North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Alan Haigh" <alandhaigh@gmail.com>]

This is addressed to Mark's question.  If you have enough slow release N it can have the same affect of a smaller quantity of quick release.  I'm not suggesting that compost is a dangerous fertilizer for fruit trees, quite the contrary in reasonable quantities, but I've seen vegetable gardens plenty of times with a OM percentage well over 6%.  Back when I was primarily a vegetable grower I almost didn't believe you could grow vegetables productively in a "natural" soil.  The blacker the better!

 

Trees are very adaptable to a wide range of soils and develop different kinds of root structure in response to the soils properties.  In sandy soils the roots are proportionately less fibrous as they send out more large diameter root to access a larger volume of soil.  In heavier, richer soil the roots have less structural wood and a higher ratio of fine hair roots.  They don't have to go as far to get what they need.

 

In spite of this adaptability, when the soil is too rich and deep, as in the corn belt (think Iowa), there is a battle with excessive vigor in fruit trees.  The hobbyist orchardist certainly has the potential of going overboard in the creation of a "perfect soil" for their prized fruit trees.