Do a percolation test on your soil. If it does not pass you can make a berm about 12 to 18 inches to plant in. Your county university extension service can help, look under county offices in your phone book. Al

Well, first thing you need to do, is determine what kind of soil you have. If you suspect you have a drainage issue, then you need to test for that, to see if you're dealing with clay soil. Clay is actually very rich in nutrients, and can be a wonderful soil to plant trees and plants in, as long as you address drainage issues. Here's how to test your soil for drainage, per Cornell University: Dig a hole about 1 foot deep. Fill with water and allow it to drain completely. Then, Immediately refill the hole with water, again, and measure the depth of the water with a ruler. 15 minutes later, measure the drop in water in inches, and mulitply by 4 to calculate how much water drains in an hour. Less than 1 inch per hour is poor drainage, indicating the site may stay wet for periods during the year. Plants that don't tolerate poor drainage will suffer. 1 to 6 inches of drainage per hour is desirable. Soils that drain faster than 6 inches per hour have excessive drainage, and you should consider water-retention measures (such as mulching).

You should never amend the hole, especially in clay soils. It just creates a "bathtub" effect, and will eventually lead to the demise of your tree. If you have clay soil, then you will want to plant your trees on a mound, to facilitate drainage, and set up your drip system very carefully. If you have clay, then you're going to have to take care with mulch, as it may retain too much moisture in your soil, even in Nevada.

If you find you do not have clay, then be sure when you plant your trees, that your tree still is planted higher in the center of the well, than the outer ring of the well. You want the water to travel to the out ring of your well, so the water is distributed to the feeder roots, which exist at the edge of the canopy or a little further. That is called the drip line. You do not want water to pool up against the tree's trunk, which can promote foot rot. Your drip system should not sprinkle towards the tree, but away from the tree, so the water doesn't hit the trunk. Check the soil moisture about 18" down (I just use a green plastic covered plant stake or piece of rebar pushed down into the soil). If it is still moist, don't water. Only water when you need to. I can't tell you how frequently that will be, as you have several variables going on - amount of gallons per hour on your drip system, soil composition and air temperature/precipitation. You can top dress with a good quality top soil such as Kellog's GroMulch, then top with a bark mulch, just make sure the mulch is several inches away from the trunk, so it does not trap moisture against the trunk.

You will want to fertilize 3 to 4 times a year with a good quality citrus fertilizer that is formulated for citrus and has the proper NPK ratio (as close to 5-1-3 as you can find) and has a full complement of micronutrients.

Without seeing photos of your tree, it's hard to know what happened - overwatering or underwatering - but most likely it was due to too much water. Most folks tend to "over love" their trees, and water too much. So, I'm assuming this was the issue for you.

Lastly, treat for pests as needed in your area. You'll most likely have issues with Citrus Leafminer (it is everywhere in the USA), so treat accordingly, based on when your area sees CLM appear. If you choose to treat with a systemic product, you'll need to apply it 2 to 3 weeks prior to CLM affecting your area. For me in S. California, I see CLM in July, so I treat in June. If you prefer to use an organic treatment such as Spinosad mixed with a hort oil (such as Neem), you can start treating about a week prior to CLM showing up in your area, and spray your trees every 3 to 4 weeks, for 3 to 4 treatments. You'll have to skip the Neem is air temps are over 85 degrees, due to burning.

Patty S.

Here is a link that might be useful: Questions & Answers to Citrus Management

Thanks a ton Patty!

I've read through many of your posts on other threads and am truely amazed at how much you have helped many of us out. For newbie citrus growers like myself your advise is invaluable. Hopefully some day I'll be experienced enough to help others in the same capacity.

My guess is that I was creating a "bathtub" scenario, though it is hard to tell until I test the drainage of the soil. I know there were many sizable rocks that I ran into on my first attempts to plant. I dug them out to about 3 ft down/3 ft wide perhaps creating the "bathtub" and back filled the hole with a mixture of replacement soil from Home Depot and the soil I dug up. I'll check the drainage this weekend and will be able to draw some conclusions. Is there a way to fix the "bathtub" effect, Perhaps compacting the native soil in the original hole? What are folks thoughts? Also, does anyone know if particularly rocky soil needs to be treated prior to planting citrus?

I planted a couple fig trees using the same method as I tried with my citrus. Amazingly, the figs grew from about 2 ft tall to over 6ft in one summer. Whatever, my soil conditions, it seems to work well for figs but not citrus.

There is no way to fix the "bathtub" effect. Simply do not create one. Plant on a mound. Or, as Al mentioned, a berm (which is a long mound). If you are ever out in inland S. California, you can see some of the older citrus orchards planted in clay, you'll see all the orchard trees planted in long berms, with irrigation flood channels in between (now mostly all replaced with microdrip systems, due to the cost of water here - no more flooding the irrigation channels.) Figs are much, much more tolerant of wet soil. Citrus are susceptible to a species of phytophthora, which is the organism responsible for foot/root rot. Rocky soils are not as problematic as heavy clay soils. All you can do is try to find as many rocks as possible, and remove them where you're planning on planting the trees.

Patty S.

Zachw, how often and sustained are the freezes in your neighborhood?

It can get fairly chilly (in the upper 20's as a low) periodically in December and January but usually only for a couple days in a row at the most. During the day temperatures hardly ever drop below 40 F during any point in the year, unless there is really unusual weather. Usually, all the other months of the years freezing temps are fairly rare. Snow is nearly non-existent here, but has happen. As far as citrus goes, it seems like people in the area wrap trees in burlap and apply old style Christmas lights, which seems to work out. That being said, there are many types of citrus that are not suitable for the area due to the heat of the summer or the cold of the winter. Kumquats, Meyers lemon, several types of mandarin and grapefruit varieties seem to do ok if not thrive in the area. I'm still trying to figure out all of the types of varieties that will work here. I haven't been in the area long enough to see a bad freeze yet ... hopefully one won't come too soon!

If I only had room for one citrus in your area, it would be Gold Nugget Mandarin. For Lemon, I'd plant Eureka. For Grapefruit, Rio Red.

Thanks Patty,

It's good to know that the rocks aren't as big of a concern as I originally had thought. It sounds like the raised mound/berm maybe the way to go. A few years ago I lived in Irvine as a graduate student at UCI. I became hooked on the citrus of the area, but it's hard to find the same type/quality of citrus around here in Henderson (Las Vegas area). I really miss the SoCal citrus. I figured I'd grow my own, and as a scientist it falls under my natural curiosity for experimentation but not without its difficulties. Thanks again for all of the help, I think I'm starting to gain some traction in understanding the engineering of proper drainage for citrus. I'll probably have more questions in the future, but am really appreciative of everyone guiding me to the right direction. I've read a fair amount about citrus, but it doesn't seem like everything is really sound advise. It nice to hear from people that have proven results.

Zach

I'm sold on the Gold Nugget Mandarin after reading countless threads on the Citrus forum about how people love it. It will be joining my family of citrus this Spring. I also wanted to try a Tango (seedless Murcott) tree as well. UCR has performed some studies on mandarins in Coachella, CA which seems to have somewhat of a similar environment to the desert here in Las Vegas. Apparently, the Murcott does quite well in both growing and producing in hot desert environments. It seems to do ok with the cold as well. If you're interested here is the link to the paper I found: http://citrusresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/16-2005-ANR-Mauk-Desert-Mandarins.pdf. I thought it was a pretty interesting read.

Extreme soil salinity will be a big problem in the flat parts of the valley due to an impermeable layer of caliche 3-8' deep that stops water at that level. If you are in an area that isn't flat it will be better. The native plants are the ones that could tolerate the salt.

Thanks Greg,

This sounds like it could be a problem I'm facing as well. I dug down about 3ft, and didn't see a completely solid layer of caliche, but the soil was awfully rocky. Perhaps a solid layer is just a bit further down. The raised mound sounds like a possible solution for the drainage issues that could be associated with a caliche layer. I'll give it a shot this Spring and hope for the best.

Zach