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The original was posted on /r/permaculture by /u/cummerou on 2024-10-16 17:13:10+00:00.
As a disclaimer, I understand that building soil or adding compost has a multitude of benefits, my question is in regards to very specific circumstances.
People in permaculture talk a lot about building soil, for obvious reasons, but after I have looked into what advice people give in regards to planting and maintaining healthy trees, soil building seems to be exact opposite of what is best for the tree.
The first point I've seen people say is that trees will go after the easiest source of nutrients (which is why adding fertilizer to the roots/dug hole is discouraged, as it causes the roots to ball up and not spread, causing the trees to easily fall over when there's heavy wind).
Wouldn't that also mean that if you have a clay or sandy soil with a foot or two of humus/compost that you plant a sapling/small tree into, the roots will only go down until they hit the "old" soil, and then start travelling horizontally, as the topsoil has way more nutrients and is easy to grow into?
Secondly, a big thing that people harp on is that the root flare should be exposed to secure optimal health, you should never cover it, and the more the tree is covered above that, the worse it is for the health of the tree. But isn't that what building soil eventually does? The height of the soil increases over time, which over time would cause the root flare to be covered.
I understand that this doesn't matter for a normal forest, if a tree dies, the seed bank in the soil will ensure that another one takes its place, I'm specifically talking about human time scales for food production, where a tree dying means that it will take 15-25 years for another tree to grow to the same size.
Am I missing something obvious?