When we bought our property, now referred to as Windsock Ranch Arizona ( I actually had to register the name) it came with a little orchard. 28 trees are standing, but they have not all produced leaves as yet.
Pecan trees.
I was never much for Pecans. Not on cakes or in candy, and in very rare situations pie. Pecan pie. A southern dish as sweet as any candy I have ever tasted.
How do you care for 28 pecan trees? I don't know.
How much water? Not a clue.
How much and what kind of fertilizer? At a complete loss.
How do you keep bugs off organically, birds away, keep the gophers out? I don't know.. shotguns?
As a farmer with an orchard, I'm a good woodworker.
I can tell you that they don't even bud leaves without water much less nuts. So the orchard needs irrigation of some kind. The orchard came with no instructions. None for the care of the trees, and none for the plumbing.
Little things like: Where are the pipes? How do they work? How old are they?
These things are important to the operation of an orchard, I would guess. I don't see myself watering an orchard, even one with only 28 trees, with a garden hose.
Up until 3 weeks ago, the orchard lay bare. not a leaf nor even a bud to be found. We've had no appreciable rain in the four months that we have lived here. Snow? Yup, about a 1/8th of an inch. Hail? Lots of that too, but you would be surprised at how little water there is in a coating of hail. Rain? Officially about .04 of an inch.
Now there is one other pecan tree that is the last of an orchard that was on the other side of the house. Its current neighbors are some version of mulberry trees. The mulberry trees, I was used too as I had four of a slightly different variety in Phoenix, needed water. So I bought a couple hundred feet of drip hose and gave them a soaking. The pecan tree, as well as two other mystery trees nearby got watered by virtue of their close proximity to the mulberry trees.
A week after the first water application, everything had leaves and buds. Including the pecan tree. This worried me for the still naked orchard. So I took what I thought would be an afternoon and seriously investigated the orchard irrigation system. I found the main valve in the orchard and two branch valves. One had froze the past winter and shattered. The other seemed to be working.
So I turned on the main. The broken valve sprayed all over bu I managed to get it under control temporarily. The secondary valve to the east trees opened and sent water to the two eastern rows of trees.
As I walked the rows I found that there was a 3/4 inch feed line that led to a "bubbler" head at the base of each tree. About half worked, some of the rest did not until I messed with them a bit. Two others were small geyzers shooting water up a for or so. The water ran about an hour while I took stock of the parts I thought I needed. But after that first water run, those first two rows were budding.
All toll, the four rows of trees cost about $300 in 3/4 and 1/2 inch PVC parts and almost week with me digging up burst pipes and replacing "bubbler" heads. The earth in the orchard, like most of the ranch, is very clay heavy. Muddy and sticky to dig once wet. Tools and parts are quickly caked in clay slowing daily progress and as the pressure increased from repaired pipes, new leaks appeared. But except for the last leak, its done. Late in the season, now all four rows have leaves. Not all the trees, but most.
I know the system I fixed is wrong for trees. I know I'll have to make changes this fall when the trees go dormant again. And I'm pretty sure that there will be few if any pecans this fall due to the late start.
But next year we're going to have to have a plan for a couple of bushels of pecans.
Be well.
