# Digging in hard clay--tips?



## gatrapper (Mar 1, 2015)

Hey Y'all,

Have to plant some trees within the next week or so. The ground where I want to plant is some sort of red clay/concrete hybrid. 

Thought I was going to have a buddy come with his tractor and auger, but he backed out.

Tried using a shovel the other day and I could only get a few inches down. Any tips on how to get the ground dug up without killing myself.


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## SouthGAMan (May 5, 2014)

I feel for you since my topsoil was sold off my 10 acres around 1970 all I have in most spots is HARD clay. I actually seen a utility worker break down in tears from trying to dig a hole in my ground. There are a few ways that we have found to have some success. The best way imho for concrete like clay is to use either a pickaxe or a log splitting maul to break it up a bit. This works mainly for digging with a shovel afterwards (getting out the broken pieces and seeing if you can make headway then. It doesn't work however if you are planning on digging a deep hole with a pair of hole diggers. IF you have to use hole diggers then I suggest maybe a digging bar with a mallet or hammer unless you have a very heavy set of hole diggers and the muscle to use it. My health is such that I have a great bit of difficulty trying to dig anything of note in our ground. I normally utilize one of my sons for that job nowadays. 

Good luck!


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

Use a mattock to break it up and a shovel to move the chunks, or hire a mini excavator


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

Water.

Every day fill the shallow holes that you have dug and let it sit for a couple of hours. Then dig each hole deeper until you have dug out the softened earth. That will give you a few inches per day without killing yourself. Do not let it sit until the next day or the water may have soaked in too deeply and the soil may be hard again!

A sprinkler works better, though it the clay is REALLY hard the water may run off and be wasted. Even with the sprinkler the water will need time to soak in and soften the earth.

For my own yard I cheated: I waited until after it had rained all day and then I paid my oldest $5 a stake.


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## Explorer (Dec 2, 2003)

Terri said:


> Water.
> 
> Every day fill the shallow holes that you have dug and let it sit for a couple of hours. Then dig each hole deeper until you have dug out the softened earth. That will give you a few inches per day without killing yourself. Do not let it sit until the next day or the water may have soaked in too deeply and the soil may be hard again!
> 
> ...


That is what we call a three day hole, water - dig - water.


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## Darren (May 10, 2002)

Spud bar. Works on clay and rocks if you keep at it. I don't care how hard the clay is, the bar will break it out.


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## where I want to (Oct 28, 2008)

Clay is relative I know but I dug mine using a shovel to make a shallow dip then use a hand auger. The auger works fine until you hit some rocks then I switch to a rock breaker bar and clam shell post hole digger. Then back to the auger as soon as the rocks passed.


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## Rectifier (Jun 12, 2011)

Handheld gas auger is worth having around any farm. Water/auger/more water/repeat.
In the spring, you can skip the watering and it will go a lot better as it's all evenly damp. I waited 6 months to auger the deep hole for my new electrical pole at my quonset, and it was worth it.

It will come out in great sticky gobs if it's anything like our clay. The auger will try to bog down and get stuck. 2 men or one great beast of a man may be required to handle the auger. If it's not damp enough, a power auger will glaze it. Now you have a sort of ceramic at the bottom that you have to break with a digging bar.

I cannot imagine digging a narrow post/tree hole in clay by hand. If you are digging a trench or wide hole, clay picks are the way to go. They are like a thin mattock and concentrate enough force to shave off the clay.

I hope your trees do OK in the clay.


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## idigbeets (Sep 3, 2011)

Go rent an auger...


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## po boy (Jul 12, 2010)

Dig-water-dig or wait til it rains


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## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

A power auger will just hop around on dry clay and then whip you off the handles when it hits wet clay. There is a recent thread about getting a tractor mounted auger stuck in clay. 
But your problem is only beginning. If you dig a nice hole for your trees, what are you going to use to fill the hole? Top soil? Potting soil? Sort of hard to turn that clay into dust that will fill in around the trees' roots. But that hole is now a bowl, a place for rain to run across the clay surface and settle into your tree holes, killing them. Trees won't grow in a bucket of water. then where will the roots go? If it is a solid as you say, I doubt the roots will branch out, leaving you with a root bound tree.


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## RomeGrower (Feb 27, 2013)

I use a maddock and a heavy iron bar. I've been able to plant a lot of trees in Georgia with that combination.


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## charged (May 7, 2012)

Its easiest to dig in the red clay when it is wet. When I dig a hole for a tree, I dig down as far as I can with a standard shovel, then I use a small auger attached to a cordless drill. Sometimes it will catch a rock and durn near twist your wrist off so you got to hang on tight. After using the auger, I dig some more with the shovel. One advantage to using the auger is that you don't end up with a clay bowl for your tree to sit in. The auger holes allow roots to penetrate deeper in different directions.


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## Use Less (Nov 8, 2007)

Yep, easier when wet. Still heavy  Remember to break the surface of the hole to help the roots go through. It really isn't helpful to dig a wider hole than recommended, btw. You just end up with a big clay "plant pot", and the roots go round & round, instead of breaking their way through. Trees in clay may need some food designed for root growth.


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## Homesteader1 (Oct 19, 2011)

Here is what I had to do digging in clay. First I dug in the wet season, then I dug the hole 4 times bigger than needed and once again deeper than the bucket the tree came in. Then I filled with water waited for it to soak in, then I filled with compost, mulch straw etc. I then planted my tree in the center and filled in with compost. worked great that was 3 years ago. I used a pick and shovel. I now have a backhoe on the homestead.


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## blufford (Nov 23, 2004)

A coal miner who has a little skill in setting dynamite charges might be able to help.


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## Phil V. (May 31, 2013)

Backhoe with a small bucket on it works. Same problem with clay. Had a friend come over with his to dig holes for me.


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## Patchouli (Aug 3, 2011)

I believe green sand is supposed to help break up clay soil? You might want to try putting it in the bottom of the holes for the trees.


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## SLADE (Feb 20, 2004)

I think planting your trees in mounds would work better for you as well as the trees


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## AmericanStand (Jul 29, 2014)

pound a steel bar in a inch or two. Wiggle it ,pull it out ,repeat till its in about a foot more than you want to dig.
Fill with water twice every day for a week.
Dig first hole.
Hire a backhoe.


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## Blueridgeviews (May 3, 2015)

Yep, water.
We just dug four large fruit tree holes in red clay concrete that bends shovels.
Soak the area really really well. If you can start a small hole or open it up a little with a spading fork, water absorbs even faster.
Amazingly easy after it absorbs the water, but the clay will be heavy with water.


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## Tricky Grama (Oct 7, 2006)

SRSLADE said:


> I think planting your trees in mounds would work better for you as well as the trees


Just don't mound the soil on the tree trunks, make sure you leave a root flare.
We have the same hard clay-or hard black clay, anyway. Have to add compost, lava sand, green sand, black cow (brand of composted manure)
But if you just have a hole filled w/this, the tree will not spread its roots very much so mix the dirt & make a huge hole.


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## SquonkHunter (Feb 24, 2008)

Terri said:


> *Water.*
> 
> Every day fill the shallow holes that you have dug and let it sit for a couple of hours. Then dig each hole deeper until you have dug out the softened earth. That will give you a few inches per day without killing yourself. Do not let it sit until the next day or the water may have soaked in too deeply and the soil may be hard again!
> 
> ...


I used this same technique to dig holes for fence posts in the Dallas black clay. Took a few days to get them all done but I didn't have to wear myself out in the process.


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## po boy (Jul 12, 2010)

SRSLADE said:


> I think planting your trees in mounds would work better for you as well as the trees


Easy Planting, but wouldn't they require more water????


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## Drizler (Jun 16, 2002)

Be careful if you dig with a small tractor and 3 pt auger. That clay will suddenly grab that auger like a wood screw and screw itself stuck so fast it's amazing. Do the up and down a lot and keep the hole cleaned out. If you wind it down too far all you can do is remove it from the machine and then dig it out by hand. If you have to do that you will truly:stars: HATE life. 
I got lazy last year and bought a small backhoe so now the clay just runs away. It's shale that's the enemy nowadays . Once you find that you will wish you were back in the heavy clay again


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## MichaelZ (May 21, 2013)

One of the problems with clay is you dig a hole, fill it with nice good dirt and plant your tree, and then it rains a few inches. Then your clay "pot" becomes a water logged death hole for your tree as the roots drown. So you want to make sure you have drainage away from your tree. Planting on a hillside with drainage below will work. What I have done is remove only some of the top soil and then create a big mound of dirt that is a mix of pulverized clay and good soil. Plant in this mound and then go over the top with clay to keep it all in tact. This all sounds like a lot of work because it is. I have planted larger apple trees this way. (I have obtained pulverized clay by using clay that was left out in the winter turned over - it will crumble nicely)

Another thing I have done is plant small bare root seedlings in a slit opened by a tree planter and then close it up again. Planted about 1500 bare root spruce and white pine seedlings this way - probably 300-600 or so survived, but heck that is way more trees than I had! 

Yet another way, that results in very few losses, is to shovel out small existing seedlings (spruce) from my woods with as many roots as possible and plop them down into a hole that is just a little smaller. I then stamp them down in place with my boot. This has resulted in 90-100% survival. This is a lot of work, but because I am not changing the soil at all and leaving roots intact, the trees do well. But you need the trees to "borrow" in order to do this.


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## Declan (Jan 18, 2015)

In addition to what MichaelZ said, sounds like the best case scenario will end you up with girdling roots unless you break up that clay on the side of your planting hole.


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## ksrn (May 17, 2015)

Clay is no fun. I would recommend that you put at least 6 inches of gravel in the bottom of the holes before planting the trees as clay tends to hold a tremendous amount of water. I have gumbo here where I live and had to bring in truck loads of compost and other soil amendments to make my garden grow well. 

As for digging the holes. I agree with others. Dig a little out with whatever you have that won't break, twist, or bend until you get a couple inches down and soak with water and repeat the process until you have a hole the correct size.


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## logbuilder (Jan 31, 2006)

Here is an older thread about clay soil.

http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/co...adding-lime-such-clay-soil-do-i-have-too.html


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## gatrapper (Mar 1, 2015)

Had the holes dug with a mini-escavator today. The trees are sitting in 5 gallon buckets filled with potting soil. What do y'all recommend I do when I go to plant them to ensure their success?


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## Declan (Jan 18, 2015)

gatrapper said:


> Had the holes dug with a mini-escavator today. The trees are sitting in 5 gallon buckets filled with potting soil. What do y'all recommend I do when I go to plant them to ensure their success?


I'd mix something not clay nor sand like compost or such with the native soil as backfill so your trees get used to the clay they will have to eventually bust--maybe a 1/3rd compost. Beyond that, plant them so the root ball is slightly above ground, mulch, and keep watered for a year.


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## SouthGAMan (May 5, 2014)

I will admit that water helps to make it easier to dig in clay. I do want to add one problem with that solution though. I have had water in my property sit in a hole (from rain with no other rain) for several days at a time without drying. 

I will say that the few times we have planted trees we have had much better luck with making the initial hole about 3 times (or more) larger than we were supposed to. After adding the trees we backfilled with a mix of compost, topsoil, and the clay that came from the initial hole. Our theory was that once the roots of the tree got large enough to get past the initial hole we dug it would probably be strong enough to grow out into the clay.


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## Harry Chickpea (Dec 19, 2008)

There is a simple technique for making holes in clay if you have the water available. Results are highly variable so all you can do is try to see if it works for you. 

Find a section of 1" PVC pipe about four or five feet long. Notch the end so that there are four crude "teeth." 
Stick a water hose with a brass spray nozzle end in the pipe.
Turn the water on and work the pipe and hose much the way that you would a spud bar. 
The muddy water will come up out of the top of the pipe as it and the hose work into the clay (or sand).
If you have stones, a spud bar is a better choice, but many times the water blast is much easier.


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## Declan (Jan 18, 2015)

If my pressure washer will take the finish off of brick, I imagine it could do a number on clay. Fortunately I have never needed to dig a hole that bad. Somebody or something would have to be dead and stinking before I would try that. My hard as bricks clay becomes soft and easily dug in fall, winter, and early spring. 

I try to do all my tree planting in the fall or early winter.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

Bearfootfarm said:


> Use a mattock to break it up and a shovel to move the chunks, or hire a mini excavator



this^^^^


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## gatrapper (Mar 1, 2015)

Holes that the mini-escavator dug. Going to widen the holes a good bit with the shovel. Anything else I should do?


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## SimpleGround (May 19, 2015)

Darren said:


> Spud bar. Works on clay and rocks if you keep at it. I don't care how hard the clay is, the bar will break it out.


I have had similar experience with a spudbar or similar bar (I just call it the bar) with a pointed end instead of a flat end. It is still hard work.

This might sound funny, but for me, working with a shovel is very therapeutic. Most of my digging experience is in hard clay, hardpan, or dry rocky soil. (I recently purchased a few acres of sandy soil and I don't know what to do with myself.) I have found that the hard work is more doable when you accept the fact that the hole will take a little more time and effort. Don't try to dig the whole hole at once. Establish a sustainable rhythm that chips away at the total project. Once you accept the work and get started you will find that the hole will seem to appear and you will be surprised at how much you were able to do.


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## texican (Oct 4, 2003)

You plant a tree in something that hard, don't expect to live, and if it does, it'll take forever to grow.. If I had to get power tools or a pickaxe to get the hole dug, think I'd find a better spot....


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## Tractorpunk (Apr 11, 2013)

I feel your pain! I am still getting my PTO-driven post-hole digger hoisted to a shop ceiling so I can hook it to the tractor without a helper. Meanwhile, I gotta dig two post-holes. It's too small a hole for our backhoe's small bucket, which is what I used last time to plant some American Persimmon trees.

I would try pick and add water, then deepen the hole after it soaks in. Keep repeating until you have your hole right. That's my plan for these two posts. Good luck!


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