Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
even worse by increasing water-holding capacity. Adding sand to improve
soil drainage is usually prohibitively expensive on all but the smallest sites.
FIGURE 2.4
Sample soil profile
ABOVE:
Clay layers and hardpans can interfere with water drainage and
root growth. Deep gravel layers can cause excessive drainage and
droughty soils.
Soil drainage requirements differ among pome and stone fruits. In general,
European pears tolerate heavy soils better than do other common tree fruit
crops, followed by apples. Some apple and pear rootstocks perform much
better on poorly drained soils than others. For example, M26 apple rootstocks
produce trees about 8 feet tall and are generally popular. M26 rootstocks,
however, perform very poorly on heavy or otherwise poorly drained soils. In
such cases, a grower might choose a Bud9 apple rootstock, which is more
tolerant of heavy soils than M26. Stone fruits are less tolerant of heavy soils
