No water until they start to leaf. Then one heavy irrigation (2 feet down) in area of trunk (about 5 gallons drip applied or make a ring of soil around the area of the trunk and fill with water). This is newly planted. For the first 8 weeks after first leaf keep area where roots are growing moist. After 8 weeks let the ring keep water out--though maybe that won't work for flood irrigation--and water up to four feet out and three feet down halfway in between irrigations.

After the first year, your flood irrigation schedule should be adequate except in the most extreme dry heatwaves, especially if the ground is heavily mulched out to four feet with wood chips around the tree; but not right up against it.

Testing should be done with a 3-4 foot soil probe.

This post was edited by Fascist_Nation on Sat, Feb 8, 14 at 23:28

I think you need two apple trees to get apples.

Mary -- Anna apples are self-pollinating!

Interesting. Thanks for the correction.