How To Grow A Fruit Tree Faster | The Multiyear Hole

In this video I go over how to plant a fruit tree using the "Multiyear Hole" method which speeds up the establishment of freshly planted trees. This goes against the most common advice which usually is to just dig a hole and put the tree in it (which I think is fine by the way!). Instead I will show you how to select, prep, plant, and prune bare root trees using the multiyear hole method so that you can get a head start on your orchard!

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[jacquesinthegarden]

I wanted to add a few points here on the process, some clarifications, and summarize a lot of the common questions I got.

1) You ABSOLUTLEY can just dig a hole slightly bigger than the root ball, pop the tree in, cover, water, and mulch and call it a day. This is how most people plant trees and it works! I am trying this method because it should speed up the initial root growth and I am curious!

2) It is called a multiyear hole because in an ideal world you would spend 2+ years amending and preparing soil to be perfect. This means amending, cover cropping, mulching, and cycling organic matter into the soil. By following the procedure I show in the video you are shortcutting that time by forcing the soil to be as if it was amended for years. This makes it a multiyear hole as it saves you multiple years of working the soil before planting.

3) If you have true CLAY soil like +70% clay than this method might not be great for you. The surrounding water will drain into the hole you dug and can lead to root rot. If you have some sand and silt with your clay, like I do, then it should be able to drain just fine. There is also the caveat of climate, in San Diego we average 10-12 inches of rain a year so drowning roots is really a non-issue for me!

4) I like to test old rules and see if they apply to me. Many recommendations that people take as fact are based on regional climate, soil, and many other factors. A recommendation that has come up a lot recently is to NEVER put organic matter like compost in the ground as it can cause rotting. I personally disagree, as you test soil over the years you will see organic matter increase year after year at depth. This can even happen in a no-till setting as things like worms dig up and down drawing organic matter through the soil layers and also pooping. Roots that decompose at depth also become organic matter. Double digging involves adding compost at depth and has been practiced for 100s of years with massive production alongside it. It is a all about the details, if you add a straight pile of compost at the bottom and don't mix it and put roots on top of that then it yes it may cause root rot. If you blend it with some topsoil before placing your roots then the odds of root rot decrease dramatically. It is all about the details!

5) I love your questions and I will do the best to answer as many as I can! Don't be afraid to ask questions and challenge me because I truly enjoy the discussion it creates and I won't be right about everything!

[justineheinrichs]

So interesting to watch. I grew up in a family that was forever planting trees. Many wind shelters. I was always told that yes the depth is important but making the hole wider was paramount. My Mom was an avid gardener. It will be lovely to watch the progress of your fruit trees. Thank you for sharing this ❤❤❤

[IVOrganic]

We are SO PROUD to be a part of your growing success! Happy Gardening 2024, Jacques! 🌱🙌

[johnna-lt]

I also learned that it is very important to heavily prune bare-root trees when planting them because when they were torn out of the earth they were growing in, a large part of the root was torn off as well. So the root system that is left is not large enough to support the canopy above it anymore, hence the need to severely prune the canopy. It made a lot of sense to me.

[jeannamcgregor]

I just planted a cherry tree this morning in my NorCal 10a garden! I didn't think I could grow cherries here (too warm) but this little Royal Crimson cherry only needs 200-300 hours of chill and is self-fruiting. It's a brand new cultivar and I can't wait to get some fruit! My pear and apple both fruited on the second year so we'll see. Sadly I just dug a plain hole.

[GeorgeLucas]

It doesn't make the hater comments easier, but the best scientists always get at least a little heat. I appreciate you testing things like this, it's the best part about the channel tbh. If we aren't trying new things and showing the data to people, then wtf are we even doing.

[MAA-dtyo]

Growfully With Jenna did a great video on this too and refers to it as digging a $50 hole for a $5 tree

[epicgardening]

Jokes on you, I made a special little graft on your tree in the middle of the night…

[Stewart]

One thing i see to often is people digging a multi year hole and only filling the hole with compost, this can be a problem for a couple years as the tree has no access to mineral/metals rich soil.. its crucial that you mix in a little sand gravel or whatever was in the native soil. If this isnt done then the tree mY struggle to grow and balance itself. Love the video, cant wait to see updates on the tree's growth next year 👍🏽

[GeorgeLucas]

Geologist shoutout with the rite in the rain book. I still use them for all of my notes and logging as well and especially in the garden.

[gammayin]

I like the depth of detail in your explanations - easier to hear than the newly gardener stuff. Thanks.

[meadrockbreaker]

Thank you! Perfect timing since I have 12 bare root fruit trees coming in tomorrow

[deltorres]

So when I do a tree which I should be planning a tree soon, I don’t remember who told me if it was a landscaper or someone but it works when I plan a fruit tree or any tree flower tree in the hole I make very large I also put a 2 inch PVC pipe in there to come all the way up from the root to the top and as you put your soil and your compost and whatever mold or whatever you want When you want to water that tree, you can water directly into the PVC pipe and it goes down to the roof now I have done this with a flowering tree before the orchid flower and that plant where that tree grew so fast and it was beautiful until we got a freeze real bad here in Texas But that concept of putting a PVC pipe in with your bearing the soil in and to feed it just feed directly to the pipe it works. I’m telling you it works. I don’t know if you’ve ever done that before if you heard it but I’ve done it. I haven’t planted trees in so long, but I’m getting ready to plant a crabapple and I will try this method with the crabapple.

[catherinedonley]

A lady who had much more plant experience than myself once warned me about digging when the ground was too wet, like what you were saying. She said doing so would create a basin that wouldn’t drain because of the heavy clay soil we have in NE Ohio.

[jglakecity]

Down right impressive how she just picked her up like a baby! That's no easy task! Kudos to her for being such a kind soul!

[midwestribeye]

Last year, I grew 23 apple, 17 pear, and 3 plum trees from seed. I planted 2 of the plums along with 3 service berries. I'll be picking out my healthiest 2 pears and apples to plant this fall. I also have 4 Pawpaw trees I started from seed last year. We'll see if they make it through the winter before I plant them in the yard. Today, I planted 15 peach pits that had sprouted in the fridge. Hopefully, I'll have fruit in 4-7 years. Thanks for the video!

[earthnailsandtails]

Jacques! Great real stuff. As a person experienced growing fruit trees in heavy clay and attempting this multi year hole method be careful about root rot! I know this probably isnt of a concern typically in San Diego but if you get a lot of rain, this is going to be an area where your water collects since the rest of the ground subsoil is much more dense and compact. It’s gonna take a lot longer for water from a heavy rain to permeate through your native soil and more than likely it’s going to collect in your Hole that you just dug. You may want to dig a deeper hole near the trees hole that will help collect water or you can add another swale to re-direct overwatering away from the tree.

[tomkelly]

I used to work at a bare root tree place and the one thing that was missing in the video (otherwise you did a fantastic job) was to bury the tree to the right height and as you add the soil around the roots, shake the tree up and down a bit. Vibrating it to get soil contact all around the roots. It looked to me like you had a little soil cave over the roots but when you poured your water on it found the air pocket right below the tree. Also I put cardboard under my mulch to help to keep the creeping weeds at bay for a while.

[geeyoupee]

You should watch some of Gary matsuoka's YouTube videos on 'ideal soil'. He says no compost or organic matter in the hole (peat is an exception). As it's decomposing, it will use up all the oxygen and cause roots to die or rot.

Even most resources say not to amend the soil for trees as they tend to not want to grow outwards. If you have clay soil, you want to amend with anything that allows for drainage or aeration. Sand, perlite, pumice, lava rocks, etc.

I think holes amended with compost are why do many avocado trees die.

[wcla]

(aka Cathy Brock). Thank you for this full planting video, I am looking to put in fruit trees, this was very beneficial and educational. Would love to see more video's as you plant out the rest of you new trees.