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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Digging in Rock- Was Tree planting in the driest place on Earth/Digging inrocks

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  • From: T Phillips <canineaficionado@yahoo.com>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Digging in Rock- Was Tree planting in the driest place on Earth/Digging inrocks
  • Date: Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:56:22 -0700 (PDT)

If the trees are smallish, perhaps a raised planter system would be easier and cheaper (once you factor in the aggravation factor). For a whole orchard- well, not so much. We built ours from the beat-to-hell grade of railroad ties- $7 each,  chainsawed to size. Then we lined the planter with landscape fabric, hammer tacked to the top edge. Inside of that, we put flakes of straw to make ourselves think we were keeping some of the preservative away from the growing area, added soil, planted and held our breath. So far, so good, but this is Year One. The 2 gooseberries and 2 hazelnuts survived the winter (Z-5A). Email me off list if you'd like photos of the construction process.
 
I saw a hint in Mother Earth News about putting fence posts above ground using your, um, natural resources. It's the June/July 2008 issue, pg.71- heading-Rocky Fences. Good Luck!
Tina - Northern Colorado Springs, CO, Z-5A


From: Dinsmoor <dinsmoor@sopris.net>
To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Monday, April 20, 2009 3:39:35 PM
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Tree planting in the driest place on Earth/Digging inrocks

Melissa, we are the same here in Colorado where this is a glacial runout with lots of river rock. 3 feet of hole would leave about 2' of topsoil in the bottom. We are using a backhoe for the fence posts. Good luck. Jane
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, April 20, 2009 3:15 PM
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Tree planting in the driest place on Earth/Digging inrocks

Good luck to this restoration program. Another country that needs this is Qatar, where my family spends part of the year. It's a desert, because it virtually never rains, but it's terribly humid, and the mornings can be quite foggy. The humidity makes the extreme heat feel that much worse.

But who needs an environment when you have lots of fossil fuels and air conditioning?

Slightly closer to topic, any advice on digging holes for trees and fenceposts? I might say that my soil is rocky, or I might say that my rocks are dirty. I got a book on building fences that says my posts should be sunk 2 or 3 feet into the ground. We're hiring a guy with some hole-drilling equipment, but I'm having trouble picturing how any equipment wouldn't just break in this ground. We dug a hole for a tree yesterday, which meant we'd dig a few inches through soil and small rocks, and then the shovel would go "clang" so we'd get the pickax and pry out a rock about a foot in diameter and 3 inches thick. Then repeat. This is slow going for wide holes for trees, but doable. I don't see how deep narrow holes for fenceposts would be possible, though.

Melissa




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