The study is in the intense agricultural area of Goulburn Valley, Australia with an annual rainfall of 17.4 in.
So 0.5 inch per day in winter. That must mean at a minimum one inch per day in summer. So that comes to 0.75 x 365 = 274 inches per yr. .
Richard that rate of water use is way out of line. Even huge pecan trees in AZ and NM only use about 60-72 inches per yr.
CA guidelines suggest 0.1 inch per day in winter and 0.3 inch per day at 100F and windy in summer. Average that out at 0.2 inch per day equals: 0.2 x 365 = 73 inches per yr. 60-73 inches per yr are very high numbers compared to the humid Eastern USA.
http://homeorchard.ucdavis.edu/daily-water-use-vossen.pdf
In my greenhouse using deficit irrigation to improve stone fruit quality, water use in summer is 0.1 inch per day. Annual total is about 25 inches. 30 inches max if I apply a big flood irrigation in winter to leach out salts.
It doesn’t take 5 inches of water to replace 5 inches of soil moisture.
How much does it take? Are you talking about 5 inches of soil water because that’s equal to 5 inches of water anywhere else. Or are you talking about the water contained in the surface 5 inches of soil?
1 Like
@fruitnut – Here’s what I’ve come up with in terms of irrigation “inches”.
Last year I used about 8900 cu.ft. of irrigation water. I do not use “broadcast” irrigation (e.g., rainbird) but rather open-pipe flow into basins around my trees and otherwise streamer-head irrigation into planter beds for everything else. The total area under irrigation is 7900 sq.ft. per my pesticide use license. This works out to about 13.5 inches of irrigation water, plus the 13 inches of rain at my locale for the year.
Yes, that is how evapotranspiration is calculated.
ET is inches of water lost from the soil. It could evaporate from the surface or be pulled out from deeper by plants roots. But inches of ET is the same as inches of water depth.
Your trees are very small and there is no ground cover using water. So 26.5 inches per yr sounds about right.
I have seen those units in some texts, but for textbooks oriented towards real-time soil moisture measurements I see the units as depth of soil moisture.
Yes, this March I will complete the outdoor infrastructure including mulch in all basins. This should improve the soil conditions and drive my water usage downwards.
Thanks Patty…!! That’s a possibility. But I think business may need to improve to afford your neighborhood. There are certainly some nice country homesteads there. Another possibility with better air than Fresno should be Oroville to Redding. I’ve looked in the past and have had trouble finding good long term air quality readings.
1 Like
My 1/4 acre with 1400 sq.ft. house in NW Vista has a Zillow value of about $400k. For the same money you could go farther north to De Luz and obtain 5-10 acres.
2 Likes
And De Luz is so beautiful. Still tons of avocado orchards and even some citrus orchards out there. As well as a bunch of commercial growers.
Steve, I visted a friend of mine last weekend in Folsom. They were consistently 10F colder than us in the winter. Almost all of their summer days are 100F or close to it. In other words, perfect stone fruit weather. Lake Tahoe is just an hour or so away, so outdoor entertainment year round! You should look at that area too.
1 Like
Yes Sacramento/Folsom/Auburn/Stockton/Modesto are good fruit areas climate wise. I think homes are more than Oroville/Redding but less than Vista. Not sure which would have the best air. All should be better than Fresno.
Folsom was very clean, air and otherwise. San Jose is downright dumpy compared to it 
1 Like
Well, probably the cleanest air in California is in the Salinas area, but Redding is probably a very close second. However, I will say in Vista’s defense, if you can get into the hills, you can get a decent amount of ch due to our crazy many microclimates, and our air quality is actually very good, relatively speaking, for being in S. California. I live up in a coastal valley at nearly 1,000 ft elevation (965’ on my driveway, probably 1,000’ up on my top slope.) I can see Carlsbad beach from my driveway, so the on shore breeze is a straight shot to my house, up the valley. It is what gives us this incredible microclimate, and even lower elevations of Vista also benefit from this. I think National Geographic, back in the '90’s claimed that the city of Vista, CA was one of the cities in the world with the “most perfect climate”. I have to agree.
1 Like
That’s very reasonable. Most houses here in that size range are well north of 800K.
… has the highest per-capita population of ex-convicts in the State of CA.
Egad! Why is that, do you think? Where did you find that stat, Richard? I’d like to be able to look up those stats in the future, if I ever decide to move. That would definitely be something I would want to know about! 
The city derives a portion of its income by accepting ex-felons from State and Federal prisons.
A colleague of mine (an MD) moved there to accept a position in the hospital.
2 Likes
A very wet pattern is on it’s way!
From the Washington Post:
“Atmospheric river will blast California with heavy rain and snow ‘measured in feet’”
By Angela Fritz
2 Likes
