Q. We moved to Las Vegas four years ago and had a
professional landscape our backyard. We now have eight magnolias as well peach
trees throughout our backyard surrounded by large rock up against the trunks. This
rock makes it difficult to fertilize the trees and pick the fruit. Our gardener
told us the trees are not getting enough water. Should I pull the rocks away
from the trunk of these trees and put wood mulch around their trunks?
A. First off, both peach trees and magnolias will not
like the rock laid on the surface of the soil and surrounding the trees. You
will see them start to suffer from this practice in three to five years. Both
prefer an “organic” mulch that can decompose into the soil and improve it. That
means a four-inch-deep layer of woodchips.
When
buying peach trees, they should be on a semi-dwarfing rootstock such as
Citation. If bought on this dwarfing rootstock, they can be planted about ten
feet apart, pruned to keep them small, the soil enriched with a good quality
compost at planting time and the soil covered with four inches of woodchips,
not rock. So yes, pull the rock back about three feet from the trunk and lay
down four inches of woodchips instead.
Magnolias?
Eight of them? Wow. I’m assuming you are talking about southern magnolia with
its beautiful flowers. Even in Georgia, where they belong, one specimen tree is
more than enough for a large yard. Magnolias growing in Georgia can get 75 feet
tall with a similar spread! These trees are NOT meant for backyard, or front
yard, landscapes (desert or no desert) unless you have a huge property and
water is cheap.
As these
trees get older (if they do) they will become a nightmare to maintain and
water. Get rid of them now before they get fully established. One tree is
enough to satisfy your curiosity and you will probably remove it in less than
ten years anyway.
Let’s
say you keep the rocks. Using large rocks around plants has both pluses and minuses.
If they are large enough, fertilizer or compost can be flushed on to the
surface of the soil by washing it through the rock with a stream of water from
a hose. Large rocks are also great for keeping people out. But you are right.
Large rock makes it difficult to harvest and prune fruit trees. In my opinion,
rock larger than 3/8-inch diameter is difficult for walking safely.
Great points as always. What made it tough my decades as a landscape architect are those who point to 1 or 2 examples of such plants as magnolias, Japanese maples, aspens, etc growing well on rocks. They argue no matter how much time you spend educating them and showing them the majority of examples that fail, more suitable trees, and so on.
Yes," and justifiers point to the few survivors and say…."See!!!" and ignore the thousands that died. But sellers are happy to sell more!