[Arid_gardener] Question from Home-Hort WWW page

[Dick]

If I were faced with the same situation, Joan, I would determine how long it takes for the water to penetrate about 36 inches to encourage deep rooting and to flush salts through and out the feeder root zone. Get a 36 inch 1/4th inch brass rod from the hardware, make a dull point on one end and drill a 1/4th inch hole four inches deep in piece of broom handle and epoxy the other end in the hole. Walla, you have a soil probe. When you can easily sink it straight down to the hilt, turn off the water. Irrigate again only when you scratch three inches into the soil and find it quite dry. After some practice, you will develop a sixth sense about when you need to turn on the hoses again. This tool makes a great Zorro sword. Keep it out of the hands of kids who might accidently or playfully hurt someone while challanging the family pet or another kid to a duel.

Our water typically has a high salt content. Frequent, shallow, irrigation cycles concentrate, by evaporation, toxic levels of salt compounds in the feeder root zone. The salt travels up the plant vascular system as far as it can go. It packs up in leaf cells killing them from the tip and up fringes until the leaf falls. The more salt damage there is, the less photosynthesis there is to produce carbohydrates and the plant starves to death, sort of.  Deep watering continually flushes the salts to a lower level out of reach. Remember that evapotation between irrigation cycles pulls that water back to the surface. Salt will not evaporate, of course, thus higher and higher levels are concentrated near the surface until flushed out again every time you water. A layer of mulch 3 or 4 inches completely covering the plant basin dramatically reduces evaporation and I practice that technique as best I can. Our water source is named the Salt River for good reason.

In Imperial Valley, farmers periodically flood their fields with Colorado river water for days on end before planting to flush accummulated soluble salts from the root zone.  The Salt River Basin may not technically be designated a desert climate but can you remember when the last precipation hit the ground here.

Further commentary, complimentary or controversial, invited

Dick Gross, Master Gardener Volunteer
University of Arizona
Maricopa County Cooperative Extension.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <Lloydschill24 at msn.com>
To: <arid_gardener at Ag.arizona.edu>
Sent: Friday, November 30, 2007 12:19 PM
Subject: [Arid_gardener] Question from Home-Hort WWW page


> Joan Schill
> 85375
> Lloydschill24 at msn.com
> 
> As a general rule of thumb how often should bubblers go on per week and for how long?
> 
> Right now ours go on once a week for 11 minutes in the summer months and once a week for 7 minutes in the winter months.
> 
> To me it does not seem adequate.
> 
> I would appreciate any feedback you could give me.  I am taking over the landscape position in our HOA.  HELP!
> 
> Thank you, Joan Schill
> 
> 
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