They say the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago, but if you're going to do it today you better have a 20 year plan, right? Glad you enjoyed this one.
This has to be one of the most helpful and informational videos related to gardening that I've EVER seen. Thank you so much! God bless you and may your garden harvests be plentiful! 😊💝🙏🏻
Now that’s a crop circle. I build single berms especially on new plants to make sure they get enough water. I’ve never exposed root crowns, we have roots cook in the heat already. Thank you for sharing.
The key really is ensuring those new plants get plenty of access to water. We're finding that the inner circle in these rings does an excellent job of giving them plenty of water in that first year while also allowing them to grow further out into that outer ring as they're able to.
Hello I'm not sure how far away you are from the sea but sea weed is one of the best water retention mulches if that makes lol and they're packed full of nutrients and vitamins it's the only thing I add to my garden and it always thrives
That would be a great resource if we were closer to the ocean. I would love to get some natural nutrition in that seaweed. We're about 6-7 hours from the beaches in Cali.
Your channel is super helpful. I have been so delighted how my channel has grown too. I do limit the number of channels I subscribe to simply because as a senior retired my days are still full with developing this property. That said I subscribed seeing how informative this channel is. Way to go Duane.
We've really found our viewers to be a wealth of information for us as many of experience that trumps ours by decades. Glad you're enjoying the content. Now I need to head over and see what you have going on!
An alternative to painting your trunks is to grow pole legumes in the center mound as an intercrop. As the sun sets in, the beans vine up the trunk and make better use of that hot desert sun than white paint would. The beans also keep the microclimate cooler during the summer via transpiration, but die off on the winter (think providing shade via deciduous trees)
Just needs more water though, because that microclimate and shade-generating biomass is made by transpirating water as opposed to reflecting the incoming energy in the first place (as paint does).
@@aenorist2431 definitely true, but I for one count it as water well spent since I love both green beans and mature beans. Water consumption itself though is a hugely complicated topic, and how water is spent for a plant varies wildly based on technique. For example, squash in the Three Sisters intercroping technique uses water that would otherwise mostly be lost to evaporation anyway, and results in a net yield in all 3 crops. Another point to consider is that reflected light doesn't just disappear; anyone who's been on a rooftop in the south-west knows that point all too well. Our rooftops here in the Mojave where I live regularly hit 140°+ due to the reflected light.
Question if I don't have wood chips would hey work? All the videos on youtube people use wood chips but where I live we don't have tress but I have an abundance of hey.
Glad we can encourage you guys and give you some ideas. That's what we did for years before finally getting here, so plan first and then run like crazy getting it all in place once you're on that land! Once you're there and get something planted you'll have to send us a quick video so we can share it with everyone here on our Viewer's Playlist.
Are you planning on planting anything by the fence to catch road water runnoff and increase biological sufface area and precipitation? Things like bushes or suculents, it just adds to your root network and soil.
That is great suggestion G M. Eventually we're hoping to get some ground cover at the edges of the tree rings. I hadn't considered succulents and they would really do well at the edge of those rings. Apple cactus would be pretty cool....hmm.....
@@gm2407 no, we are WAY behind on our RU-vid watching these days with everything going on. Summer time is our down time, so we'll have a lot of research to catch up on.
In Illinois we have a program called Prairie Strips Initiative, where the FSA pays you per acre to have a designated area to catch water run off and provide sanctuary areas for local wildlife. Usually along fences or roads or even on slopes within your farmland.
I bought & have the Aprium tree from RSI growers. My grandparents had lots of citrus here in Phoenix & they had deep irrigation front & back yard. We used to play in the irrigation as kids. I am going to try your rings for the Aprium & Nectarine. My citrus have wells to the drip lines to emulate irrigation. I never have planted a tree above ground, nor do any of my native planters. They, like you, do not dig the hole much bigger than the rootball. I plant my trees the same way. But, I have been told to make a good microclimate by using mulch & lots of it, without piling at the trunk. Thx for explanations & video
Hey Christa. Sounds like you have some experience with this and that makes all the difference in the world. We have a good mix of folks with a lot of experience and new growers starting with their first trees, so we try to encourage both ends of the spectrum!
Glad to hear it Elizabeth. Much like you, we understand the importance of balancing production and water conservation. We're finding this takes care of both. Please let us know how it goes for you!
Hey there Millie. I'm glad to hear this will be helpful for you. We've had a lot of folks ask us about irrigation here in AZ, so we're trying to share as much as we can on what works well for us.
Awesome video. Thanks for the insight and motovation. I just purchased 13ac outside of dallas and your videos are a great help on what I want to plan for my farm.
Woohoo! Todd, 13 acres is a lot of space and you'll be able to do so much with that land. What are your plans for the new property? Fruit trees I'm assuming, but what else?
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm 1.5 acre pond and some fruit and nut trees. The main operation will be 8 to 10 feeder beef, grass feed and most likely grain finished. I have 8 acres designated in 4 2ac paddocks for ritational grazing. The first step is my 50x80 barn with an additional 16x80 lean-to aquaponics green house, irrigation plumbing stub-up and 3500 ft of 5 strand fencing. Barn will have a 600sqft 2 story apartment that we will live in until construction price level out. Then we will be builing our house. Kind of backwards way if doing it, but we live in a crazy world now.
@@toddwikel3849 wow, that sounds like a solid plan for your new farm Todd. The integration of livestock is so very important. We're learning that here as we continue to grow the farm. It's one of the reasons Lori has finally taken the step to be here FT as we needed her here in order to effectively bring more animals onto the farm. You have nearly double the space we do, so you'll be able to do more with larger livestock (especially cattle) which can very quickly drive up your fertility.
Great job! very impressed that you are working as a team. I would like to know what you used for ground cover, and how long does it last? Do you import it in?
Hey Byron. We use wood chips for ground cover and we source them from local arborists through a website called Chip Drop. We also have a neighbor down the road who's a landscaper and he brings material to us as well from time to time. Given how dry we are here it usually takes a few years for them to completely break down. If they have a higher percentage of leaves vs chips it can be a bit quicker.
I was thinking of something like this when I start my food forest, but you pointed out a few extra things, thank you. One question though, do you eventually fill in the smaller circle when the tree grows bigger, or do you leave it in?
Great question Kathryn. We don't fill in the inside ring, but we block off the channel leading into it after the first growing season to ensure we're watering at and beyond the drip line for the growing tree.
I had to look this one up as I had not heard of it before. No, we don't amend the soil for most of our trees. Instead we focus on choosing the right root stock and ensuring the soil moisture is consistent for optimal growth. This has been very successful for us with our soil conditions.
Woah that formation is so similar to a shivling. A form worshipped in our Indian culture. Also can this method be used for small fruiting trees in a dry hot climate?
We've heard that form several folks and although it wasn't intentional, it definitely looks very similar! We use a similar design for our dwarf kumquat trees and it works just fine. You may find the outer ring will not need to be quite so large in diameter.
In Tucson, trees are most successful if you predig a 4x4x4' hole, back fill it in with the removed soil and manure. The reason for doing this is to remove the caliche in this 4 foot area to give the tree an area it CAN grow without running its roots along the surface of the ground and it also guarantees the water can soak in deeply. To create even better success, place a 4 inch perferated pluming pipe verticle in the hole's outside perimeter. When the hole is filled in and the tree planted in the center of the hole, the tree can be watered slowly via the pipe OR flooded with water.
Nice video thanks for sharing. I am in the middle of nowhere in Northwest Kansas smiley face or chemical farming has turned us into a desert. I have never seen a double dish for a tree I will have to try it.
The dire straights we've put ourselves in with chemical farming is just downright scary. Our area is naturally desert, but we seem intent on turning the whole planet into one if we can!
The brilliant design of the ancient city of Atlantis has come full circle haha! Awesome team work making permaculture heaven on Earth. Great work to be replicated globally:)
Hey Aaron! It's funny, we've had folks suggest several things for this ring design and I suppose Atlantis fits as well! I imagine we're a long way from being underwater, but maybe a bit more rainfall with these principles can change the future!
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm I really love how you have 6 or 8 inches of mulch around every fruit tree. It is a winning strategy! In 2014, in Douglas, Arizona I dug large swales in my side yards to collect and store the monsoon rains coming off the house roof. I then covered the entire areas with truck loads of mulch. 8 years later we have strong and healthy peach, apricot, jujube, plum and fig trees along with rich soil, bugs, worms and shade.
These were delivered through Chip Drop (arborists chipping as they work on tree trimming in the city). They are hit or miss when you're more remote, but it does work.
I’m new to your channel. Maybe in a video you could give your backstory. Are you both from AZ? How do you know so much about growing trees? Is this a business or just for you? Are you testing which trees grow best so that in the future you’ll grow more if that kind?
Hey there Laurie, welcome to the family! We've covered your questions in a few episodes over the years, but here are a few details. I (Duane) am originally from Los Angeles and Lori is from Phoenix (city kids with no farming experience). We met in San Diego and moved here in 1998. Started seriously growing fruit trees in 2012 and moved to Wittmann in 2014 to start the farming business. We had a 1 acre farm that we started on testing out several types and varieties of trees and as we started establishing the business decided we needed more space which is why we're on this new property. You have a great suggestion on us giving our backstory in an episode, we'll have to do that. We also do a monthly Q&A livestream on the first Saturday of each month at 3pm AZ time. The next one is coming up next Saturday, so drop by if you can make it!
Hey Angus. Yes, it's been a year already. Hard to believe, but it's starting to come together. Glad you're enjoying the content and going through this with us!
Adam in Tucson Q, 1 what paint to use for the Tree Trunk? Q, 2 when in the day to water and how much; I am talking about three different Figs three and one Pomelo, thank you.
Hey Adam. We've switched to the IV Organics Trunk Protectant as it gives us an organic option that also protects against rodent and bug damage (we have a discount code for that if you take that route, EONFARM). You can also find trunk paint in the gardening section of your local Home Depot or Lowes. We water the trees at night and right now our full size trees get 60 gallons once/week. That may inch up a bit if we have consistent days over 110. It decreases significantly during the Winter months, especially if we see any rainfall. Most of this past Winter we were watering once/month at the most.
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm Thank you, so much for your answer. I`m definitely not a farmer, but got very green fingers and what I plant grow. I need the bit of your gardening input thank you very much.
Do you have enough data to be able to compare the production using flooded ring vs drip irrigation? We're in an area of SoCal with Sandy soil and we've been using micro sprays with good results and reduced water usage.
That's a great question Rob and I don't have any way of quantifying the results we're seeing. The trees seem to be performing well and so far we're actually using less overall water with this type of irrigation. Right now we're using about 60 gallons/tree/week vs 90 on the drip irrigation we were using on the old farm. That being said, I don't think it's the only way to water a fruit tree as we can attest having used drip before. What we're looking forward to here is the ability to wash some of the heavy minerals from the soil with the ability to heavily soak from time to time. We were not able to do that with drip...well, we did but it was by hand. That is one of the major challenges with our hard, mineralized soil here in AZ. You need to do that deep soak from time to time to remove the sediment left from regular irrigation.
That's a solid option in most desert environments. The problem we have here is the heavy caliche layer that runs 1-2 feet under the surface. Eventually the trees can penetrate it, but a newly planted tree will struggle if it doesn't have some space before hitting it (it also does not allow water to penetrate, so it pools).
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm Caliche is a tough problem. I havè heàrd of situations where a hole is excavated thru it. An arboretum near Tucson does thàt. Nothing likes caliche.
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm If you can crack through the caliche, the roots will do the rest. 1 - Rock drills and a sledge hammer. 2 - Chemicals: expose the caliche, chip a small basin into it and pour pool acid into it (HCl or H2SO4). When it stops fizzing, scoop out the sludge and do it again. And again until you have a hole that drains. Wear protective gear. We did both, and the various trees (orange and mesquite) thrived.
Wonderful..... I see that you can add another pipe in standing in the large circle to look inside it and see the water level because this layer of wood is blinding you from seeing the water level unless you will use a watering system.
Hey Ahmed. I imagine that would be useful if you're wanting to easily access the soil. We use automated irrigation here, so we only occasionally check soil moisture.
Did you guy ever consider fencing in your whole property so you don’t have to protect each tree or bush etc??? I’m looking at the pro’s/ cons of this approach. 👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾. Cool video
Great question and yes, we did consider that. The biggest challenge to young trees has been rabbits and it's extremely difficult (not to mention expensive) to keep those out of a property this size. They tend to squeeze into the smallest spaces! At this point, most of the trees are big enough to not need them and the old cages work pretty good as tomato cages/trellising.
Great question. It causes severe damage to the trunk and can kill the tree under some circumstances. We lost our first Anna apple tree to sun damage, so we have been cautious with our trees since then.
Glad to hear those watermelons are rockin. It's amazing how from year to year you end up having to deal with something different. Just a little change in the weather can bring on a whole new set of pests!
No, we have had very good success without going to those lengths. The root stocks used here in the valley are well suited to our soils, including the caliche layer we have to deal with.
Hello Duane & wife , thanks for getting back with me on that impomtment info, just wondering how hot does it get in wittman az where we are in can and have seen 125° at midnight it's still 100° have a good day Gary
We're about the same as the rest of the valley. We hit 125 a couple of years back in June. Normal daytime temps in Summer are 110 or higher. 100 degrees at 5am.
what if you flooded under a cover like a septic arched leach chamber (or a 55 gallon drum cut in half). that way evaporation is reduced, biggest issue in arid farming.
I suppose if you had enough of those drums for your trees it would be a good option. We have very little evaporation once we cover these rings with woodchips and that's a free, renewable resource for us, so we've chosen that route. Worth trying though, especially if you can source them easily.
Recently found your channel as we are about to prune our almonds and was looking for advice, then found a few more of your videos. We have an old olive grove and it's going to need a water system putting in as our natural rainfall is decreasing. How would you set something up for much larger existing trees? Thanks
Hey there! Glad you found the channel and are finding the content useful. Olive trees are desert adapted trees that need deep, infrequent watering to be fruitful. With that, the design you see here can be incorporated into that assuming you don't have the option of true flood irrigation, which would be ideal. The rings may need to be a bit larger depending on the size of the trees, so your bubbler output would need to increase (along with the lines supplying the water). How many trees are we talking about?
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm thanks I'll be looking at whats available locally. Flood irrigation is on the way out here now as water is becoming more scarce. We have 50 olive trees, so not too many but enough to get a good harvest of oil
adding a VERY well activated bio-char layer to bottom of hole and then more added at the outer edge of the trees drip line to help feeder roots grow healthy ever couple of years help to insure water retention and availability...
Another great suggestion John. I would love to incorporate bio-char in the process, but we were not able to source enough locally to get the job done with these tree installs over the last 2 years. Making it on site is not an option as we have permanent burn restrictions in place that would not allow it. If we can figure out the logistics, it will find a home in and around these tree rings.
That's a bit too cold for most of them. It might be worth trying a kumquat. If you're only using the juice, they are sour like a lime/lemon and a bit more cold hardy. Plus, they are dwarfing trees naturally and do really well in pots.
Thank you for the video. My question: how often and how much to water in summer time a young( just planted in the spring) apricot tree. Thank you in advance for the answer
The first year we watered 2x/week with about 15-20 gallons at each watering. Just keep an eye on the tree as it will tell you if it needs more water. 😉
Hey Tom. We are on a protected aquifer (well) here in Wittmann and we abide by the restrictions already in place so we keep consistent access to water. That's not the case for many in Arizona, especially in the cities where water has never been an issue before, but may become one shortly.
Hey Dwayne, An excellent video. I am in Missouri and starting to build an orchard. My question is this, does any of your root stock, like apple for instance, develop a deep taproot? I don't have your caliche problem. But, I have large stones and boulders, usually concealed below the soil line. My partner purchased a used "Ground Hog" to drill multi size holes up to six feet deep. We will set plants in September. So, what tree species are your biggest challenge, for root depth?
This is a good question and I'm not aware of any of the root stocks that we have available to us here in AZ allowing for deep tap roots. It's one of the reasons we focus on that larger irrigation ring to drive outward growth. That being said, the trees will push deeper growth over time and they eventually punch through our hard caliche. I know they will also find their way between rocks underneath the soil assuming they can find water.
Great videos! Thanks for sharing your tools page on Amazon but I didn't find your earth driller that used to dig hole for your plants. Was it not from Amazon? I like that digger.
Hey there Aung. We did get it from Amazon and the style has changed just a little bit. It's under our Equipment list, but I'll link it for you here; amzn.to/3scTFT6 Note this comes with different auger sizes. I believe we are using an 8" bit that is not one of the options, but either the 6" or 12" would probably work fine.
That heavy mulch you see us using does the trick for us (ours is a good 12" deep typically). Otherwise you're going to be either using an herbicide or manual means of removal.
I believe i have the same dirt as you and it seems like its staying pretty wet for along time even when u go dig it up its already moist without watering... now my plant is turning yellow
If you're seeing yellow on leaves that's a pretty good indicator of too much moisture. The heavy mulch we use really helps to reduce that as it will pull some of that moisture into the chips and hold a more consistent moisture level. Reducing irrigation and watering deep, but infrequent (no more than once every week or two during dry/hot periods) will help also. Most of our trees at the peak of summer get no more than 60 gallons of water once/week. During the Winter we water very little if at all.
@@christopher87105 I would concentrate on heavy mulch on top of the soil, much like we show here and reduce watering. The reality is, your tree has to be able to live in your native soil, so amending it at this point will not help it long term. Also, digging around the tree can cause serious damage to the roots. In the long run, you could try to move it, but you would not want to do that during the growing season.
@Edge of Nowhere Farm ok even if I just got the plants Friday? And do you think it will be ok leaving it in the same spot just don't water it? It was the first time watering it
@@christopher87105 wow, I'm surprised it's having those issues so quickly. You definitely don't want to try and move it at this point. It's already under stress from the transplant which may be part of the problem. As for watering, you still want to be infrequent with the watering. Are you here in AZ? Also, what kind of tree is it?
I saw you didn’t break or liberate the roots free from being circled in the pot. Has that ever caused any issues for you? I wonder what the best is, if doing it or not
We generally leave the roots undisturbed unless they are clearly root bound. It wasn't the case with this particular tree, but we have done it in the past.
@@EdgeofNowhereFarmthat’s awesome, thank you. I do the same, and since I saw so many online just busting the root ball to “break it free”, I thought I screwed up, but I’m glad you guys are planting like this and have no issues. Cheers!
Hey there. You can use this for established trees as well. You wouldn't need the inner ring of course, but otherwise it will work. Just be careful when you're pulling back the soil to form the ring as shallow roots can be disturbed. Usually that's not a major issue with a tree that's growing well, but for younger trees it can do some damage.
I see you use a lot of wood chips. I have also been adding chips to fix my clay soil. I have neighbors concerned about the fire hazard of the chips. Are you not afraid with all your chips? What do I tell people?
Very interesting technique for desert climate. Does this require some clay on the soil to maintain the swail and burm? I live in arid South Texas with very sandy soil and don't think these ring shapes will maintain. Do you havev any suggestions for very sandy soft soil to water trees?
Great observation on the clay and yes, that does really help to keep the berms intact. Mulch and organic matter are your best friends when dealing with sandy soil. Both will help to hold moisture in the soil and eventually create additional layers of soil that will retain more moisture.
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm thanks for the reply. So are you saying amending the soil mulch & organic matter will allow the soil for it to maintain shape for water rings or just good soil conditioners to make the sandy soil better for water retention for trees?
@@3moirai depending on how much clay you have in your soil, mixing it with compost or something similar may give you enough structure to maintain the shape.
Great suggestions on both of those Srirama. We have added mycelium in the past and have not seen any difference in tree/fruit development, but we also see heavy mushroom activity in the wood chips around the trees. Growing Spirulina as a green manure is an interesting concept!
Here is a link to the exact one we use on most of the property; www.sprinklerwarehouse.com/rain-bird-1400-series-pressure-compensating-trickle-bubbler-0-50-gpm-1402
That can be a real challenge if you're too far away from civilization. We have had some success with Chip Drop (need to be willing to take logs and also pay for deliveries) and we also follow chip trucks in town. We're about 15 minutes from the regional dump, so it's a bit easier for us.
That's a great question and I'm not really sure. I've seen fields watered that way with plenty of water flow going through the main channel that allows water to flow downhill down each row. The challenge here would be reaching capacity in the first few rings much more quickly than subsequent rings. That may create backflow issues.
Hey Shoshana. We've covered our irrigation system in other videos, but in a nutshell. We use either 1/2gpm or 1gpm bubblers at the beginning of each of these rings. These are tied into our Hunter ProHC controlled valves that are wifi enabled and automated for irrigation. During the peak of summer our fruit trees receive up to 100 gallons/week into the rings you're seeing here. That backs way down during the cooler months. Let me know if you have any other questions on this one.
Do you have a layout for your irrigation to your trees & berries what it entails getting getting. From your main line to each tree. What does it take to get from A to Z. How you were able to get the drip system to the trees?
Hey Kenn. It would take too long to answer that here, but you can find our episodes on the irrigation setup here; ru-vid.com/group/PLnT_wyDSIC9jOwEr_CetZQY-R6RQT_uIJ
Great question Brandy. We spray the whole area down really well to settle the dirt before we cover with the wood chips. We also try to avoid walking around the the tree for a few weeks so that ground gets nice and solid again. As hard as our dirt is we usually don't have any issues with it long term.
That is my concern, too. I have Vegas sandy loam, so the top does not get super hard. I am afraid the wood chips would give way in the top layer and soon destroy the beautiful rings. Fruit trees end up getting walked around a lot. You did such a nice looking job on those rings. Was it hard to find uncolored wood chips in your area? How long do you find they last before the have sufficiently broken down?
@@cs7717 now that is an interesting dilemma and you would need to be careful with your sandy soil and walking on the rings. It might be worth forming the rings and using them without mulch to see if the soil will compact enough to take traffic. If it does you would be good to just cover with the wood chip mulch. If not, I would only mulch the inside of the ring so you can see where the walls of the ring are when you're walking around the tree. You'll have to let me know how this works. As for the composting time on the wood chips, it's very fast as long as you're irrigating in/through them. I'll have to cover that in a future vlog or episode, because it's a great question and it would be good to show that. Oh and the color does become pretty uniform as they age. One of the things we do is use a "First in First Out" method for deciding which woodchips we use. As long as they have time to age it all pretty much has that brown/woody look to it.
Hello, what is that white paint on the trunk? Can I get it on Home Depot? What does the paint? Will it protect the leaves as well if I paint using it? Thanks!
Hey there Chethan. That is trunk protectant we buy through IV Organics. I'll link to a video we did discussing why we use it and where to get it from. It's designed to protect the trunk from Sunburn and animal damage; ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-bCe3UZI-GvY.html
Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt. We don't have much issue with absorption as long as the woodchips are there to help hold some of the moisture in place and keep it from evaporating.
How does deep root watering using a plastic tube like the Rain Bird RWS or Hunter RZWS compare to this method? I'm also in AZ and live in an area where I have to pay a large amount of tax on the water that I use. I currently have flood irrigation available but have been converting to drip on 8 orange trees to minimize my water usage. I'm looking for the most efficient method.
We've had solid success with drip irrigation on fruit trees which is the method we used on the old farm. However, the amount of water needed for a fruit tree to grow well and produce is still the same. This method we show you here (along with the heavy mulch applied as we do) virtually eliminates evaporation, especially when irrigating at night. With that you will need less water than traditional flood irrigation without mulch.
Great question Gitan. We did a brief Tour about a month ago that I'll link for you here; ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-qAa3ebWfGew.html
How many minutes do you water your newly planted tree? Does that time change as the tree gets older? Also how many times per week and does that change ever?
Great questions Katherine. The newly planted trees are watered at least once a week (unless it rains during the winter, then we skip) and they get about 20-30 gallons at each watering. This increases as the weather warms and the tree grows. For our more established trees we will water up to about 90 gallons a week during the peak of summer (usually once a week, but sometimes we'll split that up if the trees look like they're struggling). Keep in mind, we're building soil around these trees in addition to ensuring the tree has enough moisture. The plan/goal is to lower that amount once the trees are more established, but that's a few years down the road for us. We always tell folks it's better to err on the side of more water than less. Fruit trees need a lot more water than desert adapted trees and it's very easy to not water enough. Mulch nice and heavy and this will help maintain good moisture levels between waterings.
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm Thank you so much! I've been hand watering everyother day with just a few woodchips around base. I see now I need much more wood chips and I need to dig a better swail. Your videos are so helpful I really appreciate all your hardwork to share with us and to help educate us. I'm an ex-city girl turned novice homesteader and need all the help I can get!
I just watched an older video at your old house and you use to put drip lines watering 10 gallons every 2 days. Do you think this is a better system now? Why did you decide to do things different?
@@katherinegray5466 Glad we can help be a resource. We're all trying to make a go of it here in the desert and it's hard to find solid info out there, especially on the homestead/farm farm scale. Your trees will really love you for giving them that extra layer of protection from the dry, hot air!
@@katherinegray5466 Great question. The old property was on a shared well and we didn't want to drain the tank (trying to keep happy neighbors!), so we had to limit how much water we were drawing at any given time. On the new property we own the well and have a larger tank so we're able to put more water on them at one time. That heavy, infrequent watering is ideal for trees here in the desert and is as close as we can get to flood irrigation which would truly be ideal.
This plant is big. You should cut its roots from the bottom because roots are going upside the bucket. From the bottom side roots can collect essential minerals from the soil.
We usually try to leave the root ball alone unless it starts wrapping around itself. The root stocks our citrus is grafted to is designed to grow out and away from the trunk as opposed to straight down.
Great job. lots of details and done right! One thing I do different is I do not put any amendments IN the hole of a new tree. It can burn the roots and will definitely harm soil biology that will be trying to get started. I've been growing citrus and lots of other things in Coachella Valley since 1977, where we are hot like you are. I like the details of planting depth and finding the roots instead of planting at the depth of the pot's potting soil. Very nice. and bravo on the generous amount of mulch you use. That works in any area, not just hot areas of AZ and CA. I would like to suggest that you add some more diversity of living roots. At least 5 diverse kinds and 15 would be better. Daikon radish for the hard caliche, a little legume like clover or pea, something flowering and something from grass family. Get more life in the soil and get your carbon and soil biology going. Then you won't need any of those amendments. There is also now good evidence that citrus and survive and still produce even if it is infected with citrus greening virus IF you have a diversity of growing roots and healthy soil. It has to do with the soil biology and the balance with fungi, bacteria, and the virus. Lots of good reason to get some more plant life and diversity around your citrus. For our area I recommend summer annuals followed by winter annuals, always keeping something with living roots going. The bigger and broader the mix the better. If you can include local natives in that mix (yes, what some mistakenly call weeds) those are the best and using the native soil resources and hosting for the local beneficial insects. (look up some info re regenerative agriculture for more about cover crops and living roots) You have a beautiful place. May the Lord bless you with abundant harvests.
Great suggestions here. It sounds like you've been around the block a time or two with this. I pray the Lord bless you as well, particularly this Resurrection weekend!
It seems to be working really well for us. The wood chip mulch is the question for us long term. As it breaks down it will become soil and fill in those rings. We figure if nothing else we can excavate a bit of it down the road and use it in the garden beds.
The outer ring is to encourage outward growth of roots for newly planted trees. Our hard packed dirt needs consistent moisture in order for fruit tree roots to survive. If we only keep the water close to the tree it will stunt the growth of the tree as the roots can only grow into moist soil.
Hey Shawn. The vast majority of our trees are from RSI Growers. He grows his own root stocks here in Arizona and they are far and away better than the other options out there. The types of fruit trees he doesn't offer we get either from online retailers (we like Stark Brothers, Raintree, Planting Justice and Grow Organic) or other local nurseries (Summer Winds and Richard's Garden Center).
