Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
two or more different management zones in your orchard, have separate soil
samples tested for each of the zones.
Strategize for amendments.
Consider how you will apply amendments in
your fruit planting. In berry and grape culture, growers often amend only the
soil within the crop rows. For crops with small root systems, this practice
works well, but for crops like fruit trees that develop extensive root systems
that spread far from the trunks, it is not effective. Apple tree roots can
spread over a diameter two to three times as far as a tree is tall and extend
downward until they hit a permanent water table or impervious layer of sub-
soil. For that reason, orchardists usually amend all of the soil in their plant-
ing blocks, rather than only those soils within the tree rows. In a home orch-
ard with a few trees, estimate the final height of the trees and draw circles
around the planting spots and extending out 1 to 1.5 times that height. Apply
amendments, as described below, throughout the entire circles.
Figure 4.5
➔
shows the above- and below-ground structure of a fruit tree.
