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Depth Of Cultivation

Categories: Soils, Fertilizers and Irrigation

I would be glad to know whether in cultivating an orchard a light-draft

harrow could profitably be used, which cultivates three and a half

inches deep? I have used another cultivator, and try to have it go at

least seven inches.



A depth of 3 1-2 inches is not satisfactory in orchard cultivation,

although there may be some condition under which greater depth would be

difficult to obtain because of root injury to trees, which have been

encouraged to root near the surface. Both experience and actual

determinations of moisture in this State show that cultivation to a

depth of 5 inches conserves twice as much moisture in the lower soil as

can be saved by a 3-inch depth of cultivation under similar soil

conditions and water supply. It is all the better to go 7 inches if

young trees have been treated that way from the beginning.



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