I have an appointment for a tree consult at my parent's old folks home. The maintenance guy Jerry wants to know why their trees are dying. I visit my parents about once a week so I have been watching these trees for quite a while. In my opinion the problem is lack of drainage. I'm sure the ground was packed pretty good in the construction of this place (it's a complex of several 4 story apartment buildings) and then a hole was dug with a shovel and a tree planted. When they irrigate water stands and the little trees hang onto life for a couple of years and don't thrive. This is all complicated by layers of hardpan that is in the east side of the valley and if this isn't broken before the tree is planted you are in a tough situation also. When a orchard is planted here each tree hole is first dug with a backhoe to break the hardpan and any other deep compaction that exists. My question to you guys is. Is there a method of breaking the soil up short of pulling the tree out, backhoeing the hole, and then replanting the tree? Another thing to add is that there is no freezing of the ground here in the winter which would break the soil up like there would be in a colder climate. Once the soil is packed, it stays packed for a long time unless measures are taken to break it up. Most of these trees are in turf and next to sidewalks, gas lines and all the stuff that is in a place like this. So that is why I am searching for some alternate way of doing this.