Drainage for cherry tree!

 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.

 "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

 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

 wrote:


 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!!!