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Fruit & Orchards

Drip Irritagion + Heavy Mulch + Fertilizer Dilemma. HELP!

Suzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b

7 years ago

We live in hot, dry, Southern California. Some of our property is flat, but most is on a pretty steep hillside studded with rocks and boulders.

We have many fruit trees planted. Many of the trees here were existing, and some we planted. Some that were here have died and we don't know why.

Advice I've read on the forums here at GW is MULCH HEAVILY! So, although I pass on your wisdom to hubs, he puts a couple inches of compost, or pine straw on top of the soil. I think it should be much more than that.

Drippers are in place. Entire yard has drip irrigation.

Fertilizer. Some trees have different needs.

The dilemma: How do you apply fertilizer to a tree on a hillside without it all washing down the hill? I know this could be resolved if hubs would fertilize through the drip system, but there are 12 stations and the different trees on the stations each have different needs.

Any suggestions for getting the fertilizer through the mulch to the roots without losing it down the hill?

Thank you!

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Comments (3)

marinaka Ito_10a
7 years ago
I'm also in So Cal, 9b, Sunset 18/19 (at the border), and have fruit trees planted on the slope with drip irrigation. The former owner planted yams around the trees to use the foliage as living mulch. The yams are growing densely and providing good cover. I have been reading up on how/when to fertilize fruit trees. One of the resources I've read is this one: "When & How to Fertilizer Your Fruit Trees". I am going to use either of the two methods mentioned in the article ((1) spreading, raking in, and watering, and (2) digging small holes and putting fertilizer in the holes).
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Suzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b thanked marinaka Ito_10a
Suzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
Original Author
7 years ago
Thanks for the article and advice. When do you plant your yams? I guess I can research that, but that sounds like a good idea! We have a lot of gophers here. It will be a miracle if they leave those yummy yams alone!
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marinaka Ito_10a
7 years ago
I have to correct: They are sweet potatoes, not yams. The orange kind. They were planted by the former owner of this house where we moved in in March, so I don't know when she planted them. They were already there and I didn't know what they were when the leaves and vines started to grow. I dug up around the stem and found a tuber. It was a baby sweet potato! I don't know for sure, but as long as they root, I would think you can plant them now? They seem to love hot weather.
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Suzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b thanked marinaka Ito_10a

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