Drainage for cherry tree!

[mm]

Bought a cherry tree today.

Read that drainage is important. I have a lot of clay. Even if I fix up the soil in the hole I make, I'm worried about everything under that.

Would it do any good to hammer a piece of pvc 1" i.d. pipe into the hole so that it comes out the side of the hill about 6 feet away, or if it's farther than 6 feet, I would use a second pipe to make up to

14 feet.

Is there a reason not to do this?

I figure it will drain liquid water that pools below the tree near the end of my pipe, but leave the soil as dampt as it should be. Isn't that what "adequate drainage" means?

My house or at least my yard must have been built partly on landfill, because the property of my me and my townhouse neibhbors is flat, and the property line is straight, but then all along the line it falls off 6 feet. The sump pump discharge already comes out the side of the hill, but that's a 6-inch black corrugated pipe and I'm sure they dug a trench or put it in before they filled over it.

[mm]

Bought a cherry tree today.

Read that drainage is important. I have a lot of clay. Even if I fix up the soil in the hole I make, I'm worried about everything under that.

Would it do any good to hammer a piece of pvc 1" i.d. pipe into the hole so that it comes out the side of the hill about 6 feet away, or if it's farther than 6 feet, I would use a second pipe to make up to

14 feet.

Is there a reason not to do this?

I figure it will drain liquid water that pools below the tree near the end of my pipe, but leave the soil as dampt as it should be. Isn't that what "adequate drainage" means?

My house or at least my yard must have been built partly on landfill, because the property of my me and my townhouse neibhbors is flat, and the property line is straight, but then all along the line it falls off 6 feet. The sump pump discharge already comes out the side of the hill, but that's a 6-inch black corrugated pipe and I'm sure they dug a trench or put it in before they filled over it.

[Sonny]

"Wild" black cherry or marble size "domestic" cherry?

If the tree is next to a down slope, you should have no problem. If your soil is compacted clay, then amend the soil with compost about

12' in diameter, maybe 1' deep, around the tree. If the tree is small, you don't have to compost the whole area now, just about a foot or so beyond the root spread, then compost further out each year or when it's convenient. Concentrate the composting to the down hill slope.

Poor drainage of fruit trees, especially smaller trees like (more noticeable on) plum, peach and the like, disallows the bark to be sloughed off each year. Each year the bark needs to slough itself off, though you may not notice it. If the bark isn't sloughed off, a lichen/algae symbiotic growth developes on the exterior and this, alone, could eventually kill the tree. Poor drainage disallows the roots to breathe properly, also, causing poor or stunted growth, i.e., an unhealthy tree, which is more susceptible to disease and/or bug infestation, repair (of itself) of broken limbs, scarred bark, etc., i.e., natural or man-made trauma type physical damage.

If the compacted soil in your immediate area is something other than compacted clay (landfill), then the landfill soil may be suspect to having lime added to it during the construction of the building, so that the soil would hold up/support the foundation properly. Might have the treated (limed) soil well beyond the building edge... out to the slope (drop off).

Sonny

[Sonny]

Addendum: Most of the important roots needing to be drained are within a foot or so of the soil surface. You don't have to worry about what is deeper than a foot or so.

Sonny

[clare]

From what my lawnmower finds when I mow around my roughly 50 year old cherry tree, I'd say about half are within 6 inches "one way or the other" of the surface!!!

[Jim Elbrecht]

It might be good exercise. But it won't help the drainage any. I can't see it from here-- but a swale or french drain might help.

Otherwise, amend the soil as Sonny & Smitty said.

You might need the pipe and time to do something else?

A 1" pipe should fill itself up pretty good in a single season. If you can mow the grass over it the day after it rains, you're probably ok.

Jim

[Joe]

One of the packaged soil conditioners a local garden shop sells for our clayish Illinois soil is simply calcium sulfate. For years I thought that when some our area contractors were grinding up drywall scrap and tilling it into the backfill that they were trying to ease the load in the Dumpsters. Guess I was wrong, because now those places look just fine and it was likely the gypsum in the wallboard did the trick. Improving soil and drainage might be your best approach.

Joe