We have not provided any supplemental irrigation to our established perennial fruit trees since early November, it is now early July - 8 months! The trees still look happy but are starting to show stress. Some of them are even higher demand fruit trees like stone fruit, citrus macadamia nut and guava.

We could not have made it this long without an epic year of rain and below average temperatures, but we live in the foothills of inland San Diego County, a dry and hot environment.

How did we do it? Building healthy soil is number one - healthy soil can hold WAY more water than dead dirt. Top-dressing with high-quality compost, planting appropriate cover crops, spraying compost teas, heavy mulching and planting overstory trees to shade other plants and soil are all important strategies to dramatically reduce supplemental water demands.

Check out our other videos to dive deeper into these subjects and we will have more coming out soon! If you're in the San Diego County area we also provide in-person consultations. Please visit our website for details at Permasystems.org

Thanks for checking us out!