Planting palms in clay and/or rocky clay

[MJSanDiego]

Welcome to my new topic! You can research all sorts of varying methods for transplanting palms from the nursery pot into your clay soil. I wanted to share this method I came up with which has worked well for me in my rocky clay.  I dont think it's a common method. Say you buy a Queen palm (surprise 🤣)  in a 1 gallon pot. It's like 7 inch diameter. I dig the smallest hole possible. 8 inches wide. And depth should be even or an inch raised but not sunk lower. I do gently tease out any tightly bound roots (perhaps unnecessary). Lower the root ball in. I fill the little narrow gap around the root ball with a 50/50 mixture of native soil and Gromulch from The Home Depot. Make sure to leave no air pockets. Very narrow area yes.... so use a dry mixture with all the finest soil. Bust up any big clumps until its like sandy before mxing and filling in very slowly!! This narrow amended layer allows the roots to easily penetrate at first. Once the roots penetrate that thin layer they are basically in the clay beyond. So it's a minimal amendment minimal digging method. The goal is to get the roots established into your clay soil as soon as possible. I found without that little amended sliver, the plant experiences initial difficulty and more shock compared with using all clay in your sliver, and harder to water properly. Watering properly is key especially at first as you water at the trunk base which is the initial potting soil root ball on SLOW DRIP and water will wick into your amended sliver and then into the clay beyond. I do throw gromulch on top every month or so but keep it a few inches away from the trunk. That Gromulch at Home Depot is really good stuff, it says it's for organic gardening. Just sharing my own method of success!. Feel free to share your methods, thank you!

[flplantguy]

Your method isn't far off from what a tree necrologist i studied under recommended for planting. We were in the dessert so the only difference was the level of planting had to be EXACTLY right. Too high and too dry, too low and suffocate the roots, so an inch above could be an issue. We used composted cotton burrs and a metal pipe on the hose end to work the soil into every air space and provide the extra help for establishment. IF we used block fertilizers we broke them up, but i never use them now just granular slow release.  My sand i have now is another matter but i dont miss the hard digging (especially in caliché soil).