Question From:
Natalie in Montrose, Melbourne VIC
Nature of problem:
Wanting to plant a fruit orchard on an old driveway
Type of Plant (if known):
Various Fruit Trees
Symptoms of Plant Illness (please try NOT to diagnose your problems yourself):
–
Soil Type (e.g. sandy, clay or loam) OR Potting Mix Type:
Brick rubble & pebble mixed with heavy clay
How often do you water the plant:
–
How many hours of sunlight does the plant get each day:
8
What type of plant is it:
–
How long since you planted it:
–
Have you fertilised? If so, with what and when:
–
Is the plant indoors or outdoors:
outoors
Is the plant in a pot or in the ground:
ground
What other treatments have you given the plant:
–
Upload photo if available:
IMG_0779.JPG
Other Comments:
Hi,
I’m hoping someone can give me some advice, my husband and I just purchased 3/4 of an acre in Montrose VIC. I had an area set aside where I wanted to make a fruit orchard, I think I can fit about 8 rows of plants there (about 35 trees). The problem is that the previous owner was using this area as an additional driveway for his truck. As the clay soil was obviously slippery he has imported truckloads of brick, concrete, tile & pebble rubble and driven over it for the past 4 years compacting the soil. I had an earth moving contractor our yesterday who is estimating $3000 to remove the rubble. Is there another way around this? Will the fruit trees grow in rubble if I fertilise them regularly? I was planning on tilling the soil, but no tiller i know of would get through brick rubble so now i’m stuck… this was supposed to be the dream permaculture property… Any advise would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Natalie
Answer: You really need professional help, Natalie. It might be possible to incorporate the rubble into the soil but you need someone who is very up to date with using road base & rubble in soil mixes. I don’t think that there are any of these people in Victoria, they are only in NSW so far. You need to deep rip the ground to a depth of at least 40 cm with a drott or a heavy tractor. In theory, the rubble should mix in with the soil and make it much better. I very much doubt that any earth moving contractor would know this. Good luck with the arguments with the earth mover guys. You could save heaps of money and loads of arguments if you pay a friendly neighbour with a tractor or drott to do the job. Good luck, Don.
