Soil Management

The hydrology of this soil is quite good. The three A horizons have considerable drainable porosity and thus capacity for drainage and aeration, yet hold a substantial amount of readily available soil water at 62 mm and tightly held soil water at 93 mm. The proportion of moisture in the three A horizons which is not available for tree use is minimal (5.3 -8.7 %). This soil should require fairly infrequent irrigation compared to many other soils. Despite these very positive attributes, the profile is moderately compact, and extremely compact in the A2 horizon. This compaction is likely to be reducing root exploration into the A2 horizon and B2 horizons, consequently the realistic readily available soil water is likely to be around 36 mm to 40 mm, and tightly held soil water to be around 45 mm to 50 mm. In relation to irrigation, the refill point for the A1 horizon is between 25% (50 kPa) to 20 % (100 kPa) soil moisture. The A11 horizon has a good level soil carbon, but carbon levels are low in all other horizons. Management is encouraged to increase return of residues to encourage carbon cycling in the topsoil. The low CEC of this soil indicates it has little capacity to absorb nutrients and make nutrients available for tree growth and fruit production. This soil will require fertilizer applications to be small and frequent to meet tree demand without risking nutrient leaching through the soil profile.

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