I've never watered any fruit every day even in summer except for potted trees. But newly planted trees might well use that amount per day in summer. I'd apply that amount as 21-35 gallons once a week. That would sound about right. The need could be more depending on many factors. California has a formula for their climate and while I don't have that handy I'd say their numbers are a little higher than 3-5 gal use per day.

Whoa. Sounds like an avocado tree, lol! If this is a stone fruit, I'd bet that is 3 to 5 gals. a week, unless you're having extremely hot and dry temps. And, that would be more my neck of the woods, and not in Minnesota! And fruitnut, I don't water my stone fruits that much out here, except maybe in the deep heat of the summer, and that would be for a short time. And, I don't water every day. During my hottest periods, I'll water 3 times a week.

Patty S.

Below is a table from CA suggesting a first year tree (canopy area 4 sq ft) uses 0.25 to 0.75 gallons per day depending on weather. This is the actual uptake of water not application amount.

If there are big trees rooted in the area or weeds, the water needed would be higher, perhaps much higher. Also much of the applied water evaporates or percolates below the roots because a young tree has poor root density.

Water use is dependent on weather and is proportional to area the canopy shades.

Here is a link that might be useful: fruit tree water use, gallons/day

This post was edited by fruitnut on Wed, Jan 16, 13 at 19:10

A well mulched new tree in Michigan, in our heavy soil, will consume a lot less less than a gallon a day. 0.25 sounds right.

thx for help. I have been considering irrigating my trees due to other evidence that my sandy soil requires frequent watering even with mulching. This info is the tipping point to get me to do it.

I have found in my very sandy soil that it is impossible to overwater. Where I used to live with heavy clay soil, that was an entirely different story. Northwoodswis

Garden recipe measurements are always flawed and designed to help "dummies" avoid killing trees in most situations. The thing about watering that makes rigid intsructions inadequate is the range of soil and weather makes the variables all over the map. I say "use your hands and get into the soil- moist but never soppy".

I've thought about digging a few "test holes" 18 -24" away from few of the tree trunks maybe 12" deep.

I expect a thorough watering to either wet or leave water in the bottom of such a test hole.

anyone got an insight as to the validity of such an approach?

Pruning equation from Harvestman Please! Hi H-man. You once posted (obviously I can't find it) an excellent ratio of pruning limbs on apple trees, I wish you would please post it again. Thanks Mrs. G

Unless you have them planted in pea gravel or pots, I wouldn't water every day, but maybe give them the weekly total on a periodic basis. Watering that much daily would keep the soil saturated all the time and I'd be afraid of drowning the tree or rotting its roots. Instead, when the soil starts to dry out about 2" down, then give them a good watering to wet them past the roots and soak out a bit, then let it dry again so the soil doesn't stay overly saturated. Subtract rainfall from the amount of additional watering, too. Fortunately, and unfortunately, I rarely have rainfall so I just water when the soil gets dry, about every 2 weeks in the spring, weekly in the summer, sometimes more often on new trees in mid summer.

Oldryder,

There was a severe drought here last summer. We didn't water the new peach trees at all and they did fine.

We had to water new apple, plum, and cherry trees. We watered them once a week with 2.5 gal of water per tree. They would have done better with a little more water, but 2.5 gal/week kept them alive. We have heavy soil here and the trees were mulched, which conserves water.

Below is a link where water needs for fruit trees was discussed on this forum last summer.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dry Farming Stone Fruit

Once all the air pockets are out of the soil by the flooding of the root zone, then the next step is to see what it takes to keep the root zone adequately moist.
We have sandy soils with no ammentments that can easily require 5 gal/day and we have heavier soils that may never dry out enough with normal summer rains to get enough air.
Your above ground look at the climate/weather conditions is fine, but it tells you nothing about how the roots are doing. The roots are the ones that need the water, so it is good to look at their environment. :)