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.