Fig Orchard with Pics w/ state of art watering system

13 years ago

Here is a fig orchard I have been planting. Space is right around 10 ft. I have around 70 trees in ground with another 30 to go. The little guy in the back ground is my 7 year old watering system.

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Comments (19)

giants_2007
13 years ago
Very nice Jose I hope to see some pics as season progresses and that is a very special watering system.
Sal
gorgi
13 years ago
Very nice indeed!
Good to see some us having the real thing.
My congrats and good luck with your new fig orchard.
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Thats a lot of hard work you put into it and it looks neat and organized. If I were you, I would not be concerned about weeds and grass. Weeds actually serve a purpose, they mine nutrients and also condition the soil. Say you are in sandy loose soil. Nature will bring in weeds that have a shallow yet thick root system. On the other hand, say you have hard compacted soil. Nature will bring in weeds with deep tap roots that will get in there and bust up that soil. Keep in mind that within two years, the root systems on your trees will be well outside of the area covered by your rings. While I think that the mulch rings will keep your roots protected in year #1, I see no benefit in later years. Also, your watering system may not actually be the best set up. Tree roots spread out in search of water. If you provide routine water within a 2' diamater of the tree, the roots are not being encouraged to spread out and develop. For the first year, it should be fine. However, you might want to think about watering further out from the trees. One last thing, I would recommend pulling the mulch back from the trunk of the tree. You could cause the trunk to rot. This post was edited by poolecw on Tue, Jun 10, 14 at 11:42
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I agree that it's probably getting too much water. Any combination of peat moss and perlite is going to be very water-retentive unless the perlite is the largest fraction of the soil. Adding compost or mineral soils (dirt) will only make the problem worse. It doesn't matter if there is or isn't a store of nutrients in container media (CM). CM are all about structure, and the nutritional part is all up to the grower. CM contribute so little to the plant's nutritional needs that it's much wiser to operate as if the contribute nothing, than it is to rely on them supplying anything. Plants can live indefinitely in a favorable combination of peat moss and perlite, or even in 100% perlite with no problem, as long as you're on top of fertilizing. Remember - what determines a good CM is its structure. I can't stress that enough. I would suggest you partially bury the container if that's an option. That will solve your water retention issues. You could also employ a wick to help you drain your soil. Tipping the pots at a steep angle after you water also reduces the amount of water the soil can hold and is helpful at promoting a more rapid return of air to your medium. It might also be a good idea to wait and watch carefully until your trees show the first signs of wilt (occasionally) after you have watered thoroughly. This will give you a sort of baseline by giving you an idea of what your trees will tolerate. IOW, if you're watering every other day, but your plants can go a week between waterings w/o wilting, you're watering inappropriately and causing a loss of potential vitality in you trees. The ideal time to water is just before the tree starts to experience drought stress. You can't SEE the symptoms of the initial stages, but you CAN prevent them. If you know your plants can go 5 days before they wilt, then water every fourth day instead of every other day. Heavy soils absolutely kill roots. Soils that hold perched water cause a cyclic death and regeneration of the finest roots that are costly to the plant. The microscopic hair roots begin to die in the saturated portion of CM after only a couple of hours. The longer the soil remains saturated, the larger the size of the roots that succumb to the anaerobic conditions. As the plant uses water from the CM and air returns, the plant allocates stored energy or a portion of current photosynthate in the regenerating of the lost roots. This goes on unseen, but it happens in all heavy soils. It's very expensive in terms of energy outlay because the energy that was diverted and dedicated to root regeneration would have gone into other energy sinks like fruit, foliage, branch extension, additional layers of cells in the cambium ......, or the energy would have been stored in storage organs as sugar/starch/oils .... for future use. FWIW - moisture meters, at least the inexpensive ones found at plant stores everywhere, are not very good at telling you how wet/dry your soils are. What they really measure is the EC (electrical conductivity) of the soil solution. To illustrate, pour a cup of distilled water and insert the probe. The tester/meter will read dry. Add a little salt (fertilizer) and it will read wet. A sharpened dowel stuck deep into the soil is a good 'tell' when it comes to determining CM moisture levels. Al
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I wrote a long post on rooting Annie McDowell, but the post didn't go through this morning (Houzz is having technical problems). So I copy-paste what I wrote in Organic Rose forum many years ago: ROOTING ROSES with soft-wood cuttings IN LESS THAN 2 MONTHS. I'm in zone 5a, Chicagoland. Roses die to the crown through winter, and don't sprout new canes until May. Below rootings are from softwood & new growth. Soft-wood needs FAST DRAINAGE, so I use 1/3 perlite, 1/3 vermiculite, 1/3 sand or peaty potting soil. I drilled extra holes on the side of pots for fast drainage. First I top with my high magnesium clay, later on I top with high-nitrogen black peat compost. Watering is done once a day with acidic rain-water plus soaked red-lava for potassium. Soft-wood cuttings need more sun (at least 4 hrs.) to prevent fungal rot. Also pots are under a Norway spruce trees to shelter them from heavy rain that rot roots. These pots receive 10 to 20% of rain. I also put them ON TOP OF BRICKS to prevent roots of tree from crawling upward into pots. Below pic. is Evelyn from a rooting taken from a cutting 2 months ago. Since it's in partial shade, leaf-cutter bees ate the leaves. Rooting softwood is different from hardwood. Softwood requires more sun and I CANNOT COVER with plastic (they rot). But hardwood can be PARTIALLY covered with plastic to create more humidity, see below picture from below link (by Pamela), using coffee-cup (with plastic lid), but there's a hole to allow air to get it. https://www.flowerpatchfarmhouse.com/rooting-roses-from.../ Differences between soft-wood and hard-wood rooting: Soft-wood cuttings needs to be soaked for 1 day with alkaline tap water, rooting hormone is NOT necessary if the end is wounded. Soft-wood's leaves wilt easily with acidic rain. Soft-wood needs a FAST-DRAINING & fluffy medium such as perlite & potting soil, plus vermiculite to retain nutrients. Soft-wood also needs alkaline pH (more lime added). Soft-wood rots easily if the medium is acidic. Soft-wood also rots if covered with a plastic bag, best rooted in open air. Soft-wood also needs more sun to grow leaves. Below are my soft-wood rootings receiving only 10 to 20% of rain since heavy rain rots the rootings easily. HARD-WOOD rooting: needs longer-soak in acidic rain-water, plus rooting hormone to develop roots. Needs a wetter medium (such as 3/4 sand & 1/4 to 1/3 peatmoss), needs more shade, best with high humidity such as a plastic cover. To soak, see below link: "A long soak of the cuttings in one inch of below solution for 12-25 hours. Rates if you use Rhizopon AA Water Soluble Tablets: 1-2 tablets per liter of water." http://www.rooting-hormones.com/rose.htm Fat bud on a rooting done in less than 2 months. The secret is red-lava rock watering for potassium & iron. Learn that tip from HMF Jay-Jay in the Netherlands ... he grows roses from seeds, using red-lava-sand. Below are my rootings done a few years ago under a spruce tree to block out heavy rain:
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cath41
13 years ago
Loslunas,
In the background in the last picture - are those mature fig trees? If so, how old and what kind? If it is OK to ask.
Cath
loslunasfarms
Original Author
13 years ago
Cath, I wish they were fig trees. Those trees are my soft shell almond trees.
loslunasfarms
Original Author
13 years ago
Actually, Im getting ready to install a battery operated drip system. The tank is 1000gal. I'm saving for the drip system. Its gonna run me close to $500.

THEN, I have a system I figured out to protect them in the winter.
Suzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
13 years ago
I LOVE your watering system! I used to have a couple of those, but they ran off with these pretty girls and are now busy watering other trees! Very cool!!
fatnsassytexan
13 years ago
Jose, congratulations one the fig orchard---it's going to be beautiful in a couple of years. Good to see that little "watering system" helping his dad. Thanks for the pic's. Tim
dieseler
13 years ago
Very nice indeed, the little guy looks so cute doing his thing and what a great way to learn about plants and things.
Dont be shy and post pictures as they progress.
Martin
rafed
13 years ago
Jose,
Having the little one back there helping is priceless.
My little guy gets involved every now and then.

Would love to see you post often on this project.
Every other week as it progresses. That would be wonderful.
Keep up the good work.

Rafed
alb419_ny
13 years ago
Jose,
very nice.Ciao,
Giuseppe
gorgi
13 years ago
Jose,
Is your cute litle watering system the same one with
that famous (nasty) cougar attack and (happy) survival event?
loslunasfarms
Original Author
13 years ago
Gorgi, yup! The very same one!
gorgi
13 years ago
Besseth be the Lord.
Enjoy!
(what else can I say - I still feel them shivers just thinking about it).
loslunasfarms
Original Author
13 years ago
Just finished augering 100 more holes. Our land has a layer of sand, 5" worth of compacted clay before the dirt gets soft. The land used to be alfalfa fields but hadnt been worked in 20 years.

The land is loving the new life being planted in it!
thisisme
13 years ago
Now that looks like one fine piece of equipment. Not your simple every day post hole digger.
paully22
13 years ago
Congrats Jose. Very nice & glad you have the kids involvement. Must be great fun.
Dennis AKA Snaglpus
13 years ago
Great pics Jose! Can you tell me how far apart did you plant your trees? thanks, Dennis
loslunasfarms
Original Author
13 years ago
Snagl,

I am putting them in at 10 foot spacing across rows with 6.5 fett OC in the rows. I dont foress them with our cold and with proper pruning needing more than that. For proper spacing I made a jig using 3/4 PVC pipe with T's on the end that allowed me to make exact spacing of 6.5 feet.
Dennis AKA Snaglpus
13 years ago
Thanks, Jose, I like your process. I have less space than you. I have about 20 trees to plant. So, what I may do is plant each row 7 feet apart and space each 6.5 feet in each row. My wife has some azalaes planted and I may have to plant around them. Plus my trees will be on a small hill with partial shade. I also have a rain barrel but nothing as large as yours. I found some additional space in my back yard but I its partially wooded and my neighbour never mows it. So, what I may do it trim his trees and bush hog the area and place more trees in there. I think I can get 5 more trees in that space. Thanks for postings, you gave me some ideas. It makes sense planting these in rows and also build a drip irrigation system too. I now have all the parts to build it but it is crazy hot outside! So,I am planning and designing now and will start planting the trees this Fall. thanks again, Dennis

Fig Orchard with Pics w/ state of art watering system

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giants_2007

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Fig Orchard with Pics w/ state of art watering system

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