Should I add soil every year?

[andy2019]

I add compost every year for my fruit trees. Should I add more soil as well? People always said 50% compost and 50% soil. That’s for containers. How about in the ground? Whenever I add compost, should I add equal amount of soil as well in the ground?

 

[Chuck]

no

 

[alp]

You could add fertiliser (organic ones such as juices made from stinging nettles, comfrey, seaweed and even banana skins) and change the top soil a bit 10 to 20%; not 50% though. You could also work in bonemeal, fish and blood. Don't do it over the winter though unless you still have active growth in your area. Do this in spring. Potted plants could be repotted every 2 to 3 years, with one size up pots. When the plant is already in a big pot, you could remove old soil from the top and add some enriched one. I have found that plants really like aged wood chips. You could tease out the matted root ball and work in a tiny amount of BBF with well aged bark mulch and good quality enriched compost for the bottom. This certainly won't harm the tree or plant. But use BBF sparingly.

 

[DirtMechanic]

@alp is on it. Feeding the soil literally means proteins and carbohydrates as well as compost. Organic matter will arrive as the biota thrives and dies, in addition to any humic material you might have or add.

 

[andy2019]

Right now, every week I sliced the banana peels and put them into water for a few days. After that I pour the juice into each fruit tree and jasmine and bury the banana peels under the mulch. I have 4 fruit trees in the ground and 1 night blooming jasmine in a container so I rotate them every week with the banana juice and peels. I do this all year round, 52 weeks. I'll add compost and additional fertilizer in the spring since the banana thing is not that much, only 4-5 bananas a week.

 

[alp]

@alp is on it. Feeding the soil literally means proteins and carbohydrates as well as compost. Organic matter will arrive as the biota thrives and dies, in addition to any humic material you might have or add.

Er, biota? I can stretch to auxins since I taught my son Science for his GCSE. Biota I need to look up.

 

[DirtMechanic]

I want to confess laziness, as larger words take more typing energy and the risk of misspelling increases by 50% for every letter wasted on woody verbage. I thought is was a decent choice, though only time will tell. Let me help with definition.

Good to hear from you too @alp!