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Planting Fruit Trees On Clearings

Categories: Fruit Growing

We wish to plant orchard trees on land cleared this winter: manzanita

and chaparral, but also some oaks and large pines and groves of small

pines. We have been told that trees planted under such conditions, the

ground containing the many small roots that we cannot get out, would not

do well. Are the bad effects of the small roots liable to be serious;

also, would lime or any other common fertilizer counteract the bad

e
fects?



Proceed with the planting, as you are ready for it, and take the chances

of root injury. It may be slight; possibly even absent. Carefully throw

out all root pieces, as you dig the hole, and exclude them from the

earth which you use in filling around the roots, and in the places where

large trees stood, fill the holes with soil from a distance. Much

depends upon how clean the clearing was. No considerable antiseptic

effect could be expected from lime and the soil ought to be strong

enough to grow good young trees without enrichment. The pear, fig and

California black walnut are some of the most resistant among

fruit-bearing trees, and these may usually be planted with safety. The

cherry is the most resistant of the stone fruits. The "toadstool"

disease occasionally affects young apple trees recently set out, but it

is not usually serious on established trees.



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