milehigh: Rocks themselves aren't that big a deal. What counts is what the rest of the soil is like. If it drains well and has reasonable water holding capacity, then all will be fine. Just stick the trees in between the rocks and don't worry about them. You've invested so much effort you can't back out now.

If you just can't bear all those rocks near the surface bury them. Bring in enough good topsoil to make beds about 12 inches high. This will be a great help if you think drainage might be marginal.

Poor drainage is 100 times worse than rocks.

The Fruitnut

No big deal. Every fruit tree I have including peaches are planted in awfull rock. They have all grown fine. In fact I think it may offer one advantage. I think the poor soil may have a bit of a dwarfing effect and may make the trees bear fruit a little sooner especially the pears. This is just my own analasis but it seems to hold some truth. You may want to add a little compost at planting time and mulch the trees in but all will be fine.

Scape

Okay, thank you for your input. We can't dig with with shovels but I've got a back-hoe being delivered this afternoon. Maybe the rocks are a good thing since the other soil is clay; draining won't be as much of a problem.

All I can say is these trees better produce a LOT of good fruit! If I had known how hard it would be to just get a few trees planted I would have never done it. Hopefully in this case ignorance is bliss!

After the blizzard last week where we got a foot of snow, it's was almost 80 degrees today. The soil is moist but the air is warm. It's perfect timing!

I have to deal with rocky soil all the time being in the New England area where the soil actually sprouts rocks. I'm a bit puzzled at how rocks make it impossible to dig if there is also a substantial amount of soil. Thats what a pick is for.

If the rock-soil is so impenetrable that the only way to deal with it is to use a back-hoe I suggest you plant the trees up on mounds because those holes will fill with water and the trees will blow over once they get size, if my experience is any guide.

Once the roots are spread throughout the raised soil it actually ends up anchoring fairly well even when the soil's sopping underneath.

Milehigh-
You should post some pictures if at all possible... Thats a lot of heavy equipment for planting trees!

It's not that we can't dig, it's just that we can't dig 50 holes. We were exhausted just digging a few, so this will get the trees and small fruits in the ground where they belong before the soil is frozen.

I just wanted to know if my trees even had a chance in this soil. I guess I've been pretty spoiled at all the other houses I've lived at in Denver. The soil is usually clay, but the only thing we ever dug up was fossils!

We'll see how it goes. At this point, like fruitnut said, I can't back out now.

milehigh: You just spent a yr digging trees out of this yard. Unless you have poor drainage your fruit trees will grow just as well as what you dug out. I won't want to dig in all those rocks either. But your trees won't care. Trust us. Everyone is telling you the same thing.

Good luck!!!

The Fruitnut

As everyone has said, don't worry about the rocks. Just struggle with the planting. Unless it is moist, I find clay much harder to dig than gravel. If you have heavy sand and gravel, you will have to water more, but the trees will do fine. My topsoil runs from 6-12 inches deep, then I start moving into lime followed by ancient river gravel/sand.

Here are a couple pictures of what I planted into, going down 6 feet when I put in a livestock waterer and water hydrant for the orchard and a shot of one of the cherry trees growing there for encouragement.

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beeone: Your work is as impressive as your soil is awful!!! Thanks for showing that. I've always been impressed with your tenacity and now doubly so. Keep up the good work. I'm betting milehigh will be posting about how good her trees look real soon.

The Fruitnut

Thanks for the kind words, Fruitnut.

I want to encourage Milehighgirl to plant despite her rocks. Digging can be a chore and a post hole digger or backhoe will be handy with the number of holes she needs to dig, but once they are in, the trees should do great. Best of all, with rocky ground, poor drainage usually isn't a problem!

For fifty trees I'd probably use a back hoe as well. Hope you made an effort to keep the top soil on top as a back hoe can really screw things up by putting your good soil (or at least the better soil) in the wrong place.

Milehigh, I'm really happy that after all the back and forth you've made the plunge. When you begin to enjoy your bounty all the effort will only enhance your appreciation of the results.

I do hope you are back filling with your native soil, and resist the urge to fill the holes with something exotic. Your trees need to grow in your native soil and the sooner they start the better. The soil here is also very rocky so much so I can not use a ditch digger as the rocks just jam it up. My trees don't mind it at all. Al

my soil is worse than yours appears to be and trees grow fine once the hole is dug. I've found the easiest way to make the tree holes is to use a bobcat with a 12" auger. a larger auger greatly increases the frequency of encountering a rock large enough to make you move and start a new hole.

go about 2-1/2' deep and then widen the hole with a shovel and let the soil drop in.

worked for me.

So I also have a similar question. Im 24yrs old and have decided this is the year I start my lawn and garden (extreme beginner here!). Ive started digging up my old lawn (I should say old weed! Thats all that was there) my soil varys alot, from clay soil full of rocks to rather sandy soil. My yard is also very unlevel (tilting down towards my house!), so im currently ripping it all up (bigger job than first anticipated) and than plan to bring in topsoil and get it level. I have a very large yard (only doing the front to begin with). My clay soil is riddled with rocks (rocks varying in size from 3-30mm). In certain sections 5-10cm down is almost unbreakable, clay just full of rocks and so compact I have trouble getting the pick through! so finally to my questions! One is will these rocks effect the lawn I intended to put in? I have been going through the soil and pulling them out along with the weeds, and that seems to be the most time consuming part! Question two is about the clay/rock clumps 5-10cm down, do I need to dig those up and remove the rocks? Or is it deep enough down it wont effect my lawn?

Sorry for such a long post, but im clueless when It comes to gardening, and ive been spending hours removing rocks! Dont want to do it if it isnt nessacary! Any help is appreciated :)

You want to remove any large rocks that could settle through the soil you plan on putting down. I would worry more about the rocks damaging your lawnmower so just try and keep the surface rocks away.

Fruit trees characteristically have relatively shallow root systems. Additionally, the roots will find their way around rocks and even boulders. My soil is so rocky I suspect it could be mined for gravel and my trees grow fine as long as I add nitrogen annually.