I have just added fruit trees and shrubs to my home garden for the first time this year. I am trying to figure out how to determine a starting point for watering my trees. I understand there will be variables to consider like soil type, what if anything is planted around the trees, age of the trees etc. I have:
Babcock White Peach
Desert Delight Nectarine
Eva’s Pride Peach
Pink Lady Apple
Satsuma Mandarine
Eureka Lemon
Violette de Bordeaux Fig in a half barrel
Bountiful Blueberry in 20 gallon pot
Sunshine Blue Blueberry in 20 gallon pot
Misty Blueberry in 20 gallon pot
I am in Southern California Sunset zone 24.
My irrigation system can run bubblers for the apple, nectarine and Babcock peach. I need to use drip line with 1 gph or 2 mph emitters for the rest of the trees and shrubs. My soil is clay and loam so it holds n to water. How much water should I start off with per tree. Is there a guide which lists gallons of water per week by species?
I think drip is a poor way to start off a newly planted tree. Reason, all the active roots are concentrated near the trunk at planting but then need to spread out into the surrounding soil. Drip doesn’t rewet enough soil to support a rapidly expanding root system.
What has worked for me is a basin around each tree and water about once a week during the first yr. My basins would be about 3-4ft at planting and usually 6-8ft by fall…
Drip can work on an established tree esp if the entire soil is wet at least once a yr as in CA.
I agree that a basin of water around the canopy of the tree will get the most root growth as Fruitnut states above. I have been using the new style drip that goes around the tree like a basin with 1 gallon emmiters every 8 inches. I use this for in ground and potted plantings, even in my garden. Saves a lot of water(pricey in socal), and I get excellent results. As your canopy increases you just cut drip and add more on. For your stonefruit inground I would water(drip) deeply once a week for 3 hours. I water my blueberries once a day, blueberries like slightly damp soil so don’t let them dry out. I water mine for 15 minutes a day at about 11am to cool soil a bit cause it can get really hot here. Your potted trees probably need water every other day as long as its not super hot, black pots dry out fast in the sun. Also one more thing on blues, they like acidic soil, check the Dave Wilson website, it has a great recommendation on starting those up. If you plant blues in normal potting soil most will not grow and may die. Good luck with your trees and shrubs, hope this helps.
Here is my set up…messy and not put in place at the time but I think you can get the gist of it. I use the 1/2" tubing to run the line and the 1/4" tubing to connect to the 1/2". 1/4" tubing has drip holes every 12" I think. You can get them with 6" or 9" spacings as well. I wrap it around my trees and add more 1/4" tubing as the canopy grows. has worked well for me for almost 6 years.
Thanks to all for the great tips. Once I get the rest of the garden planted I will revisit the irrigation system and look into the circular drip. For now I am hand watering in basins and using the drip if we are out of town and it is working well. The trees are happy.
