Is there another drought in the making? It looks that way. My rainwater capacity is at max level, 800 gIs,I am good for 3 months of drought.
Plus 6 garbage containers and a few 6 gl containers.
All my 60 container tree’s are singing along at a pretty good clip right now. Not worry about my inground ones.
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That pawpaw loves water better save plenty for it!
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Honestly every summer is a drought here in Colorado where I live. How it goes is until May we get a lot of snow typically. Then it is generally no snow and very little rain until October. Then right before or on Halloween we get our first snow. Every 4th of July here our fireworks are banned due to fire potential and lack of water. Then more and more people are moving to Colorado making water more and more scarce. Of course the people who move here do not know not to plant plants that require a lot of water. It does not help that the nurseries near me sell things like a begonia.
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I live in a county with 14" of average rainfall. We do have summer irrigation from melting snow pac. Between taxes and electricity our average annual cost is $400. We use drip tape and mulch where applicable to save water and/or money.
@aap … I admire your water catchment system and hope to engineer a system suitable to our farm.
Does anyone use gray water for their trees and garden successfully? I would be interested in personal experience or tested ideas.
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That’s part of why I largely abandoned container growing fruits. Too much reliance on water and stuff.
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I have well water with a pretty bullet proof water table. I really need to automate some of the irrigation so I don’t have to spend a lot of time watering trees and bushes.
Are there any good drip bags somebody would care to recommend?
We have a rainbow instead.
No drought in the PNW. We are drowning…
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Clark, I live on Beaverlake but can’t use water from the lake. Well water and rain for the next few months. Got 30 citrus trees and 30 figtrees, all in 15 gl containers. Citrus need a lot of rainwater which I temper with some wellwater.
I am still amazed how you can anything on pure rocky “soil”.Paw paw, Asian persimmon, Peaches, pears you name it, it grows into good size trees.
Got a orchard ladder,10 footer, not tall enough.
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Trees do great on a rocky soil high in minerals. Sounds like your set that’s a lot of produce coming in!
Trees get massive in general to be honest. Even a dwarf apple will get 6-9 feet unpruned. I am around 6 foot even. My cherry tree is in a 30 gallon container and it is taller than me counting the pot. It is likely a few feet wide too. The cherry tee is only 1 year at my house too. For reference my container is likely a little less than two feet high. The rootstock is new root-1. Clark has shared his secret on this forum being docapoles. You can reach 30 feet with the pole plus your height. Citrus are actually super drought tolerant. Citrus naturally grow in a area where it rains a lot at once and then not for along time. I remember last summer I grew citrus and I only watered it a few times during summer. The annoying part was the growth of a citrus tree. The growth of a citrus tree was some of the slowest growth I have ever seen. I am talking one branch per year growth growing a foot or less.
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My 6 year old Fukushu kumquat is 7.5 feet tall and 4.5 feet wide. It is slow
Did my share concerning water by using mainly rainwater, 800 gl for the next summer months. With drought in the next few weeks/ month water supply will be borderline enough.
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I have no problem growing citrus in my zone 7a, I can grow them large easily or stocky/small no problem! The secret? No secret!
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I over planted things this year in preparing for the drought, so far my roses look better than last year.
We’re in the sufficient category also this year compare to last year, no surcharge for being inefficient.
My apples are on drought proof M111 roots and my pears are on drought proof Callery pear roots. My peaches are all seed grown Red Haven. Both my NorthStar and Montmorency cherry trees from seed do better than grafted cherry trees.
I know it is easier said than done but has any here considered moving? There are greener and wetter pastures out there.
I’m a bit of an extreme case because I love the outdoors so I moved to Alaska. The winters are annoyingly long and dark but the summers are just beyond belief. Plants that love sunlight grow like weeds and even on the driest of years the water table just stays at their usual levels. The insect pressure is a lot less than on most parts of the lower 48.
All I’m saying is that there are places where the quality of life can be worth the effort.
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Organic food is so cheep that moving is out of the question. As time passes more and more of our food will be grown in factories during the cold season.
There is more to financial resiliency than growing your own food. As you well stated, right here and right now food is too cheap to bother. That would be awesome if there was any guarantee that right-here-right-now would last forever.
Heck for me the fruit of my labors is secondary; I’m building skills, an infrastructure, and a revenue stream through propagating plants. If right-here-right-now lasts, it is just an enjoyable hobby. If it doesn’t well it buys me options.
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