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Smaller fruit trees can deal with caliche

Question: While preparing my holes to plant my fruit trees, I encountered caliche. I'm able to dig down to about 18 inches by 24 inches across. I filled the hole about halfway with water, and the next morning it was all gone. Everything I read discourages planting over caliche. I was thinking of barrels.

You are fine with a depth that will accommodate the root system (18 inches deep) as long as you have good drainage. Go ahead and plant. As long as these are smaller fruit trees (less than 20 feet or so), you will be fine. They could get by with 12 inches (I would rather see it deeper) if they have to as long as you have good drainage. I would not put them in barrels unless you had to.

Bob Morris is a professor emeritus in horticulture with the University of Nevada and can be reached at extremehort@aol.com. Visit his blog at xtremehorticulture.blogspot.com. For more gardening advice, check the Home section of Thursday's Las Vegas Review-Journal.

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