Pear Growing in the Pacific Coast States, J.R. Magness 1957

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Although the report was written for Pacific Coast States, this bulletin contains excellent information for Pear growers everywhere. I will be posting sections of it over the next few days.

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Looks like a great read. I love those older texts and how simple and clear the knowledge is. Thanks for sharing!

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In case you missed it in the previous section:

Where natural rainfall is depended on for soil moisture, an average of at least 35 inches per year is desirable.

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I have skipped past descriptions of historical growing regions to page 13:

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During Magness’ era, they were unaware that a large shrub or a mature orchard tree can substantially deplete essential minerals at depth under their canopy in about 7 years - depending on water table fluctuations and soil types. Potash is among those reduced by uptake. It is not something that is easily determined by visual inspection of leaves (if at all) or near-surface (1 ft) soil samples. We know it today from digital probes embedded at hierarchies of depths in orchards, both in research and commercial orchard operations since the 90’s. In lieu of expensive apparatus, a thorough laboratory assay of leaf samples every 5 years or so will suffice.

That said, Magness makes some very important statements here about nutrients other than potash:

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The first 4 paragraphs discuss methods of irrigation while the last 2 discuss amounts of irrigation.

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:slightly_smiling_face:


California Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 373, Pear Pollination.pdf (1.7 MB)

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“leaf area per fruit”

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@Richard

Excellent book thanks for the suggestion! Pear growing in the Pacific Coast states. - (Listing Multiple Pages). UNT Digital Library