High_Brix,
When planting fruit trees (not bananas), I use 2 parts of native soil (clays), 2 parts screened loam, and 1 part commercial soil amendment that contains humic acids and trace amounts of mycorrhizal fungi, plus 1/2 cup of GroPower 5-3-1 per cubic yard to increase the humic acid content. The surface is mulched 5 inches thick with screened finished mulch. The bottom of the hole is soaked with 1 cup of liquid gypsum mixed in 5 gallons of water, two days prior to planting.
When regenerating growth in an area that has been burned by fire or recently cleared of brush, my colleague hires a pump truck and they make a slurry of screened loam, fine finished compost and mycorrhizal granular. The mix rate is one 20lb bag for every 5 yards of dry material. No seed is added because it is simply not needed.
Here's a before-and-after photo of two cherry trees I planted yesterday. These are the low-chill Minni Royal and Royal Lee varieties planted adjacently for cross-pollination.
