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behlgarden

Planting Fruit Trees - how to setup irrigation?

behlgarden
12 years ago

I planted quite a few fruit trees recently. Spots that I picked when I dug down was quite moist as most area is part of the lawn where sprinklers come on twice a day and water the lawn. it appers that sprinklers do keep the area quite moist.

Now the questions:

1. Do I need special irrigation line to the tree root for watering OR will irrigation sprikler water be enough given soil 24" below stays moist? I can do it via 1/4" tube that would come off a sprinkler head, burried below the ground and feed directly to the root.

2. Most tree planting articles talk about digging hole twice as big as the root ball, I just went a big bigger but not twice as big. will my trres do ok? so far all are green.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

3.

Comments (8)

  • jeffhagen
    12 years ago

    Here in South Florida, most of the plants in your landscape do not need (nor want) artificial irrigation once established. There are a few plants that will do better if watered during extended dry periods (say a week or more without rain). These would include drought intolerant trees such as Jaboticaba and pitomba. However, most fruit trees here in South Florida want a pronounced dry season as part of their yearly cycle. Too much water is often just as detrimental as too little water, as it provides fertile breeding ground for fungus and disease.

    So, the primary goal of artificially irrigating your trees is simply to get them established. Containerized trees have dense root systems in a very small volume of soil and are therefore quite demanding in their water requirements, since the soil tends to dry out very rapidly. So when you transplant your tree from the container into the ground, you need to water it on a regular basis (every other day or so) just until the tree can root out into the surrounding soil. Once it's sufficiently rooted out (after a couple of months), you can cut way back on the irrigation, only giving water during periods of drought.

    Watering requirements vary widely from one species to the next. What might be enough water for a mango tree may be way insufficient for a jaboticaba. And, the amount of water that makes a jaboticaba happy is usually way too much for a mango. So, you really need to recognize the signs of drought stress and adjust your watering accordingly.

    Jeff

  • bsbullie
    12 years ago

    I will add to Jeff's post by saying if you are digging down and finding moisture like you describe, its not from irrigation. Its either or a combination of poor drainage and natural water table. In addition, why in the world is your irrigation running twice a day ?????? No turf needs that much water. If you are doing it because of the new planting, thats the wrong approach also. Water in new plantings daily via hose for the first 30 days.

    Rob

  • behlgarden
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    its quite possible that drainage could be issue. but my yard sits on top of a cliff. it was flattened when it was built by the developer. When I dig down about 2 feet, the grond starts to get a bit hard and I find small rocks that I have to break thru. On watering, my sprinklers come on twice a day for 2 minutes each time so I water total of 4 mintes daily. is that too much water for Southern California (Riverside area, Corona foothills)?

    I am thinking about switching to 3 minute once a day watering, that would have been my next post. I dont water any fruit trees separately, as I found ground moist, I feel that roots have ample moisture so water from sprinklers may be enough.

    thoughts?

  • pj1881
    12 years ago

    Deep water two times a week for lawns, youre not watering the blades youre watering the soil! Too much watering will create all kinds of fungal problems and create shallow roots.. As for the fruit trees.. I use a simple hose timer for establishment, daily two minutes (thats about 12 gallons a day!) after a week I skip to every three days, another week.. Every four, and finally for the next couple weeks I go to once weekly, by then youve coaxed the roots to accept the new soil, and removed any small air pockets.. As for going forward.. I only water when I see the need (which is rare) I currently havent killed anything!

  • jeffhagen
    12 years ago

    Ohh, you're in socal. You guys can go for 6 months without rain and have clayey soil. I thought you were in South Florida. We rarely see 2 weeks without rainfall..

    Jeff

  • samuelforest
    12 years ago

    Email mangodog, he has a lot of mango trees in SoCal.He could surely answer to all of your questions.

    Sam

  • agility_mom
    12 years ago

    I'm not sure about So. Cal but in Southern AZ, you would never water a tree for 4 minutes. Generally in the arid SW, we have to water for a longer time to flush the salts from the soil and encourage deeper rooting.
    I have several trees on drip (which I'm not crazy about for various reasons) and I have emitters called shrubblers on them that can be opened up to deliver 10 gallons an hour. As a tree grows, I add more of these and I let the drip run for around an hour at a time or more in the summer.

    After you dig the hole, fill it with water to make sure it drains and you don't have caliche or rocks sealing the hole.

    Good luck! Southern California is a great place to garden.

  • behlgarden
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Mandodog, thanks for your generous offer to help via phone. I will call you sometime next week. I am seeing some new growth in my Nam Doc Mai and Alphonso so I am eager to make sure watering is resolve.

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