Why Are We Losing Fruit Trees? | Best Chop & Drop for Desert Climates

When it comes to growing fruit trees in the desert, we have our challenges. From severe, dry heat to sub-freezing Winter temps that’s just the beginning! With over 180 fruit trees here on the farm we’re bound to lose a few, so what do we do when we lose a fruit tree? We’re also showing you our go-to plant for chop and drop here in the desert.
Support the channel for free by starting your Amazon shopping here!
www.amazon.com/shop/edgeofnow...
*As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases made through this link*
Check out our Healthy Farm Living Channel here;
/ @healthyfarmliving
Connect with us on our website here;
www.edgeofnowherefarm.com/
Our go-to tree trunk protectant at IV Organics. Use promo code "EONFARM" for 10% off your entire purchase!
ivorganics.com/
GrubTerra is our preferred source for dried black soldier fly larvae. Use discount code "ENF" for 10% off your purchase!
grubterra.com/
#desertfarming
#eonfarm
#farmlife

[@HocusPocusist]

One insight I can give you is that chicken manure is detrimental to soils where you plan on growing higher successional plants like trees. It's high nitrogen causes bacterial booms that actually degrade your soil organic matter. It's usually high in various salts that can lock up water and nutrients and cause problems with Ca:Mg ratios in favor of magnesium, causing calcium deficiency. Soils in AZ already usually have salinity problems depending on their topography, and irrigation water quality doesn't always help either. Hard water can exacerbate the problem. Those extra salt ions are also detrimental to the soil from an electroconductivity (EC) perspective and dependent on your Eh-Ph soil range your tree could have been susceptible to any number of viruses and diseases. Bay trees don't like having excess nutrients either, not sure if you fertilized.

[@fierljeppertjuh]

In Dutch we say "chicken manure is too sharp to use". You should compost it, with other materials, before use it. And maybe even compost it 2 times.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Thank you for the insight. We did fertilize the bay tree, but only lightly as the tree stayed pretty small.

[@dianaj3139]

I really appreciate the attitude of not sweating it too much with the dead trees... Just start again with perhaps a different variety... Thanks for all you share!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

We've learned over the years to just roll with it. Sometimes it's tougher to take (older trees for example), but we have to move forward and learn from our mistakes!

[@felipeiglesias]

I grow in Santiago, Chile, where humidity is usually around 15-20%. But living in Italy for almost 10 years I cannot tolerate dry weather anymore. Here we usually have average 45% to 75% in summer. And your nose and eyes don't suffer (moreover living near the sea). How many tons of conditioner do you need to apply over yourselves to not crack? 😂

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

LOL. Yeah, the moisturizer is a regular addition around here! Lori and I were just comparing our heels to see who's is cracking more!

[@johac7637]

From the citrus expert, Whitfil Growers, the yrunks need more than paint, they need a trunk shading wrap until the cdnopy shade them, ive tearnt that the hard wat too, once the trunk is damaged, its over, also i plant a mound, root csn go looking, but they dont havd life jackets. The monsoons wetness can drown our trees in this clay dirt, learnt yhat the hard way too.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Solid suggestion here John. It was hard to tell in this episode with this tree having many branches cut back, but it was large enough to fully shade the trunk last Fall when it started having issues.

[@RobotDad]

Your farm is coming along nicely... actually it's impressive. The sorgum in the turkey pasture is a great idea, going to do that with my chicken pasture.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

The sorghum has been a game changer for us. Especially with that turkey pasture needing to put on plenty of growth during the summer months when the Thanksgiving turkeys arrive.

[@jettyeddie_m9130]

You guys are doing great hang in there 🙂, for those of us that live in arid low RH areas we are sorta blessed to not have all the fungal and moisture issues like a wetter climates, ground cover is crucial in arid climates farming for sure , can make a world of a difference and the more organic matter the soil accumulates the less we have to water

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

There are definitely challenges along with advantages in the desert. We get folks asking us for advice on Fungal and Bacterial issues regularly and we're not usually much help not having to deal with them here!

[@jonnyhawt8973]

The tradeoff is lack of organic matter available in the desert. My fla swampy woods provides lots.

[@variyasalo2581]

By the way, on my mother's side we are all towheads until our teens. Then we turn light brown. My grandma was a brunette when she died at 94. My mother also, but Mumsie had a few gray hairs. I have a few gray hairs at 65, but im also a Clairol 8G girl! Best of British luck to y'all!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Ok, this is good to know. Trying to figure out where the blond went and when the gray was going to start taking over. I suppose there's hope yet!

[@DanielSmith-us3dz]

Love what y’all got going on. When I lived in El Paso, sorghum Sudan was awesome for producing biomass

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Glad to hear you had success with that as well in El Paso. We have a few folks who've reached out to us from there asking for some advice on different things. I'll need to keep this in mind!

[@ehoops31]

I just clicked on one of your old videos and it's really amazing to see how the farm is filling in. So much more green and shade!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

That's what we've been hoping for. We've come a long way and have a ways to go, but hopefully that old content wasn't too cringe for you. We've come a long way with that as well!

[@mateocitrus]

Hi Duane and Lori, I think your lime tree was showing symptoms of 'wood pocket' virus. UC Riverside reports it is in all known trees (and budwood) for Bearss (aka Persian) lime trees and is accelerated in hot climates. UofA says there is no known control and the tree ends up dying over time. It is a bit odd that yours showed serious symptoms so quickly. Maybe do a key lime to replace?

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Ah, thank you for helping us diagnose this one! I had a feeling it had something to do with the variety. Oh and you're reading our minds. Key lime is what we'll be searching for this Fall to replace this one! Thank you again!

[@usbpphillips]

There could be pockets of caliche that the roots ate hitting. It will prevent the roots from growing properly and the clay/caliche holds the water to the point that the roots rot. We had that problem when we lived in Deming NM.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

That caliche definitely makes for a struggle with trees. We have it pretty much throughout the farm about 18-24 inches below the surface.

[@carsonrush3352]

​@EdgeofNowhereFarm , I've read that you need to dig 3-4 ft down to make sure there isn't caliche below a tree. If you find some, you need to make an off-center hole through it to allow for draining. Then fill that drain hole with rocks to keep roots from plugging it up. (Source: "Extreme Gardening" by Dave Owens). It's tough stuff, but you have to get through it or else the water pools on top of it and rots your roots.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

@@carsonrush3352 That's one of the many reasons we irrigate the way we do and encourage outward growth of those tree roots. We've had very good success with that and get to skip all the excavation!

[@stephensauder8954]

I’m in north Phoenix and my Persian lime had the opposite problem. It was producing too much fruit and some branches broke when they were ripening last year. I have since pruned it to a strong central leader to handle the weight of the fruit.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Glad to hear that tree is hanging in there. The Persian on the old farm had random branches die back, but never like this.

[@hairlesscactus]

My fig trees are getting scorched! (Tucson)

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

It's definitely time to increase the water for those fig trees. We doubled their water last week when we saw the heat warnings in the forecast. Right now ours are getting 60 gallons 2x/week and are hanging in there. They will lose some leaves with the heat, but you shouldn't be seeing crispy leaves.

[@variyasalo2581]

I an going to use your circle technique around my container trees come fall/winter here in south central texas. Thanks for all your videos. They are inspirational!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

That irrigation technique has really done wonders for our fruit trees!

[@RErikWeigand]

Have you heard about or looked into, "Electro-culture" a system of enhancing and energizing your crops and soil by wrapping copper wire around a stick from bottom to top creating an antenna planted into the ground near to your crops, which then draws energy from the aether into the ground. You may find it useful, simple, and maintenance-free. Best of luck

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hmm, this is the first time I've heard of this. Off to Google I go!....

[@RErikWeigand]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm not Google youtube...

[@cs7717]

My bears in the desert does the same thing. I have one good branch left on her. She is in a small 3 gal still, but the other citrus are doing just fine and they are in the same containers.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

We had another viewer pinpoint what is probably happening with these trees. Apparently there is a specific disease that only effects Persian limes and pretty much all of the trees in the US have it. Usually it kills the tree later in life, but can cause this in very young trees like this as well. Our plan is to switch to another variety when we replace it this fall. Probably a key lime.

[@darlenecarter7859]

Thank you

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Glad you enjoyed this one!

[@broGabiza]

This is a beautiful job that you and your wife are doing. Truly Inspirational

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Thank you. We've been working it pretty hard to see what the land is able to provide for us.

[@christaj1754]

Hello there. It has been a long time since I have commented on your blog. I wanted to let you know that my 2nd fruiting season with the Aprium tree from Reid was prolific!! The tree is relatively scrawny, but, it bore delicious fruit and was covered. Many of my trees that are 3-5 yrs old and have been doing beautifully are struggling here and in my area, even before the heat came. The branches are weakening and the citrus trees became very full at the bottom and less full at the top as the branches began bending down. Something is impacting all of my desert trees, my moringa and my huge lemon and caused my Cherry plum from Reid to die. I gave it collected rain water before bed and in the morning, it was dead. It had been struggling and truthfully looked very old and dry when I bought it, but, it had leaves until sometime overnight. My trees are now weak, the new growth dies and my desert trees are dropping their little leaves and just not doing well. They are all 4 or 5 yrs old. I am in the west valley off of the 60.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Wow, really sorry to hear this. If you wouldn't mind sharing, would you take a few pics of a few trees and the surrounding area and email them over to us to look at? Email can be found on the About tab here on YT. I'll link to the page here for you; www.youtube.com/@EdgeofNowhereFarm/about

[@christaj1754]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm when it cools off this evening, I will capture some.

[@leonsaquaponicsandhomegard6793]

Fantastic content. Just subscribed and looking forward to going through and watching all your videos. Well done you two are doing a fantastic job.

[@charlessingletaryiii331]

My bearss lime has been in the ground for two and a half years and has fruited twice dropping fruit each year. This year, it started dying back as well. I found that mine was buried a little too deep, below the root crown. I cleared around the root crown, and it seems to be doing better. If I don't get any production next spring, I will be doing the same. I should mention I got it from Home Depot. Fingers crossed.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Well, this pretty much solidifies our thoughts on this variety. The tree on the old farm did pretty well, but much like you're seeing, even at 4 years old it would have sections of branching just randomly die.

[@charlessingletaryiii331]

@EdgeofNowhereFarm Do you think it would be best to grow a root cutting vs grafted. Or maybe it's a microclimate issue?

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

@@charlessingletaryiii331 I get the feeling it's our climate. Citrus pretty much always needs to be grafted as our soils are not very compatible with citrus saplings.

[@vivekramakrishnan7703]

With temp getting to 110, chop and drop helps for sure . This year I am growing vetiver grass, Mexican sunflower, comfrey and borage. Comfrey and borage get afternoon shade

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

That's one of the challenges I knew we would face with comfrey (needing shade). Not wanting to grow that in the tree rings limits the area we would be able to grow it in. Does it still do well for you? Anything like the Sorghum?

[@Blaqjaqshellaq]

We grow borage in our back yard because bees like it!

[@vivekramakrishnan7703]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm I do not have comfrey in the tree ring, but a large Moringa shades it after around 11 am. It is doing ok, for sure not doing great like in the east cost. I am really hoping next spring I get a good amount of leaves to make comfrey tea

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

@@vivekramakrishnan7703 ah, ok that makes sense. I would assume it would need near all day shade in the Summer to really do well. Fingers crossed you get that tea!

[@rlo912]

I just found your site Thank you thank you!! So much great info❤️🙂

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Glad you found us and are enjoying the content!

[@cs7717]

"That is the thumbnail!" LMAO!!! 😂 😂 😂

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Unfortunately, she does all of the editing these days, so alas, I (Duane) don't get a say in the content!

[@lindawoody8501]

I had to deal with Texas "Cotton" Root Rot here in my yard. Outright killed an apple tree and a Santa Rosa Plum and we also had a bout of Fire Blight on the Pear. The overgrown fig tasted terrible for the three years and so with the others was taken out. If you see white cottony fibers on the roots of the trees, well, that area is infected via soil to roots - apparently not uncommon in AZ as well as NM and TX. May kill quickly or take months. Leaves stay on the dead tree with this root fungus. No good cure.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Sorry to hear that Linda. We have not seen Texas Root Rot here, at least not yet. I know it really does a number on stone fruit, but I wasn't aware it was that hard on pome fruit as well!

[@knucklessg1]

What part of Texas are you in?

[@mesutozsen903]

Eline emeğine sağlık bu güzel video için kolay gelsin hayırlı işler....👍👍👍👍

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Teşekkürler Mesut. Umarım Türkiye'de her şey yolundadır.

[@mesutozsen903]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm teşekkütler her şey yolunda sizleri her hafta izlemek bir harika hoş ve esen kalın :)) Eline emeğine sağlık bu güzel video için kolay gelsin hayırlı işler....👍👍👍👍

[@rvhill69]

Being a blond, I was a platinum blond growing up. In my 20s and 30s, I was a strawberry blond. In my 40s, I starting to get some dark hairs. Now in my 50s, I getting gray hairs added in some grays.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Isn't getting old just the best! Well, some parts truly are, but others...not so much!

[@AbidAli-bv2gl]

Excellent video. you are around Jujube tree. It is look like desert gold. Shanxi is the biggest jujube . sweet potato ,desert grass Sorghum, also superfood. sneak peak of geese, duck, chicken, MS lori best Farm manager

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey there Abid. I knew you would enjoy an update on those Jujube!

[@krissycus]

I love your matter-of-fact attitude about your dying trees! I also don't want to have to baby trees, and am trying to be quicker to pull things out that just aren't working.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

That's what we were hoping to get across with this one. The reality is, trees die. Sometimes there's a reason and other times we just don't know why. It's a bummer, but we're of the opinion it's better to cut our losses and start over instead of fretting about it!

[@krissycus]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm Just curious how many times you will try a certain variety before you give up on it? For example, I've tried hardy kiwi 2x and I'm over it.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

@@krissycus it depends on how much trouble they were to maintain before losing them and also how long it took for them to die. For example, we tried Hardy Kiwi once. They died as soon as we hit summer temps and it was pretty clear they would not thrive in the heat, so we didn't try them again. We tried cherries 3 times and have now given up, because they just won't produce. This was the second time we had issues with a Bearss lime, so we're going to try another variety.

[@procrastination_builds]

We just bought in Whispering Ranch and I'm definitely taking notes on what we can do out there.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Congrats on that new property! You'll have the exact same growing conditions out that way!

[@procrastination_builds]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm that's great!! Thanks for do all the heavy lifting. We have a 15 year retirement plan but want to get the well and some trees in before that. What trees do you think would need the most maturing prior to building a house?

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

@@procrastination_builds as long as you have automated irrigation, I would plant in this order; 1. Nut Trees 2. Citrus Trees 3. Stone and Pome Fruit 4. Figs/Pomegranates 5. Berries (mulberry and blackberry)

[@procrastination_builds]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm perfect. Thanks for the information. Have you tried wheat or olives?

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

@@procrastination_builds we haven't grown wheat, but we do use barley to overseed the turkey pasture in the Spring. We probably won't do olives. Too much time to invest in making them edible! One thing you'll want to know about is the restrictions we have on water. You can only keep up to 2 acres "green" with irrigation, which is why we haven't done more in the way of cereal grasses, etc. We're at about 1.5 acres "green" right now which will be it for us. From here on out we're focusing on desert adapted plantings, so cereal grasses are out.

[@annburge291]

According to Elaine Ingham, soil food web, in Canada, trees were starting to die in a lake area. It turned out that recreational fisherman were releasing their worms into the woodlands. Those trees needed fungal dominant soils and the worms were shifting the balance to more bacterial dominant soil. Worms are fantastic in vegetable gardens, crops lands, but not always in woodlands. Perhaps let your chickens out a bit. My hair was chestnut brown but went darker just before I started to get grey hairs. Now it's salt and pepper.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

That's one of the big advantages we have here with all the wood chip mulch. There is never a shortage of fungal activity in the tree rings!

[@gordybishop2375]

Never know what is under the ground. Varmits or critters. Chemicals. Trees griw good until roots hit the bad stuff.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

That's definitely a possibility. Even though there was nothing here before us, it doesn't mean somebody didn't wreck a Razor in that spot and spill oil and gasoline!

[@gordybishop2375]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm yeah. Could of been decades ago if so. Good luck.

[@guy4698]

Will be moving to cresent valley nv next year.. Will be copying a lot of what you two have done 😅

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

I think you'll find a lot of the techniques we use here will suit you just fine in NV!

[@timmytrimble4069]

Myoporum laetum is my best chop and drop. It can grow well in poor soil. It can survive some drought. It is fast growing.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

I had to pull this one up as I hadn't heard of this before. Looks interesting. Just curious, where are you located?

[@timmytrimble4069]

Mediterreanian. Here we call it Siempre Verde. Ever green. It gives great shade all year and is a windblock. You can hack it around and it doesnt care. Not prone to any pests or disease. @@EdgeofNowhereFarm

[@suzisaintjames]

What about trying comfry in those over spray spots outside the turkey pasture? 💖🌞🌵😷

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

We haven't tried comfrey yet as I know it struggles with the really dry, heat of our summers, but you're right. That would be an ideal spot with regular irrigation!

[@reyn66]

I will have to try the sorghum. Have you tried vetiver? I have been using it on the south side of my trees with success so far. I planted the vetiver with the idea of the deep roots pulling up moisture instead of minerals up to the surface roots.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

We haven't discussed it yet, but we did plant some vetiver on the South side of the Turkey pasture. The plan is to help with moisture retention in that area and also hold more water during monsoon rains. Sounds like we're on the same page with this one.

[@brandonqtu]

I wish I have some of Arizona heat. My pomegranate never ripen in Seattle.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

I imagine that would be an issue for you up there. Even here we can struggle with ripening during November and December.

[@juneramirez8580]

Had a beautiful peach and plum tree doing fantastic for three years. Then same thing happened. One branch died then one side then the whole tree. Have an Arizona sweet orange tree over 30 yrs old and a fig tree close to the same area and they do great. Thought maybe a boring beetle got to them. Just never tried again.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

It's possible you lost those stone fruit to Texas Root Rot. It's pretty common around town and doesn't affect anything other than stone and pome fruit.

[@lindenmeyer11]

Hey guys, great work! I have a question, have you tried Deep Root Irrigation? Lot´s of people swear by it. Perhaps it´s worth a shot?! Cheers!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

We may give that a shot with our more desert adapted trees now that our production trees are all in. They naturally try to tap much more so than fruit trees, so it should do well for those.

[@Kylosgrande]

I had a lot of deer damage recently destroyed young plum trees

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Ugh, that is really frustrating. That's one animal we don't have to deal with here. I can only imagine!

[@larrypollman5243]

Hi guys. I had a young Arizona sweet orange tree that had been struggling. New growth was dying back as was the edge of the branches. I finally identified the culprit: Asian Citrus Psyllid. Have you had any issues with that parasite?

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Ok, now that is NOT a good sign. We haven't seen that here and hope they don't find us. The Bearss lime was a specific disease that only affects that variety of lime (had a viewer identify it for us).

[@hiddenvalleyfarmstead]

It's so crazy how they just die off like that. We have a sycamore in our back yard, it's been there a while. It's about 30ft tall. I walked out back last week and noticed it's dead. I'm not sure when that happened or HOW but it's gone! Also, how have the grasshoppers been for you? We have THOUSANDS!! in all my life here in AZ, I've never seen this many!!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey Kylan! Sorry to hear about that tree! It's one thing to lose a young one, totally different to lose a mature tree like that! The grasshoppers are out of control. We had plans to get some monsoon planting done, but we may put that off with these critters all over the place. On the flip side, all the birds are having a field day eating them!

[@hiddenvalleyfarmstead]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm oh yeah, the birds are going nuts! Are dogs are having fun chasing them and the rabbits and the ground squirrels lol

[@emilybh6255]

Have you ever had uneven ripening of your grapes and if so, what did you do to rectify it?

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

You'll have to clarify what you mean by that. Are you asking if the clusters ripen and different times, or some clusters have grapes with different stages of ripeness? Most of the vines ripen fruit over a few weeks time which is pretty common. Also, many of the clusters do have some uneven ripening, but it's not something we try to rectify. Most of our grapes are for wine, so it really doesn't make a difference for us. That being said, it may be that you need to thin some of your clusters. Either remove some clusters all together (to reduce the overall production on a given vine) or "prune" clusters at the bottom. This does help a bit, but not with all varieties. Flame grapes in particular seem to ripen very unevenly.

[@emilybh6255]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm Thanks! I meant individual grapes within a cluster ripening at different times. Last year I don't think I had one decent sized cluster where all the grapes were evenly ripe. I have Concord and Catawba grapes and I thought not thinning them enough might be part of the problem, so I did do much more of that this year. I'm keeping my fingers crossed they ripen evenly this year.

[@drakthorzodin-son3643]

one thing you could try to do is to cut those green stems off cut into what is it 8 inch segments, throw in a jar of honey/water or aloe and water. set in sun, let them root. then chipper shredder rest of that. or cut at the base and replant and see if new branches come out possibly not i never tried with citrus but theres a chance. by rooting the stems i would be interested if those green stems or sucker vines are resistent to whatever killed the rest of the tree off. Just curious.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

That would have been a cool test to see how they did.

[@MrKkdude]

Hi 😊 I need ur advice I love peach trees I saw u have Florida king and Florida prince peach varieties, I only have Florida king and early grand in our area they only last like till end of may ,I wanted a variety of peach that could give me harvest from end may to June ,some friends recommended me Florida prince as and red haven but I don't know when they ripe do they ripe after Florida king? I want a variety that ripens after Florida king which variety is it ? So I could plant 😍 Thank you 😊

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey there. It looks like you may have asked this twice, so forgive me if I only respond once. We don't have a Florida King here (ours is a new variety called Texas King), so I can't say for sure. However, our FlordaPrince is the earliest peach of ours to ripen (usually early May). Followed by the Early Amber and Earli Grande in June. We did have a Tropic Snow peach on the old farm that ripened a few weeks after that, so that may be a good option. It's a white fleshed peach which may be part of the reason it ripens later. Not sure on that though.

[@timmytrimble4069]

I have terrible soil. I planted trees with usuall 4 meter spacings, soil enrichment and irrigation.. They dont do at all well. I recently dug a 70cm trench with irrigation and soil enrichment. Placing trees every 3m. This has worked extremely well so far. I am not sure exactly why. I am going to do this again and see what happens.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

I'm glad you're seeing success with that switch in prep and planting. I will say root stocks do make a big difference when it comes to the success of fruit trees. If you're planting saplings it wont' apply, but any grafted trees need to be on appropriate root stock and that will definitely help as well. Either way, here's to a successful growing season for you!!

[@samueldavidsaxton]

Hello from Quartzsite AZ!!! I want to grow in my yard... need some help. SENDING OUT AN SOS

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

We've been through your part of AZ a few times on the way to Cali. You're in a VERY similar climate to ours, so most of what you see here will work for you. We have most of our videos split into playlists, so you can concentrate on one thing at a time. If you haven't done so already, I would suggest starting with a plot plan (we used a dry erase board) and mark out where your irrigation lines will run. Do that first and plant from there.

[@AyZeD]

Damn dude single digit humidity has gotta be drought level shit, the lowest I've seen it where I am is like 30%, but I didn't really follow it back before 2019 when we had the drought so I dunno what it was then

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

It's funny, because I (Duane) am originally from SoCal and was always used to regular humidity. Been here since '98, so used to it now, but it still boggles my mind sometimes when I'm working outside and don't sweat!

[@kathartsuiker1382]

Where can I get sorghum to plant?

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

We buy ours on Amazon, I'll link to it here for you; amzn.to/3NxJqFz

[@RosaHarvan]

Duane I have a question about my grapefruit tree. The tree is about 4 years old I had 7 fruit two years in a row. This year the flowers all fell off and no fruits. Every summer this tree ‘s leaves burn , the tree recovers in the fall . What causes it to happen

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey Rosa. This is really strange that you're running into issues with a grapefruit tree. In our experience, grapefruit are one of the most productive, hardy trees you can grow here in the desert. It's really hard to say for sure, as the tree is clearly getting stressed and not able to recover until we have ideal conditions (which is almost never!). Assuming you're following a lot of what we teach here in regards to planting (correct planting depth, timing, etc), irrigation (deep and infrequent and at the drip line, not near the trunk) and regular fertilizing (3x/year) it would really narrow it down to incorrect root stock, planting location (these must be in completely full sun) or something in the soil that is causing issues.

[@RosaHarvan]

Thanks Duane. I do my own compost and fertilize it three times per year. I have moved my dripping system to where the canopy of the . tree is. I am watering all my trees deeply 4 hours every 5 days in the summer. The tree is in full sun . I live by the mountains in Buckeye. I thought that the sun exposure was the problem.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

@@RosaHarvan Every 5 days is a good timeframe. How many gallons are going on it each watering session?

[@SG-vu4qy]

do you feed organic hay?

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

No, we're not able to source local, organic hay here. At least, not that we've found. It's one of the reasons we don't use it extensively for fertilizing around the farm. Especially with annual crops where contamination can be an issue.

[@SG-vu4qy]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm i know standee and chaffhay are organic, but like everything the price is high. I know of only one small grower that doesn't spray in my area near prescott. it's like trying to pry the secret to the universe getting hay sources to divulge info.

[@SG-vu4qy]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm perhaps we should flood the media with requests for hay that isn't sprayed. like my farrier said if it doesn't have weeds its been sprayed. curses for all the consumers demanding pretty hay.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

@@SG-vu4qy Right there with you!

[@judithstorck5195]

Try ELECTO CULTURE - I am. Judi

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Had somebody else suggest that, you'll have to let me know how that works for you.

[@judithstorck5195]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm Will do. Just started today. Judi

[@threeriversforge1997]

Watching you dig up those trees reminded me of Self-Sufficient Me's channel. Mark showcased a tool called The Prong and I had to have one. kzbin.info/www/bejne/nYKchZ-uZ7R3oZI These last few days, I've been using my Son of Prong to lift up buried rocks and bricks that surround (and are killling) an oak in the yard. Lemme just say... what an amazing tool design! Breaking up heavy/hardened soil or lifting brush and trees out, the Prong just doesn't flinch. Getting those rocks out of the ground still isn't "fun", but it's not nearly as much work as it was with naught but a shovel and pry bar.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Had a peak at that and it does look handy. Would have probably made the job of pulling that lime tree a bit easier!

[@threeriversforge1997]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm It's one of those tools that you'll wish you had sooner. And, if you know a welder, they're pretty easy to make yourself with a bit of scrap metal and gumption.

[@taylorvanbuskirk8040]

Every time I see the geese and ducks freed from their little condo, and then they run toward the kiddy pool...I can't help but wish they had a real pond...you know...a pond for grownups and not just for kids.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Yeah, it's one of the reasons we will probably leave that large hole the pigs dug to fill up during monsoons. We're looking forward to watching the ducks have a blast in that one!