the tree rats ate them before they matured ... i think the consensus was .. its tendency to early bloom.. and the locations proclivity to frosts fro about a months after bloom time ... you might want to ask you local extension or Ag office is such are viable in your county ... and it might follow.. that is you can glean info on bloom time.. that you use that as an important variable in choosing what type you opt for... you might also research somewhat local orchards near you ... to see what they favor ... now would be the time to try to contact such places.. rather than in spring .. since they arent as busy ... check out this link .. though it confused me a bit since its a NY operation ... if you could find a WI source you might be better off: https://www.mehrabyannursery.com/growing-guide/fruit-trees-state/wisconsin/ generally: https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=fruit+trees+in+WI&ia=web and here is a WI link to fruit trees in WI https://duckduckgo.com/?q=WI+exgtension+office++fruit+trees&t=ffab&ia=web bottom line ... when investing in trees.. you need to think in tree time... which is counted in decades .. whether or not any choice you makes cuts a year or two off the long term ... is worth looking into .... but ma nature has a way of getting back to the decade thing.. no matter what nefarious plans you make to cut the loop ... just be patient.. and it will all come together.. whenever the fates allow ... and do start planning the spray regimen the will be requisite for this size fruit operation ... this is the part that broke down my home orchard dreams ... i just wasnt willing to spray the 3 to 5 times per season that was requisite to grow fruit with success ... live you dream .. and have fun ... ken