How well is your water?

摘要

As Washington tree fruit orchards expand into hillsides beyond the reach of irrigation canals, growers may want to steal a page from a wine grape playbook: Pay attention to how watering trees over time may affect soil. Groundwater and surface irrigation are not the same. Your soil, and therefore your trees, will know the difference. So should you. Generally speaking, surface irrigation water tends to wash away minerals and cations that build up in soil. Well water can be high in calcium carbonate, iron or sodium.Joan Davenport, professor emeritus at Washington State University, has researched enough soils throughout Central Washington to know they often are high in sodium. Sodium crowds out other nutrients, including calcium, which is critical to cell wall strength. That can lead to floppy leaves in wine grapes and bitter pit in apples.