Peach & Plum trees in solid red clay?

I bought a couple of young trees, but I don't know if I should amend their planting hole before putting them in? I do lasagne beds for my flowers, but don't know about this one.

Any advice will be appreciated!!

I suggest some sort of amendment. I have heavy clay soil. Trees planted in heavy clay with no amendment can get a sort of "bathtub" syndrome. They end up being in a hole, and the water percolates through the soil where the tree roots are, and ends up in the bottom (and up the sides) of the hole that you originally dug, like the walls of a bathtub. Because heavy clay doesn't allow for quick passage of the water, the roots sit in that water and this can lead to root rot and disease. So even though there isn't standing water on the ground, it's standing in the hole. I particularly suggest amending outwards from the hole, rather than deeper into the hole. Dig the hole a lot wider than the tree ball, maybe 3-4 times wider, and amend in that area. That way, the tree's roots will spread outwards into soil that is better for them. Do not take ALL the clay out - just mix in some good organic matter. The roots need to eventually adapt to the clay. They don't want to hit a sudden "wall of clay" as soon as they start to grow. I had a cherry tree that died because of this so I learned the hard way. That's my 2 cents.
Claire

SCNewbie, you didn't mention what you soil was like. If in doubt dig a test hole and fill with water. If it hasn't drained by morning, then there is a problem. Scroll down to Soil Texture in this link http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/DG3825.html
I've included links to websites that give planting directions because I have to disagree with the previous recommendation. The "bathtub" syndrome comes about when the planting hole is amended without consideration for what lies below the hole and surrounding soil — more compacted soil or a hard pan. There are other ways of dealing with heavy clay. Since the trees will have to deal with the clay soil at some time, the current recommendation is to plant in the native soil.

http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/uf/plant_trees/planting_trees.htm
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/mg/files/gardennotes/633-Planting.html
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4107/is_200409/ai_n9419490
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/HO-100.pdf

Claire, cherry trees don't like heavy soil. Having grown up where cherry orchards were abundant, the orchards were always placed in sandy loam areas. There are some cherries grafted onto root stock that can handle heavier soils.
http://www.raintreenursery.com/catalog/producttype.cfm?producttype=Cherries%2DSweet

Betty,

My cherry was grafted onto rootstock that was supposed to handle clay soils. I only learned about amending the soil after going back to the nursery who sold it to me, because I had followed directions similar to those in your links, and I didn't amend. Similarly, the trees that were planted for me by a nursery I bought them from suffered similar fates (not cherries-- a river birch and a spruce). They used one of those tree planting devices, and no amendments. All the subsequent fruit trees, and other species of trees, I have planted myself according to the amending directions given to me. They have all done extremely well. They will probably grow more slowly over time because of the soil, but at least they grow.

Admittedly my soil is not "clay loam" or even close to that. It's just pure clay. You can sculpt with it. All the topsoil was removed when the houses in this area were built. So, it's really awful. A hole filled with water will sit for days, unless it's so hot that it just evaporates.

But as it says in one of the articles you cite, there is considerable debate over the issue even among arborists, which I am certainly not. Maybe it works better in some places, and not in others, and depends on the ability of the gardener to do anything at all about what lies below the hole, which in my case, would require excavation of my entire yard and installation of drain tile or something, but you couldn't put the same clay back in because the water won't go through it to the tile. That's why I do most of my gardening in raised beds.

Claire

My red clay is the same way, which is why I've been doing lasagne beds for my plants. Normally I can't dig more than a couple of inches into it, but it's been raining here for a while so I'm hoping I can get a little deeper.

Where I'm planting, the ground slopes down & away from the trees, so I'm hoping gravitation will take care of some of the drainage.

What's the advisability of building a raised bed to put the trees in?

Claire, you've already come up with what I was going to suggest — raised beds. I must admit I have never gardened in soil that bad although I have lived in at least one place that came close in San Jose. I had serpentine soil.
http://fpath.cas.psu.edu/RESEARCH/CompostTeaFS.pdf
http://www.puyallup.wsu.edu/~Linda%20Chalker-Scott/Horticultural%20Myths_files/Myths/Compost%20tea%204.pdf

SCNewbie, does the ground slope gently or does it slope sharply? They should drain. If the slope is sharp, then pruning the fruit trees will become a problem. In San Jose, the trees in my backyard were planted up on a sloping lledge. Using cement blocks, I built up a semi-circular ledge around each tree making it large enough to accommodate the mature size so I'd have level ground under the tree when I pruned or picked fruit.

Hi Bettydee,
It's a gradual slope so I don't have to worry about working in the area. In fact, I'm going to put a total of 6-8 fruit trees over there. (these are just my first 2)

So I could do raised beds with them? Would the lasagne beds work for fruit trees?

I've never tried it, but I don't see why it shouldn't.

One thing I have to consider with raised beds is that things planted in them generally end up getting a bit colder in winter than things in the ground. So, if something is a zone 5, and I plant it in a raised bed, since the raised bed is above "normal" soil level, the cold will penetrate the sides of the beds. I plant annuals in raised beds (veggies, etc) and also things that are zone 4 or less (i.e. 1 zone less than mine) to be safe with overwintering. This probably isn't as much of a problem in your zone, but something to consider just in case.

The sloping ground should make drainage much better so maybe not as prone to problems as my yard.

I agree that there is no reason why a lasagne bed situation would not work for a tree. If the lasagne bed top level is considerably above the soil level in the rest of the area, just remember to follow the instructions in some of Betty's links about where the roots should lay in reference to the top of the soil.

Claire