Crops Between Orange Trees

Categories: Fruit Growing

What crop can I plant between rows of young orange trees to utilize the

ground as well as pay a little something?



It depends not alone upon what will grow, but upon what can be

profitably sold or used on the place, and unless sure of that, it is

usually better not to undertake planting between young trees but rather

to cultivate well, irrigate intelligently, and trust for the reward in a

better growth and later productiveness of the trees. It is clear,

California experience that planting between trees except to things which

are demonstrated to be profitable should not be undertaken, and where

one does not need immediate returns is, as a rule, undesirable. The

growth of a strip of alfalfa, if one is careful not to submerge the

trees by over-irrigation, would be the best thing one could undertake

for the purpose of improving the soil by increasing the humus content,

reducing the amount of reflected heat from a clean surface, and is

otherwise desirable wherever moisture is available for it. You could

also grow cow peas for the good of the land if not for other profit. You

can, of course, grow small fruits and vegetables for home use if you

will cultivate well. Common field crops, with scant cultivation, will

generally cause you to lose more from the bad condition in which they

leave the soil than you can gain from the use or sale of the crop.