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<br />..'~ <br />('".It <br />~, <br />0;\ <br /> <br />The Davis Farm <br /> <br />This is the second year of operation at the Davis farm. We experienced <br />an increase from 600 bushel to 1,000 bushel or 40% increase in peach production <br />this year. The biggest factor in this increase was the change in the amount of <br />thinning over last year. Normal practice is to leave one peach every four or <br />five inches apart on the stems. This year there was left nearly twice as much <br />fruit or one peach every two inches. The difficulty one encounters with this <br />practice is obtaining good marketable size peaches. Certainly if the drip <br />system can be made to work at its optimum capacity it has the capability of <br />bringing a large crop to maturity. Several trees in the "F" field were observed <br />where all of the fruit sized well despite the extra heavy crop. Now all we have <br />to do is duplicate these conditions throughout the whole orchard. <br /> <br />Duplicating these conditions will mean a balanced nutrition and water <br />application procedure. The nutrition will be discussed later in conjunction <br />with the leaf analysis data. Now we shall review some of the problems associated <br />with the water application. <br /> <br />Because of the variable size and age of the trees within each block it <br />IS difficult to prescribe a uniform irrigation practice for each block. We <br />found that certain areas of the orchard were receiving too much water and <br />others not enough. <br /> <br />Field "A" is a new Glow Haven Semi Dwarf close planting of peach trees. <br />These trees were planted in drilled holes and the emitters were spaced to <br />place the water directly in these depressions. In thi~ condition it is very <br />easy to over water the trees which is indeed what happened. The plan next <br />year is to place two emitters per tree and space them about two feet on each <br />side of the trees. Close attention to daily consumptive use data furnished <br />by the Bureau of Reclamation will provide our cooperators with more reliable <br />water application procedures. <br /> <br />Field "B" is a mixed planting of very old trees interplanted with some <br />two year old trees and four rows of five year old trees. Tensiometers were <br />placed in this block to measure the water application but the 20% of <br />saturation level was not reached until early July. This was due in part <br />to the filtration problems encountered early in the season. <br /> <br />Field "0" is a young planting of peach trees (about 5 years old.) <br />These trees received a little too much water some time in July because the <br />water application was geared to the larger trees which are watered with <br />this block. Water application during August was accomplished by reducing <br />the line pressure to 10 P.S.I. while maintaining the rest of the trees at <br />the normal 15 P.S.I. <br /> <br />The overall water application will be enhanced next year by an <br />extension of our settling ponds to allow for three hours retention. Last <br />year an extra filter was added. <br /> <br />- 3 - <br />