Questions for My Desert Dwelling Permies

Hello desert dwelling permies! As I continue on my own learning journey of establishing food forests here in the Pacific Northwest, I am finding that I have more questions than answers. A lot of them pertain to drought, which we are suffering more and more up here.

Obviously this is a very broad question for a very broad landscape category, but I've been wondering lately:

Do you have to water your trees once they're established?

Obviously there are different types of trees, different types of deserts, etc, but I'd like to know your thoughts and experiences. I'd also love descriptions of what you've got going on, and strategies for how you've overcome drought.

My daddy watered trees for the first two years after transplanting.

As a child, I planted several hundred trees with daddy in the wildlands without any follow-up care. About 8 of them got established and still live as a small grove. They have survived long enough that propagules get established further away from the grove. A few, of a different species,  lasted for some years, before the deer ate them.

Some years get more rain than others. Rainy years lead to better outcomes. And some species, and some micro-climates work better than others.

As a small boy, my daddy had apricot food fights with his cousins. Some of those grew, and released seeds of their own. An extensive grove of apricots now thrives in the desert where they battled.  

James,

I'm in a location with higher temperatures. I don't know how much rain you get, but here I have around 6 months with no precipitation.
I always watered all trees for at least two years. Then I realized that without water in the dry season I will simply have no crop. Then I set up irrigation and I'm very happy about it. Most of the trees I plant are on standard rootstock that will make them large and I hope that one day I will be able to limit the amount of water I give them.

If you can water your trees especially the ones in Zones 1-3 then I would suggest that. Land shape is really important and that will determine how easy it is to water and how the trees will retain water. PA Yeomans approach to design is well worth studying. His rapid flow irrigation technique is something I want to incorporate into my design because it will allow "irrigation" without pipes and infrastructure except for the land forms. The other strategy is to grow your own mulch in place. I am using Sedum "Rock Crop" which comes in various cultivars and is super hardy and freeze tolerant.

I give all trees that I’ve planted here (Nevada, just outside of Death Valley) infrequent deep soaks and occasional fertilization with compost teas. We had great winter moisture this year, and I’m trying to maintain those gains.

I get 16 inches of rain and I don't water after planting. In my mind, you will never have a forest if spend your time watering. You might have time to water 20 trees if you do it every weekend, but you certainly can't keep up with hundreds of trees. So that would rule out a locust coppice forest, or an extensive food forest. Secondly, in an arid environment watering is setting up your trees for a future failure by creating dependency.

My survival rate is anywhere from 36-82% depending on species. I can live with that survival rate. Below is a list of things I do. It may seem like a lot of work, but it's far easier than spending all your time and money watering.

-Plant bare root or from seed. This gives the tree a better chance of adapting to conditions at a young age. Also, its cheaper and allows you to plant far more.
-Plant in the bed of the swale. If you are not watering then you MUST do earthworks, either a swale or zai hole. I regularly water the few trees around the house that cannot be in a swale. The other benefit of planting in a swale is that the digging process kills the grass. Trees struggle if they are planted into grass.
-Use mycroizhal fungi and compost tea at planting. I have no idea if it works or not, but I do it anyway. According to the research the fungus will extend the range of roots.
-Use rocks and mulch.
-Cheap plastic tree sleeve. Provides more humidity, wind protection and sun block. Right... and it keeps out the animals
-Plant in trios or pairs with the pioneer/hardy/nitrogen fixing species to the west or south of the less hardy tree. The pioneer tree grows faster and provides coverage for the other tree. There is about a foot between these trees.
-Plant in high numbers.
-plant irises, comfrey, and jerusalem artichoke around trees to protect against tunneling animals.
-Sow a living ground cover of sunflowers, millet, alfalfa, yellow blossom clover, sainfoin, and vetch. This shades the soil and provides nitrogen. If it gets too high, then I chop it and feed it back to the trees.

Skyler Weber wrote:
-Plant in the bed of the swale. If you are not watering then you MUST do earthworks, either a swale or zai hole. I regularly water the few trees around the house that cannot be in a swale. The other benefit of planting in a swale is that the digging process kills the grass. Trees struggle if they are planted into grass.
-Use mycroizhal fungi and compost tea at planting. I have no idea if it works or not, but I do it anyway. According to the research the fungus will extend the range of roots.
-Use rocks and mulch.
-Cheap plastic tree sleeve. Provides more humidity, wind protection and sun block. Right... and it keeps out the animals
-Plant in trios or pairs with the pioneer/hardy/nitrogen fixing species to the west or south of the less hardy tree. The pioneer tree grows faster and provides coverage for the other tree. There is about a foot between these trees.
-Plant in high numbers.
-plant irises, comfrey, and jerusalem artichoke around trees to protect against tunneling animals.
-Sow a living ground cover of sunflowers, millet, alfalfa, yellow blossom clover, sainfoin, and vetch. This shades the soil and provides nitrogen. If it gets too high, then I chop it and feed it back to the trees.

Oh my. Such good information here. I am in the desert and still ignorant to a lot of permaculture stuff but can a swale be bug in rocks? All we have are rocks and dirt. But mostly rocks and boulders.
Also, are you using the plastic tree sleeves in the summer? I am assuming only winter but I need to find something to protect my pears. Last year two foxes took them all.
Such great information.

And as far as trees go for the original post, the previous owner only planted dwarf trees. Easier to handle and harvest as well as less to water.
Have backup water systems in the desert in crucial so saving as much rain water as possible.

Swales in rocks. Depends on how small the rocks are. If they are mostly fist sized then yes a swale can be done, but you will need an excavator to do it. Otherwise use rock-check dams. After a few good rainstorms, they will have enough silt built up to plant into. They aren't as good as swales, but they have their benefits - can't be built by hand, don't rip up tree roots, don't blow out easy, no digging, and rock mulch already in place.

Secondly, I leave the sleeves on in all seasons. In summer, the trees need the additional humidity and wind protection that the sleeves provide. Everything to include weeds grow better inside the sleeve. The only time to take them off is when the tree is too tall for the sleeve. You can then upgrade to a larger wire mesh cage, or get extremely energetic dogs to chase deer. I prefer the dogs.

Skyler Weber wrote:

Secondly, I leave the sleeves on in all seasons. In summer, the trees need the additional humidity and wind protection that the sleeves provide. Everything to include weeds grow better inside the sleeve. The only time to take them off is when the tree is too tall for the sleeve. You can then upgrade to a larger wire mesh cage, or get extremely energetic dogs to chase deer. I prefer the dogs.

Even when it’s 110 outside? Seems like I would have baked pears haha!

Once a tree has been planted, it's best to water it every few days in its first year, and then once or twice a week depending on the weather. I usually keep an eye out for dryness - if the soil looks dry, I'll give it some water. But I've found that over-watering isn't good for trees either, so you gotta get the timing just right. I'm pretty proud of how healthy my trees are, even during drought!

Betty, it's open on the top and has holes on the side, so it's not exactly a sealed green house. Though I have not experienced 110 heat, if there is concern then you could use white plastic UV mesh.

Skyler Weber wrote:-Plant in high numbers.

Great information Skyler. Your post is a good reminder of scaling out efforts beyond our own zone 1 and how to do this time and cost effectively.

I am surprised you can get comfrey to grow in so little of rainfall. Irises make sense and I had never thought of them as a barrier before.