More rain fell last night I’m hopeful it will be enough for the moment. Many times in Kansas we will go through a long drought and suddenly receive 4-5" of rainfall at once. You never know when or if it will happen because other states sometimes seed clouds because they need rain and we might not wind up with any rain at all in those situations. Kansas does cloud seeding also. Muddy ground sounds pretty good to me right now. Anyone interested in weather modification might enjoy this article http://science.howstuffworks.com/nature/climate-weather/meteorologists/cloud-seeding1.htm. I’m sure everyone is aware how desperate California was for water so you might ask why didn’t they seed clouds and the truth is they did http://www.cbsnews.com/news/could-cloud-seeding-help-with-californias-drought/.
So why not seed clouds in Kansas and prevent hail like catscratch mentioned you might ask and it’s about money http://www.kansas.com/news/weather/article1080580.html. There are lots of unanswered questions in regards to weather manipulation. People desperately need water so officials will look to the greater good. You might wonder where exactly they seed clouds in California and this article will answer that https://dpw.lacounty.gov/wrd/Projects/Cloudseeding/CloudSeedingFAQ.pdf. Before someone asks could it cause flooding the answer is yes it could.
Im sorry to hear you had so much hail. Hope it looks better in the daylight.
The thought has occurred to me. It’s happened before.
We may end up being soggy all summer, which will probably elicit comments wishing the rain would stop. We did get a 1/2" here last night.
Clark, they are young trees so I’m not to worried about fruit production yet. It’s also my assumption that the very nature of living in KS is going mean production will be spotty. Did you get the moisture that you need last night?
I always pray for late spring rain and late summer drought. No one is listening.
We received some moisture last night. We are very behind this year and it will take a really good rain to make it up.
I think you might be getting the rest of that rain this week. We too are way behind in moisture, but the storm track is due to bring a series of storms to us this week (2+" of moisture in the forecast). Typically those storms head your way after us, so with any luck…
it’s been a dry start to 2017 in NE Florida. Just under 5 inches after 3 months. we’re about 3.5 inches shy of normal…if this keeps up it’s going to be a nasty wild fire season.
Had some nice rain here, it actually a little soggy
We have already gotten more than their total thru Sat for us, and the “big” storm hasn’t even happened yet.
Actually, IMO, of all species I grow, no tree is less tolerant of drought than peach trees. My hunch is that your trees are tolerant because they aren’t experiencing drought as their root systems or the mychorizal reach beyond them has constant access to water. Peaches don’t compete well with other trees when water is limited and they are the first to suffer and sometimes suffer permanent damage to their structure as a result of drought here. It is a bigger problem than anything I can think of particular to other species- even black knot to plums and fire blight to pears and apples.
Alan, I completely agree peach trees won’t compete very well against other species roots. They won’t compete at all against sod.
But here, they are among some of the most drought tolerant species, if kept weed free.
In 2012, I planted over 200 peach trees plus apples, plums, cherries, blackberries. It rained decently after planting. After that, it quit raining for the summer here.
I didn’t water anything till I started losing plants and trees.
As I recall, I first noticed blackberries dying, then apples. That summer I lost about 1/3 of the 200+ blackberries we planted, plus several apples and plums, despite the fact that I tried to keep up watering the apples, plums and blackberries after I noticed they were dying.
I never watered any of the peaches once that summer and didn’t lose a single one. All trees and blackberries had good weed control.
The brand new peaches grew 5’ that summer.
I don’t want to sound weird, but I’m almost more certain of almost any other peach culture, that they are very drought tolerant.
Even the peaches I planted this year with dry roots in dry soil are starting to respond to my watering and the rain we got. I thought they were dead, but they aren’t.
I think if peaches are in a less drained soil, they may not be so drought tolerant, because they can’t develop roots to scavenge water, but that’s just a theory.
Hmmm, perhaps they are more tolerant in hotter climates, or perhaps we are talking about 2 different kinds of drought tolerance- one being the ability to survive and, in my case, the ability to thrive. We are certainly talking about trees of different ages- I’ve never had a problem with 1st year peaches or anything else. I also have never had a single tree die here from drought in any circumstance- it is an issue of stunting. The transplants I’m talking about are 3 or 4 years old where peaches don’t do so well. Even when I’ve moved an amazing amount of root they are much more likely to suffer from drought than other species, but can act like they weren’t even transplanted if they get ample water.
However, even with established trees, peaches are the first here to stop growing from drought. On properties without irrigation and little soil, peaches tend to be short lived- they may grow vigorously for a couple of years, but then they put out less and less fresh growth and just stagger along while other species around them in the same soil thrive. .
Are you guys talking about the same rootstocks for your respective peach trees?
Olpea,
My thoughts as well , we lost 1/2 the blackberries during that bad drought but no peaches, pears, aronias or apples. I had mulberries killed to the ground and the tops of my poplars and willows were killed. The tops of some apples and cherries were killed. I’m not sure why that is. 20 or so years ago I had half a dozen nankings growing in the fence row that were killed by a spring freeze that sort of freeze dried them in bloom. The peaches were fine through that.
From what I’ve seen apricots are more drought tolerant than peaches. But peaches are grown dryland around west Texas with 20-24 inches of annual ppt. Those orchards as Olpea suggested are usually grown with bare soil and the trees are spaced out at least 20x20ft.
I think I could grow them here with weed barrier and spaced out some. Keep the tops small enough and they’d make fruit on 15 inches per yr. I have some like that now but irrigate at least once a yr. I think on Lovell they have a big root system and it would work.
A lot of his trees were purchased on the same rootstocks from the same nursery as mine, although Olpea now grafts most of his trees.
Alan,
I responded earlier from my phone, but had some time to think, trying to reconcile your experiences with mine.
We may indeed be talking about different ages of trees. The summer of 2012 left an indelible mark on my memory for young trees. I hauled so many loads of 5 gal. buckets of water trying to save apples, pears, and blackberries. I did this for a couple months, then just put a 60 gal. sprayer in the back of the pickup and held the wand (without a tip) out the window to shoot water at the base of the trees/plants. I remember it felt like it was such a waste of time, but if I was just a little late watering the apples, plums, blackberries, I’d see them suffer, or die.
As the summer progressed, people couldn’t believe I hadn’t watered the peaches (there was a row right next to the road, and I had planted them as small sticks that spring). The peaches never skipped a beat. I did keep the area around them completely weed free (as we did with everything new planted that spring. As you know weeds suck up a lot of water.) Most of them were not mulched, because I couldn’t very many wood chips that summer.
In terms of older trees, I think we may see more commonality. I’ve never lost an older established tree to drought. That summer of 2012 I saw some other mature non-fruit trees (and bushes) die, but I didn’t see any fruit trees die. I think I more or less saw what Clark saw that year. (It was an exceptional year. I remember the news reporting that summer was drier here than the driest year of the dust bowl, until the end of August.)
I guess I would conclude most other mature fruit trees I’ve grown are as drought tolerant as peaches. I know you are not saying that, but saying you see peaches in your area less drought tolerant. I can’t quite reconcile that with my experiences, but we live quite a few miles apart. Here peach trees only suffer thirst if there is too much sod around the tree.
I think Fruitnut is correct in his statement apricots are more drought tolerant. As we know, they seem to be at home in a desert.
I know you’re obviously a very savvy fruit tree arborist, as that’s how you’ve made your living for the past 30+ years, but have you noticed the decline in older peach trees to be at all N related? I see older peach trees here suffer more maladies (i.e. canker) and environmental stress as they get older, from fertility. They seem to be the first to peter out that way, whereas apples, pears, etc. just keep clicking along.
I have noticed that peaches need more nitrogen to remain vigorous, but the difference in sites I mention is not likely N related as ample quantities does not rectify the problem. Sites with sprinkler systems and decent drainage never seem to be where peaches suffer.