High Hardpan And Low Water
Categories:
Soils, Fertilizers and Irrigation
What detriment is hardpan if 14 inches below the surface and in some
places 12 inches? I have been plowing so I could set peach trees, but I
have been told that they will not grow. I would like your opinion about
it. I intended to blast holes for the trees, and the water is 30 feet
from surface. The top soil is red sandy and clay mixed, but it works
very easily.
You cannot expect much from trees on such a shallow soil
over hardpan without breaking it up, because the soil mass available to
the trees is small; also because the shallow surface layer over hardpan
will soon dry out in spite of the best cultivation, because there is no
moisture supply from below. If such a soil should be selected for fruit
trees at all, the breaking through the hardpan by dynamite or otherwise
is desirable, and irrigation will be, probably, indispensable.