This was the scene shortly after the start of the ripping operation on the orchard block.

As large as the equipment in the background may seem, the rocks in the end defeated it. A 42 ton Komatsu unit was eventually brought to ensure that all rows were broken to a width of two metres and through the shelf of rock that completely covers the southwestern corner.

 
This view is to the northeast from the southern edge of the grove. following my attempts to level the ground after the ripping operation. The Porongorup range is seen in the background.

Tiger, in the foreground, is a Collie cross, and weighs in about 25 kilograms. Thus he is not a small dog and his size will help provide a perspective.

The planting in this section, required a third trip in by a bulldozer. This one about 25 tons, being a bit larger than the one pictured above. In the end there were still rocks that my tractor could not move, but were fortunately located between planting locations. To be fair, my tractor is a 49-year-old 20 HP Massey TEA20. But the one rock the tractor protested about most vigoursly was still more than a metre across. This section was planted with Paragon (Frantoio) and those trees which were planted earliest during the winter rains have done the best in the grove.

This view is to the north from the southwestern corner of the grove just prior to planting.
Manzanillo trees were planted in this section and have taken a bit longer to take to the ground than the other varieties I have planted. The major difficulty I believe is wind as the northwestern corner is the most exposed and this is where most of the slower growing trees are found.

Having said that, prior to planting we re-ripped in order to mix in the approximately 10 kilograms of agricultural lime and 15 kilograms of pig manure we placed in each tree location. The water lines in each row of 44-46 trees is one inch rural poly pipe placed in a shallow trench next to the tree row. Most of the pipe is now covered. The actual planting operation included placing approximately one-half kilogram of sheep manure around each tree. This last application is given a great deal of the credit for the success of our plantings.

We have applied, to each tree, approximately 80 grams of fertilizer quarterly, blood and bone being the preference, with a broad spectrum trace-element ferilizer (NPK Blue) having been added twice. A top dressing of about a kilogram of dolomite per tree was applied to minimize the effects of magnesium deficiency in the soil and to attempt to further increase the pH around the trees. It is expected that further lime or dolomite application will be required as the trees become larger and the root system expands.

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