EXPERIMENTING WITH DEEP STAKE WATERING OF THE FRUIT TREES

24-inch and 36-inch long stakes were first installed around a few trees, depending upon whether it is a semi-dwarf tree or a standard size tree. The stakes are hollow with holes all along the length. A devotee uses an auger to drill 2 deep holes into the ground around each tree, either 24 inches or 36 inches deep.
The holes are filled with gypsum and compost mixed with the clay soil. The stakes are pounded into that.
They were then irrigated with .5 gallon emitters over 11.5 hours. So each stake gave approximately 6 gallons of water
The stakes were dug up after a couple of days and it was discovered that the water from each stake had soaked through the soil 16 inches of even moisture around each stake. The top 12 inches of soil was dry so this will greatly reduce the amount of evaporation of the water and reserve the vast amount of irrigation for the tree roots. The top 12 inches of soil eventually soaked up some of the moisture as well.
Now deep stake irrigation is slowly being installed for all the orchard trees. 100 trees now have been completed. We aim to have them installed by the time the heat of the summer becomes too intense.
Organic fertilizer can also be added to the irrigation water that goes into each stake.