Wife just purchased a ''repo'' in the high deserts of Nevada with a peach and two apple trees. The varieties are unknown. Fruit in this locality is rare. These are the first fruit trees I recall seeing. The trees have not been irrigated for at least six months. Rainfall this year has been about 0.42in. The peaches have thumb sized fruit. The apples have fruit the size of a golf ball. What remedial irrigation would you recommend?
hi, we have had a similar situation to deal with here in southern Portugal. A small uncared-for orchard and effectively no rain since November ... officially "extreme drought". Our strategy has been to give each tree 20 litres (two large buckets) of water once every fortnight. Ideally I would have given each tree 3 or maybe 4 buckets of water - but it all adds up to a lot of carrying ! All (apples, pears, figs, lemons, oranges, tangerines, peaches) have survived but none have thrived. If you water too frequently you encourage surface roots and can make them more prone to drought damage. The peach harvest is complete - all were very small but with a wonderfully intense flavour - the best I have ever tasted ! Good luck (boa sorte) and perhaps next year will be kinder Brian
> If you water too frequently you encourage surface roots and can make them more prone to drought damage< Most roots are near the surface anyway. Watering more frequently prevents these roots, which are already there, from being damaged.
It all depends on your resources. I'm also in an altitude desert (10,000 feet) and have bananas, peaches and plums. I've tried every watering option available, and ended up with underground drip irrigation hoses on all of them with an equivalent of 1 L per day going to each tree; I get amazing harvests of medium-sized, intensely-flavoured fruit. Underground watering also drastically reduces the amount of water lost to evaporation on hot days, which is very important in a low-humidity environment....
The common basic method is shading the soil with mulch. Since it appears a small number of trees is involved in the situation first asked about, this may be feasible.
Could you, please, cite the scientific sources supporting this statement in relation to Peach and Apple trees? Or is it just hearsay information you are providing here? What kind of mulch you have in mind? In any case, mulching is not a substitute for watering.
Have a look at this 1937 paper, Root Development of Young Delicious Apple Trees as Affected by Soils and by Cultural Treatments.
Yes, there are several issues for consideration in this short quote, Daniel. Mulching is one of them. Unfortunately, there is nothing like Ron B. is suggesting: "The common basic method is shading the soil with mulch." There are situations where mulching can do more harm than good. Before applying any kind of mulch to any kind of vegetation all, the mulched plants, the kind of mulch itself, the soil, the climate, the grower long term resources must be taken into consideration. For example, quoting the paper mentioned by you, Daniel: "Under straw mulch the roots (of Apple trees) had a pronounced shallow, lateral development. Under sod mulch both tops and roots were dwarfed." It is a matter for careful consideration, if encouraging shallow or dwarfed development of roots (as it could prove to be the case in the situation described by janeslogin, the original poster) through mulching (unfortunately too, Ron B. didn't specify what kind of mulch he had in mind) could be beneficial. From the same article: "The root systems responded readily to changes in soil environment." And: "Apple roots grew toward an adjacent optimum moisture supply." This confirms bjo's observation: "If you water too frequently you encourage surface roots and can make them more prone to drought damage.", contradicted by Ron B. From the same article: "Under clean culture a generalized root system was produced. The roots penetrated deeply and spread widely in such a manner that a very large volume of soil was thoroughly occupied. In competition with corn there was little lateral spread and most of the root growth was vertical." These scientific observations contradict Ron B. statement: "Most roots are near the surface anyway." P.s. Emphasizing with bold letters by me.
I wasn't posting to support anyone's statements, just presenting what evidence I found with a quick search.
Answering janeslogin's question re. remedial watering from my point of view and understanding: The trees have not been irrigated for at least six months but they are still alive. That means the roots must be getting some moisture from somewhere very deep, for sure not from the surface layer of the soil. If I had sufficient amount of water I would water the trees very thoroughly, very deeply and very infrequently, for sure no more often than once in two weeks, after all they are accustomed to dry conditions. Do the test to find out how deep 1" of water will penetrate your soil type, read the article quoted by Daniel to figure out how deep the roots of your trees may be, and water accordingly. You can reduce amount of water with the subsequent waterings depending on how often you water.
