we can deal with this!!
Oh! I do hope so!
We’re in a two year drought. The ground is really dry.
The trees are planted 25ft apart on a very slight slope.
Tree one is in ground with baseball sized rock and dirt.
Tree two is in ground with some rock and mostly dirt.
Tree three is in all dirt, no rock.
They came from the tree farm in burlap & baskets. Our tractor dug good holes, and I added loose sandy soil from an old flood plain.
Through the winter I watered every two weeks.
Tree one budded slightly, but never leafed out.
Tree two flowered and leafed very slowly.
Tree three flowered and leafed early and fast.
I began to think tree one was in trouble because of the all the rocks, so I began watering about once a week, maybe a month ago.
Tree one does nothing.
Trees 2 & 3 are wilting.
Learning to live with this soil is really tough. It’ll look bone dry on the surface, but hold the water deep, or I can water like crazy and it never breaks the surface.
About two weeks ago I applied a liquid all-purpose fertilizer...not
strong and with lots of water. I’ve used it on my raised garden, young fruit trees, etc. It hasn’t harmed anything else.
Tree one really looks like it’s dying. It’s green under the bark and larger branches, but looks dry.
Two and three trunks are deep green,and aside from all the leafs wilting,look like they can recover.
I think they sank during the winter, so I’ve carefully pulled dirt away, and removed the bowls so the ground is almost level, and loosend the dirt well away from the roots.
Finally, I did a very, very light watering just on the surface.
We’re having daily high winds. One day super windy and 101, and the next few days high winds in the 80’s.
I’m not even sure the high heat hasn’t hurt the young leaves.
As you see, there are several factors...
My sincere thanks for your help!
As a general rule, frequent watering encourages shallow roots, while deep and periodic watering promotes deeper root structure.
Hope this helps! Good luck.