Planting trees in clay after heavy rain

Hola! Last year I planted the first plot of my syntropic/food forest, around October 15th. Around 600 trees. Here, summer is very hot, and September always have some heavy heavy rain (cold drop). So last year I waited to the heavy rain to pass away and then I planted my trees, some weeks after it. Clay was hard as hell, I did the 600 holes and it was super hard, and I did install drip irrigation, all by myself.

I learned some lessons so for this year I decided to outsource some help to make my life easier. First, I waited for the “cold drop” to pass away. Then I ordered trees and bushes. I hired a guy for installing the irrigation, taking the deip from the underground well to the new plot. And another guy to help me clear weeds. And rotavate, so I could plant the trees basically open a hole with my hands. I had to wait 3 weeks since the rain until the tractor could work the area. Life was looking good. Tractor came one day to subsolate and was supposed to come back some days later to rotavate.

And then, absolutely unexpected, a new heavy rain, cold drop, so everything became mud.

I know that you cant rotavate after a heavy rain like this one, neither plant, as you create air holes. And I guess that I should wait 3 weeks again in order to call the tractor again. The problem is, it is raining again! And I have hundreds of trees waiting. Some came in pots, so I am treating them like any other plant. And some came bare root, so I have them in the garage, watering them every couple of days or three.

But I see the horizon with lots lf rain and I am wondering how to keep on with the plan. I dont want to keep waiting until winter, I am afraid of having casualties before I can rotavate, but neither I want to have the nightmare of planting again in hard conditions like last year.

I was wondering that maybe in some days I could not rotavate, but the soil will be soft and drier, easier to work. I dont mean planting tomorrow, but maybe give it a week or so.

What do you think? What would you do?

If the trees are dormant, I would heel them in. Put them in a mound of dirt and leave out in the cold. Enough dirt to keep the roots from freezing (maybe add a tarp).  If they are in buckets, you can use leaves or wood chips to bury the buckets and cover with a tarp.  Water to keep from drying out.
Good luck I hope you do well in this trying weather.

May be some tractor service has a post hole digger to open the holes for you instead of disturbing all the surface. just digging the holes will preserve the channels that allow water to travel through the clay.

Hey,

Easiest method is to plant above the ground, with rocks to form a mountain,
Here is a link to A simple video of an example!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8X3RbH2qlPU

Dennis Bangham wrote:If the trees are dormant, I would heel them in. Put them in a mound of dirt and leave out in the cold. Enough dirt to keep the roots from freezing (maybe add a tarp).  If they are in buckets, you can use leaves or wood chips to bury the buckets and cover with a tarp.  Water to keep from drying out.
Good luck I hope you do well in this trying weather.

Hi! Tha bare root trees are all citrus, so no dormant. Anyway,  I think I can do the heel-in anyway. I never did it before! What a crazy rain we had

[quote=Alex Moffitt]Hey,

Easiest method is to plant above the ground, with rocks to form a mountain,
Here is a link to A simple video of an example!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8X3RbH2qlPU [/quote]

Hola Alex, thanks for your post. I did that with some avocadoes last spring, but now I am talking hundreds of trees, so it might be really difficult!

But that way works, that is for sure

Hans Quistorff wrote:May be some tractor service has a post hole digger to open the holes for you instead of disturbing all the surface. just digging the holes will preserve the channels that allow water to travel through the clay.

Yes, maybe I can ask for that. Maybe I can dig the hole, and fill it with dry soil, so no air in those holes. Can be a hell of work, but maybe is the way to go

I agree with most.. don't dig into clay... Mound up and plant  in the mound, will eventually get itself further into the clay over time without suffocation shock when/if wet.