[Arid_gardener] Question from Home-Hort WWW page

[Dick Gross]

I have five different varieties of mature citrus that I planted 3 to 5 years old from nursery pots. I have never flood-irrigated them, Lynn, after they reached a couple years old. The only time their interiors get water is from rain. Folliage on most of my trees extends all the way to the ground.

I irrigate in a shallow two to three foot wide trench that roughly straddles the drip line. It, of course, has to be moved outward, as the tree grows, to keep pace with the drip line, the zone where most of the feeder roots are located. I also feed in the same area because fertilizer in the interior is not needed or used.

I put a hose-end in the trench and maintain a shallow water level all the way around for as long as it takes to sink a barbeque spit to the hilt straight down in the center of the trench all around the tree. In that span of time, the wetted area will spread to a width of 3 or 4 feet. That accomplished, I shut off the water and don't repeat until I scratch in the trench and find it quite dry 2 or 3 inches deep. That can vary from every ten days in the summer to six weeks in the winter. If you study your trees, you can, with practice, tell if they are thirsty by observing a suttle droop and lack of luster of the foliage. The routine should adjust to soil texture and the rate of drainage. 

My trees are now surrounded with other frequently irrigated beds that supply a good part of their water needs and after thirty years, instinct-more than anything else, dictates my irrigation schedule.

If you deep irrigate, salts will not accumulate in the root zone, feeder roots will be more abundant over a wider area and able to withstand a lot more stress than a tree poorly and improperly irrigated, and, I should add, underfed.

If this opens up more questions than answered, don't hesitate to ask. There should be responses from other master gardeners and growers if any disagree with this or have something further to contribute.

Dick Gross

By the way, in case you don't know, the drip line is an imaginery line defining the outside reach of foliage. That line should roughly follow the center of the shallow trench you will dig. If you drag a broom stick around the outer limit of foliage, the line in the sand would define the center of the drip line.

Dick Gross, Master Gardener Volunteer 

----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Lynn 
  To: 'Dick Gross' 
  Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2006 3:31 PM
  Subject: RE: [Arid_gardener] Question from Home-Hort WWW page


  Actually, the trees in question are not those that receive flood irrigation.   How often should I deep soak with the hose?



  Lynn 



  -----Original Message-----
  From: Dick Gross [mailto:rkgross3 at cox.net] 
  Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2006 1:55 PM
  To: ldmaz1 at cox.net; arid_gardener at Ag.arizona.edu
  Subject: Re: [Arid_gardener] Question from Home-Hort WWW page



  Lynn. only a guess from meager facts but consider the following. Go back to the blooming stage. Were there abundant blooms and a herd of bees scurrying from one to another?  Did all of the trees have abundant blossoms that did not set fruit on some but did so on others?



  Any single tree of bearing age will instinctively only set the amount of fruit that it has the strength to retain at that given time. There could be several reasons for a limited set. Lack of proper irrigation at the right place at the drip line, soaked to the proper depth of at least two feet, the right timing for irrigation, a lack of essential nutrients and the tree could have, unlikely--in my opinion--a disease of some kind, i.e., root rot, are a few of them.



  There could also be a problem with genetics but any healthy citrus variety will set far more fruit in the Salt River basin than the average family will consume. Having said that, Navals prefer a humid climate but any naval with decent care in the desert will set a fair crop in this dry desert. Grapefruit does a little better in a dry, hot clime--I could count at least several hundred on my own sweet Pink at any time of the year, but you can find "sour" Florida Grapefruit as well in almost any major grocery store in Phoenix.



  This analogy is based upon my own personal experience that may not conform to intellectual standards.



  But, I would wager, sight unseen, that the problem you experience is cultural and could probably be overcome with a serious apraisal of your present feeding and watering practices. Perhaps this off-the-wall analogy will lead you to the correct answer--although there could be several  factors contributing to the problem; and other home-growers may disagree with my interpretation while contributing a different diagnosis from which we could all learn.



  Dick Gross, Master Gardener Volunteer

  University of Arizona 

  Maricopa County Cooperative Extension



  Bcc: crfg members; vosg


------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  ----- Original Message ----- 

  From: <ldmaz1 at cox.net> 

  To: <arid_gardener at Ag.arizona.edu>

  Sent: Wednesday, December 13, 2006 4:11 PM

  Subject: [Arid_gardener] Question from Home-Hort WWW page



  > lynn
  > 85203
  > ldmaz1 at cox.net
  > 
  > some of my orange trees have very few oranges on them, any ideas on what I can do to boost production for next year?
  > 
  > 
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  > Arid_gardener mailing list
  > Arid_gardener at CALS.arizona.edu
  > http://CALS.arizona.edu/mailman2/listinfo/arid_gardener
  >



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