List of drought tolerant plants, ranging from moderate to severe

[frukt]

Hi.

To me its very important to know where to plant my plants because the further away from the river the more I have to transport the water. So I think a list is good and I thought I start by ding a small list because I dont know so much, yet. And then you can just change the list and fill in with more plants. I also think its important to write if the tree can survive on less water but will not fruit. I guess walnut tree is a tree like that. Very drought tolerant but then without fruits.

Here is my list:
pepino
passion fruit
Litchi
mango, pretty tolerant of drought but does not grow and does not look nice
Avocado
Guava, very drought tolerant but does not grow or produce during drought
apples
pears
raspberries and similar
peach
nectarines
citrus
plum
persimmons
loquats
apricots
white sapote
pomogranate
figs
cactus plants

So now I bought jujube, black sapote and lucuma. Where do they fit in this list? Whould be nice to really know wich pouteria that is more tolerant of drought, maybe none?

[CGameProgrammer]

Almost all of those are not drought-tolerant. Sapodilla however is drought-tolerant and you haven't listed that one yet.

[jcaldeira]

Mango does VERY well in drought.  It grows and fruits abundantly in dry warm climates.  Pineapple, too, is very drought tolerant. And tamarind.

My figs drop a lot of leaves and don't fruit much in drought.

[ben mango]

white sapote
chico sapodilla

[Saltcayman]

Black sapote is very drought tolerant as is tamarind, date, guinup, Natal plum, Indian jujube, sugar apple.  All will need shade and water to get established.

[stuartdaly88]

I think many trees not considered drought hardy can handle dry periods very well if there root systems are well established and deep also helps to mulch well. Plants with small leaves are normally loose less water from transpiration.
Mulberry and pomegranate are quite tolerant of low water in my experience mulberry fruits no matter what the season was like here.
Some dry region african species are  very drought tolerant iv been looking up marula and monkey orange especially. Baobab is on another level of tolerant my seedlings still under a metre tall in pots I completely remove from the pot bare root and store in a dry cupboard for over six months like bulbs during winter no problem at all and are revived with heat and abit of moisture:)
Citrus seem the first to suffer dry periods but I think is cauz of shallow roots.
If you are near a river then you should have ground water any tree that has deep roots should be happy when they are abit older. How much drought do you have where you live? I think if plants do still fruit in very dry conditions it might have less fruits and of poorer quality/size

[frukt]

Sorry, I should have express myself more clear. I want to make a list of how tolerant plants are of drought, ranging from little to much.

Still, thank you for answering.

Here its not as much drought as in other places in portugal and spain and I have arbutus trees growing allover the hill without anybody watering them. That must mean something even if they should be considered to be very drought tolerant. However, I think also the humidity here is pretty high and in the mornings its often moist on the leaves. I guess some plants are better living from that water the others.

Swedish expression: You should not go over the river to get water, and thats my idea a little. So the things that can take drought Im not giving the nice spaces, I have big beautiful lemon growing without waterings by the river and so this places I want to save for the thirsty ones.

I will update my list and come back.

Jcaldeira: Here they dont give the figs any water, at least in the fruiting stage and yes, they drop many leaves but the figs are so so sweet and they hang in there longer. They say that if you give water in that stage they drop the fruit. My figs already looked sad in april so Im accually watering them twice a week  But this is maybe the establishing stage?

Stuart: Im a little surprized that you have a baobab. I hope it survives. Do you keep it in the cupboard cause of the weather?

And thanks for the sapodilla tip. Im still confused with all the sapotes but this one I will absolutly try out. I have been eating this fruit twice in my life and its so so good. Damn good! I didnt know it untill yesterday after hard studies of pictures and my wife also had little better memory of how they looked.

Dates, I Know they grow in spain, but will they here? To me it sounds really strange that they are not growing it if it can make fruit. But,,, I will try anyway. However, in one book I have they say it should stand with the head in the sun and with the feet in the water. Is that not correct?

[stuartdaly88]

Baobab needs a drought period and hates cold wet feet when it's cold I keep some in pots inside nice and dry but purely for space I can stack many in my cuboard without getting flack for more plants cluttering up the house in winter. They probably would be fine in the heated greenhouse but it's quite moist and I can use the space better. I'm getting more fresh seeds soon and want to get at least 50 seedlings to decent size to sell some to bonsai
enthusiasts here. Then want to practice some grafting for when I get some scions next year from ancient specimens. I'm not even sure fleshy Baobab can graft but with such an insanely long juvenile period it's worth a try:) I suspect and fear fruiting might be purely size related though.

I think it's a good list to make of drought tolerance though maybe as the thread goes on you can update the opening post to keep it all together? The link I post below puts plants into categories like extremely tolerant, tolerant and marginaly tolerant maybe something like that would be easier than a most to least list?

 I think it may be hard to compare draught tolerance most to least when many factors play a part. I think things to look for are deep roots, small or fleshy leaves(like marula) and bulbous or thick fleshy trunks(cactus, succulents,baobab) often show adaptations to drought in a plant. Also is important to consider that even the most tolerant of species will be less so when young so you may need to haul water s few years still:P

https://www.google.co.za/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&ei=K-SzU-2WCYuO7Qbwx4DoDw&url=http://crfgsandiego.org/Presentations/Drought%2520Tolerant%2520Fruiting%2520Trees,%2520Shrubs%2520and%2520Vines.pdf&cd=1&ved=0CBkQFjAA&usg=AFQjCNGrt2UdSjdGUhMuxdIgtDEvC5mFIg

[Taparyal]

Mulberry
Ephedra
Nitraria
Malacocarpus
Calligonum edible species
Ziziphus
Balanites
Lycium
Acanthosicyos
....

[frukt]

Great input stuart. I will update the list but I will also put them more in groups like you suggest. Im think its good for me to organize the watering before my head explode. Group 1 should be every day water, group 2 every second day and then group 3 could be every third day and maybe I squeze in one once-a-week watering as well.

Its also interesting to know which ones needs the drought and witch ones that only tolerate it.

Mango: When I bought this place 2 years ago I planted one mango in the spring time and it did survive the hole summer without my care. It still doesnt look good but it did survive 

Pineapple: I have plants that I dont give water and I have plants I give water every day. They do survive without but they grow better with every day watering.

Some inputs on persimmons and how to water them? My humble experince tells me they are sensitive of to much water and that they like to dry out. I had a lot of them dying shortly after planting. Otherones are doing fine but they are all in dry places

Almonds: I put one close to the river, before I ordered a new brain from china. Its growing really fast and Im thinking of digging it up and put some tropical plant there instead. How tolerant is the almonds? From what I hear they are very drought tolerant..

Taparyal: Thx a lot. Will look into these plants more!

[Taparyal]

Calligonum junceum:
http://cvh.org.cn/cvh_picture/eco/b/1210845.jpg
Calligonum calliphysa:
http://botany.cz/foto/calligonum1.jpg

Me myself i tried only Calligonum aphyllum:
http://www.plantarium.ru/dat/plants/6/623/623_45136c4a.jpg


Fruits are collected before they dry out. Taste is light sour - apple like.
Don't know, but may assume that excessive consumption of fresh fruits isn't good for Oxalates present in the plant. (Most Polygonaceae, like rhubarb, produce oxalates..).
Calligonum are plants of extreme desert climates. And are both winter and drought hardy

[stuartdaly88]

This thread has some good lists of arid tolerant plants:)
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=8447.msg108246#msg108246