Xeriscape Fruit Trees?

Hi everyone, long time lurker and first time poster!

I recently bought land in southern Utah near Cedar City (many of you can already guess exactly where this is lol). The local climate is considered cold semi-arid (high desert, sagebrush steppe), annual rainfall is usually 10 inches, though it can vary between ~5 and ~20 inches. There aren't any water rights included, so I'm completely reliant on trailered in water and rainfall. The plan is to eventually have a small irrigated orchard of some cherries or other fruits that I cannot grow too well here in the low desert.

In the meantime, I'd like to plant some fruit producing trees/shrubs that wouldn't mind going awhile without some water (maybe a couple months if I find myself very busy). Does anyone have any ideas on what would potentially be a good fit? The plants would be well-mulched and in a large basin. So far my ideas are mulberry (common in the area), chokecherry, utah serviceberry, and I believe I've read somewhere that nanking cherry does well with low water? I'm also gonna assume that I should grow seedling plants for extra drought tolerance from a taproot.

Some additional considerations:
- This is in zone 6, 5400'
- Bonus points for alkaline tolerance

I know this is a bit of a longshot, but I can't help but think that someone has done this sort of thing before, at least accidentally

Sounds like a challenging situation. Are medium to large earthworks an option? I know roof catchment is technically illegal in many western states with archaic water rights laws, but often localities and state governments have openly said they will look the other way for small, responsible exceptions that aren’t interfering with fish passage or risking a flood if they fail. Some would argue catching rainfall and snowmelt to foster life and self sufficiency is a form of nonviolent protest. Best of luck.

Grows seeds, don't buy $2 seedling and then transplant them.

There are trees that grow in the desert/middle-east, like dates(but you are too cold), apricots, almonds, filbert/hazelnut, mulberry, figs(Chicargo hardy cultivar), pistachios(i think from a university in utah, that one green world now sells), jujube. There are other trees that grow in sand dunes like beach plums, sand cherry, seaberry (and autumn olive too). There is also
gooseberry/jostaberry/currants and walnut too. I would give a few of the caneberries a try (wineberry/blackberry/raspberry/etc)

They recently made rooftop collection permitted as long as your storage tank is under 200 gallons. Of course I don't think that anyone with a setup will actually follow that lol, but I can't do rooftop catchment atm because I have no roof to do so. I'm not entirely familiar with Utah's laws on things like earthworks, but I'd be inclined to think that they don't care; this area is in the middle of nowhere and people live "illegally" in RVs around there with little interference. Do you have any good resources on earthworks?

S Bengi wrote:Grows seeds, don't buy $2 seedling and then transplant them.

There are trees that grow in the desert/middle-east, like dates(but you are too cold), apricots, almonds, filbert/hazelnut, mulberry, figs(Chicargo hardy cultivar), pistachios(i think from a university in utah, that one green world now sells), jujube. There are other trees that grow in sand dunes like beach plums, sand cherry, seaberry (and autumn olive too). There is also
gooseberry/jostaberry/currants and walnut too. I would give a few of the caneberries a try (wineberry/blackberry/raspberry/etc)

I seem to remember manchurian apricot mentioned somewhere else for drought tolerance now that I think about it. I'll look into some caneberries too, thanks for the suggestions

Here's some pretty good info applicable to your situation, Bill mentions acacia, mesquite, locust: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnQZ-iGqEZg

You've gotten some good comments already. I'd add that I've experienced nanking cherry doing well in bad soil with poor irrigation and heavy deer browsing. I'm a big fan. Otherwise I'd only caution that Utah serviceberry, at least the wild populations I see, often produces icky, dry, unpleasant fruits.

For rainwater catchment ideas I’d look into Brad Lancaster’s work:
https://www.harvestingrainwater.com/

I’d also go back to Mollison’s foundational work in the Designer’s Manual as well as his other work (Permaculture 1 and 2).

Mollison drew heavily from P.A. Yeomans’ work on keyline design:
https://www.academia.edu/26823321/Yeomans_Keyline_design_for_sustainable_soil_water_agroecosystem_and_biodiversity_conservation_a_personal_social_ecology_analysis

Geoff Lawton, Mollison’s protege, also has done some great work in dry lands:
https://www.greeningthedesertproject.org/videos/

Other good names to look up:
Sepp Holzer
Zack Weiss
Bill Zeedyk

In terms of water you might be able to double or triple your rainfall amount. if you had a 10,000sqft roof/catchment area you could funnel it to a 10,000sqft garden/orchard. thus double the amount of rain fall it gets.

But I can hear you saying where will I get an acre+ roof from. Thats were swales on contour comes in. if you were to extend a 5000ft swale/gutter on contour across your slope, even off your property. and funnel all the 'flash flood" water during a rain event to your orchard/front yard, you would be creating a monster. it wouldn't just be 10inch of rain but 10ft of rain, washing away everything or creating a seasonal pond/creek.

A couple key water catchment points that seem like the may apply:

- Any hardscape, whether a roof, road or rock, can be used for water catchment.

- Sand dunes can hold and filter immense amounts of water if we can absorb the runoff, which deep tree roots do well. Of course dunes shift so plan accordingly

- for that flooded swale concern that S Bengi mentioned, level sills for spreading and pacifying runoff will be key. This is basically the lowest high point in your berm or wall where any excess flood water can run off with minimal force over a wide and flat hardscape, thick grasses, or forest

This topic is what torments my sleep!

First look at how it rains in your location. How much water per season, how many months without any water. Then look at the plant you want to grow: does it like the climate? If it needs more water, there are a few techniques: macro-catchment, micro-catchment, drip irrigation. If there's enough rainfall but it doesn't stay for long, then you have to look where and why does that moist go away. Is it heat? Is it wind? Is the soil in really bad shape? The good will advice here is to mulch your soil, but hey, you can't grow anything yet, so how are you supposed to mulch it? When your soil is too bad, you can only work with dirt, stones, or import soil and compost.

So, what I am doing now is working with whatever grows already well here, digging deep beds, and using the organic matter to improve the soil, to form green barriers agains winds, to keep shade in summer. Once I've managed to achieve something that looks like a functional ecosystem, I will try to grow more edible things.

Something that works really well include a legume into the planting hole with your fruit tree. It provides nitrogen, biomass and shade.

Hi John, Wondering how your tree growing is coming along?  Give us an update.  In the area I live there is good rainfall in winter but long long hot dry summers. No rain and moisture literally sucks out of the soil and air so mulching is important and deep watering in summer. Has anyone mentioned Carob tree? It is drought tolerant and makes food for animals and man. I'm thinking to try growing it. It grew well in southern calif where I used to live, also hot and dry summers and lots of wind in spring/fall.

I found a source for carob seeds and other interesting hardy plants here: www.hobbyseeds.com

Denise Cares wrote:Hi John, Wondering how your tree growing is coming along?  Give us an update.  In the area I live there is good rainfall in winter but long long hot dry summers. No rain and moisture literally sucks out of the soil and air so mulching is important and deep watering in summer. Has anyone mentioned Carob tree? It is drought tolerant and makes food for animals and man. I'm thinking to try growing it. It grew well in southern calif where I used to live, also hot and dry summers and lots of wind in spring/fall.

Hey! lol I had forgotten about this post. So actually I have no updates because I sold the piece of property that I mentioned earlier this year. I had planted piñon pine and Kentucky coffeetree seedlings but they had been annihilated by local cattle and deer :/

However, I now live near Kingman, AZ. A bit warmer climate and a bit less rainfall (~8 inches/year) and I’m still looking to do basically the same thing. Your response reminded me about Carob! I am definitely going to try that, I’ve read that they can tolerate down to 10” annual rainfall. Plus my wife expressed interest in making chocolate with it for our pups. The only problem is that Carob doesn’t like cold below 25F so I’ll have to see how that goes