Consult The Trees
Categories:
Soils, Fertilizers and Irrigation
Can I send you a little soil out of my one-year-old pear orchard so that
you can advise me what I can do to improve its fertility. The trees are
fairly thrifty, but as fruit growing is my pleasure I wish to make it a
model orchard and add whatever it requires of nitrogen, humus, etc.,
immediately so as to increase the growth for this summer. Next winter I
intend to put manure around them and cultivate about every other month.
Careful experimenting with fertilizers will teach you more than analysis
would do, because the behavior of the tree under various conditions
tells you more than a chemist possibly could. Besides, we are of the
conviction that on good soils young fruit trees should not be pushed
beyond the growth which they would naturally make with a regular and
adequate moisture supply. Be careful about using fertilizers on young
trees, either in the summer or in the winter. When they come to bearing
age and yield large crops of fruit, that is another question. Any
California soil which will not grow young fruit trees thriftily should
not be used for orchard purposes unless an amateur desires to grow trees
on a picturesque lot of rocks or sand.