Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
and poor drainage than apples and pears. Peaches, in particular, tend to grow
and produce poorly when water drainage is inadequate.
I maintained a teaching orchard for 15 years, demonstrating different
crops, varieties, rootstocks, and production practices. The orchard was loc-
ated on a site with 8 to 12 inches of silt loam overlying 4 feet of fractured
clay. Not an ideal site. European pears flourished. Apples on some rootstocks
performed well, while other rootstock/variety combinations were severely
stunted or died. Sweet cherry trees grew vigorously, while tart cherries
suffered trunk splitting. The plum trees apparently grew well but had ex-
ceptionally poor anchorage. During a fruit growers' tour one spring, we dis-
covered that some of my 15-foot-tall plum trees had literally fallen down. For
me, it was embarrassing. For a commercial orchardist, the situation would
have been far worse. Poorly drained sites are poor choices for orchards. If
you must grow your fruit trees on poorly drained soil, you will need to take
extra steps to improve water drainage in the root zone.
Examining your soil.
If you are considering a commercial orchard site, an ex-
cellent practice is to dig several trenches, each 6 to 10 feet deep, with a
backhoe. Examine the soil profile for clay lenses, hardpans, and deep gravel
or sand layers. Be especially alert for dark grayish-blue to greenish-black,
sometimes foul-smelling, layers that indicate waterlogged soils. This type of
discoloration is called gleying.
Hardpans and clay layers that are not too deep can sometimes be broken
up with a chisel or rip plows. These implements may be mounted on a tractor
or bulldozer and consist of long shanks (and sometimes feet or blades)
that extend deep into the soil. For shallow ripping on light-textured soils, a
medium-sized tractor might suffice. For deep ripping on heavy-textured soils,
you will need a large tractor or bulldozer.
Sandy and gravelly soils can be suitable for an orchard if you have ad-
equate irrigation water and access to ample supplies of organic materials
suitable for amending soils. Be very wary of waterlogged soils, however.
Determine why they are waterlogged, and be sure you can develop adequate
