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Mikey Mike starts with ... I have just purchased an advanced Avocado tree(Wurtz) and put it into a new wine barrel with about 7 holes drilled into the bottom, I have used premium potting mix. How often should I water it in Perth especially during summer in those hot 40c plus days. The reason I ask is because last year my TWO 6 year old Avocado trees(Hass and Fuerte) and my 5 year old Mango tree Both died last summer after a really hot spell. These trees were in the ground, sandy soil, full sun, well a bit of shade from a large tree for a couple of hours, plus hot winds (I think the hot afternoon sun helped finish them off). I was only able to water them every 2nd day due to my long working hours (I even lost some Grevillias, Lavender and Rosemary) Nectarine trees shaded by my house from 2pm onwards only just survived) This time I'm growing in a pot so I can move it around and contained Potting mix is better than my dry garden sand. The lady I bought it from said every 2nd day even over the hot days. Every 2nd day didn't work for the ones I had in the ground last year! | About the Author MikeyMike1 Perth 8th October 2010 5:45pm #UserID: 2261 Posts: 19 View All MikeyMike1's Edible Fruit Trees |
| About the Author Jimmy Perth 8th October 2010 6:40pm #UserID: 2548 Posts: 511 View All Jimmy's Edible Fruit Trees |
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| About the Author ibis Mandurah W.A. 8th October 2010 7:22pm #UserID: 3878 Posts: 35 View All ibis's Edible Fruit Trees |
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| About the Author MikeyMike1 Perth 9th October 2010 11:44pm #UserID: 2261 Posts: 19 View All MikeyMike1's Edible Fruit Trees |
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| About the Author Jason10 Portland, Vic 10th October 2010 12:25pm #UserID: 3853 Posts: 218 View All Jason10's Edible Fruit Trees |
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| About the Author Brendan Mackay, Q 12th October 2010 9:26am #UserID: 1947 Posts: 1722 View All Brendan's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Jason says... Brendan it's Iron based loam on top of clay. Like if you drag a magnet across the soil you get a magnet full or iron gravel, that's mixed up with red stained loam (from the iron) and about 20-60cm depending if you are digging on a slope or an area water and frost pools there is clay (again red clay). There's a few bits of charcoal in the loam layers from past fires etc but mostly there's no organic matter in it. The areas that get frost and water collecting have by far the best soil but where ever you plant the ground is wet and soft all winter | About the Author Jason10 Portland, Vic 12th October 2010 11:01am #UserID: 3853 Posts: 218 View All Jason10's Edible Fruit Trees |
| About the Author Brendan Mackay, Q 13th October 2010 8:48am #UserID: 1947 Posts: 1722 View All Brendan's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Jason says... Brendan yeah Citrus do ok, all I need to add to citrus is nitrogen and they look fine with good coloured leaves etc. I have a few cactus they are ok also but everything needs HEAPS of food to actually grow. Something odd happens with phosphorus and iron in soil and it becomes locked. I only recently realised this and still haven't been able to read much about it. But when ever I put general chemical 3-2-1 fertiliser down the phosphorus just sits on the soil for years and everything else dissolves straight away. All my plants seem to be able to take 5 times as much fertiliser as you would normally think you need without any harm and seems to need that much to actually grow well so that's the main problem I have. The p.H is 5.5 too which is great for some things but seems to slow up some plants. I could literally find 1000 bottle tops worth of iron just on the surface of the soil in a few feet diameter let alone under the soil in the gravel layer that sits above the clay. The drainage in that layer above the clay is pretty good I guess. If you leave a hose turned on in the orchard up on the hill overnight the following morning the swamp down the hill about 80 meters away will be full of water but anywhere past about 2 meters from the hose will still be bone dry. In Winter the soil does fill up with water but there's always a fairly heavy stream of water running out and down the side of the road and it dries out pretty fast. By early Summer or even late spring the grass is usually dead and crunchy dry. They mention the iron theory here a little bit http://anpsa.org.au/APOL1/mar96-2.html | About the Author Jason10 Portland, Vic 13th October 2010 9:53am #UserID: 3853 Posts: 218 View All Jason10's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Original Post was last edited: 13th October 2010 9:59am | |
amanda says... Great link Jason - and I can highly recommend Handreck's book "Gardening Down Under" (as listed in the references). Your library will be able to source u a copy. He also talks about how phosphate gets locked up by clay soils. Iron and Phos are mutually antagonistic. Phos fert's do tend to sit on the soil for ages (even in my sandy soil) There doesn't seem to be a big problem with phos deficiency with fruit trees in general (from what I have googled and observed) but you may need to either "unlock" the iron in your soil or use iron chelates? Have you thought of investing in a soil test maybe? You can choose which elements etc you would like to have tested - in order to reduce the costs. | About the Author amanda19 Geraldton Mid West WA 14th October 2010 10:01pm #UserID: 2309 Posts: 4607 View All amanda19's Edible Fruit Trees |
| About the Author Jimmy Perth 15th October 2010 3:49pm #UserID: 2548 Posts: 511 View All Jimmy's Edible Fruit Trees |
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| About the Author amanda19 Geraldton Mid West WA 15th October 2010 5:32pm #UserID: 2309 Posts: 4607 View All amanda19's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Jimmy says... Its essentially "pulse" irrigation. You can google that if you like. www.perthregionnrm.com/ is a great resource. look for waterwise on the farm section. It has lots of tips on watering and actually measuring the flows from systems. You would be suprised what they put out bs the water holding capacity of the soil. | About the Author Jimmy Perth 15th October 2010 6:32pm #UserID: 2548 Posts: 511 View All Jimmy's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Original Post was last edited: 15th October 2010 6:33pm | |
| About the Author amanda19 Geraldton Mid West WA 16th October 2010 11:33am #UserID: 2309 Posts: 4607 View All amanda19's Edible Fruit Trees |
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| About the Author MikeyMike1 Perth 16th October 2010 12:22pm #UserID: 2261 Posts: 19 View All MikeyMike1's Edible Fruit Trees |
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amanda says... I have them too Mikey Mike - but they all blow up/die with my water pressure! :( The one's with the simple "dial up" time have lasted the longest here. Some of the battery operated one's are very poor quality. You should be all right there though - they still dropping the water pressure down during the day in Perth? | About the Author amanda19 Geraldton Mid West WA 16th October 2010 12:41pm #UserID: 2309 Posts: 4607 View All amanda19's Edible Fruit Trees |
| About the Author MikeyMike1 Perth 20th October 2010 11:03pm #UserID: 2261 Posts: 19 View All MikeyMike1's Edible Fruit Trees |
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| About the Author amanda19 Geraldton Mid West WA 21st October 2010 12:04pm #UserID: 2309 Posts: 4607 View All amanda19's Edible Fruit Trees |
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| About the Author MikeyMike1 Perth 22nd October 2010 12:34pm #UserID: 2261 Posts: 19 View All MikeyMike1's Edible Fruit Trees |
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| About the Author amanda19 Geraldton Mid West WA 23rd October 2010 1:04pm #UserID: 2309 Posts: 4607 View All amanda19's Edible Fruit Trees |
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| About the Author MikeyMike1 Perth 24th October 2010 5:35pm #UserID: 2261 Posts: 19 View All MikeyMike1's Edible Fruit Trees |
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| About the Author joanne perth 27th December 2010 6:50pm #UserID: 4701 Posts: 1 View All joanne's Edible Fruit Trees |
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| About the Author electra Fremantle 27th December 2010 8:49pm #UserID: 3242 Posts: 112 View All electra's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Mikey Mike says... Joanne yes it is advanced the trunk at soil level is about 7cm in diameter and from the ground up the tree is about 1.2m It set about 15 fruit but they gradually all dropped of when they got to about between 17 to 20mm long I have recently had new stem and leaf growth of about 22cm . I'm watering every 2nd day when the temp is between 26 and 34c once a day when it is between 34 and 38c tomorrow when it hits 40 degrees I'll probably water it twice a day. | About the Author 2nd January 2011 2:35am #UserID: 0 Posts: View All 's Edible Fruit Trees |
| About the Author 2nd January 2011 2:39am #UserID: 0 Posts: View All 's Edible Fruit Trees |
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