Here's the dirt on getting the proper water to your trees. The big mistake that is often made by so called gardeners, including the nurseries who plant the trees is that they put too few emitters on the trees. The roots of the trees are reaching out to the point where the leaves are. They are not right next to the trunk where the emitters are often put. So forget what any foreman told you, or any other workers because they don't know. Now go to Conservation District of Southern Nevada which is www.cdsn.org and go to the bottom of the opening page to "publications", click, a number of publications come up, the one you want is Drip Irrigation for the Mojave Desert. It is a 44 pg document that will teach you everything you will need to know to provide enough water to your trees. Also visit www.unce.unr.edu which is the Univ of Nevada Cooperative Extension where the Master Gardener program works from. If you visit that site you will find just about every publication on any garden questions you likely have. You can also call Master Gardener Help Line 257-5555 M - F 8 - 5. I am one of the Master Gardeners and we help people every day of the week and we have people who come visit the Extension office too. That drip irrigation guide will be invaluable to you as your trees grow as well as to the other areas of your garden. Most people in So. NV underwater. You can also go to So. NV Water District to get a general garden watering guide. I sure hope this helps. Sorry I haven't been on the site for a while, hope you have babied your trees along. Also, rock gravel is often a huge mistake under trees too. Woody mulch, 3 - 4 inches thick from the trunk out at least 2 - 3 ft minimum really helps your trees and shrubs. Read the materials, download them and you will do just fine. Call us if you get into a pinch.

I second the usefulness of the master gardener program and university or county extensions in your area. They are one of the best accurate source of information for desert and local gardening knowledge.

Also, you could use a soil probe to determine how far down you are watering your trees, as described in the wonderful book, "Desert Landscapiing" by George Brookbank, thus determining for yourself how much water they are getting, rather than following some prescribed x emitter x time formula. (Note that I haven't tried this myself, as I am a complete noob and am just gathering info myself before I plant my trees this fall)

Thank you so much Violet for your nice words. Working with the Master Gardeners has been a real treat for me. We have a huge resource of people who are well trained and so knowledgeable; it surprised me how very well educated professionally as well as through the MG program these people are. I think the other part of the MG program that is the best is the high level of enthusiasm that MG's have to help the public to be successful in their yards and gardens.