Author Topic: When and how much to irrigate?  (Read 1179 times)

Isaac-1

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When and how much to irrigate?
« on: May 18, 2018, 07:27:00 AM »
It looks like we may be facing a dry summer here, with no significant rain in the last month.  I have 6 relatively young citrus trees that have been in the ground for less than 3 years (1 planted only a couple of months ago), along with 3 mature Satsuma trees.  Given the little rain we have received lately, and the lack of any significant rain in the forecast, I am starting to think about the need to water the backyard citrus, so wanted your advice on the subject, as everything I have read talks about optimal commercial production.

So far I have been using the grass as an indicator that watering is not yet necessary for the citrus, as it is still green, though in the last couple of days it is starting to show signs of drying out.  Though out of caution I have watered the 1 first year tree a bit.

Tom

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Re: When and how much to irrigate?
« Reply #1 on: May 21, 2018, 11:19:39 PM »
How sandy is your soil ?

I think your citrus will need more water than your grass. It’s said many citrus are watered too much and even to death. I think that’s called loving them to death. You can also not water enough especially this time of year when the temps get really up there ! Try to keep grass away from your inground trees or the grass will get too much of the fertilizer and water. Commercially speaking, any time a crop is noticeably stressed by too little water then damage has already been done hurting yield. I would take that as an encouragement to be proactive and get ahead of the curve.

I’d think it would not be good to have standing water or saturated ( soggy) soil for long periods of time. I hope this helps. We been getting some much needed rain the last 2 days. It’s coming from a ‘back door ‘ front meaning from the opposite direction from where we get most of our weather.