Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
How much water you need to give your fruit trees depends partly on where you live. In our part of the world (central Victoria, Australia), we experience hot, dry summers, and they seem to be getting worse.
When we first came home on the farm in the late 1990s, we’d have the odd day here or there over 40°C. In recent years, it’s not uncommon to have stretches of a week or more at a time with extremely high temps.
Hot conditions always beg the question…how much water is enough for fruit trees?
How to calculate how much water your tree needs
The rough rule of thumb we use is that a mature fruit tree, with a full crop, in the height of summer, will need up to 200 litres of water per week. (In winter when the trees are dormant, of course they need much less water.)
In reality, you may never need that much. However, if you’re installing an irrigation system, we recommend you bear this figure in mind.
Setting up a watering system with enough capacity to provide that much water to each tree in your garden will give you maximum resilience in the harshest of conditions. That’s important, if you want water security for your fruit trees.
The true answer actually depends on lots of different factors.
- How old the tree is;
- How much fruit it has on it (if any);
- The soil type;
- What ground cover you have; and
- Weather conditions, particularly the temperature and the amount of wind.
A watering system will save water
You’ll be able to get away with giving your trees less water if you install an irrigation system. That’s because it’s much more efficient to slowly deliver a small amount of water through drippers or mini-sprinklers.
There are so many reasons that watering your trees with either a hose or a bucket is not a great way to go.
It will inevitably lead to some water wastage through run-off. It can also be hard to make sure the water gets down to the root zone where it’s needed.
Irrigating by hand is also time-consuming, and it can be physically hard for some people.
Can you tell we’re big fans of irrigation systems?
5 steps to making your irrigation system simple and effective
Here are the steps to making irrigation simple and effective:
- Figure out how much water each of your trees will need at peak production, in hot conditions.
- Work out what and where your best water source is.
- Design and install a hose or pipe system to get the water to the trees as efficiently as possible.
- Decide which type of drippers and/or mini-sprinklers you’ll use, and install them.
- And lastly (but importantly), add a timer or programmer to your irrigation system so it will turn itself off (and even on) automatically!
If you’re dissatisfied with your watering method or unsure if your trees are getting enough water, now might be the time to set up your perfect drip irrigation system.
You’ll be surprised at how much easier it will be to look after your fruit trees and grow amazing fruit.
Happy irrigating!
Want to find out more about watering your fruit trees?
Making sure your fruit trees get enough water — but not too much — can be one of the trickiest things to get right in your garden. We have lots of resources to help you make sound decisions and not rely on guesswork.
💦 Water for Fruit – Our irrigation ebook, designed to demystify watering for fruit trees. Learn how to set up an efficient system that works.
💦 How to Grow Fruit in a Drought – Learn from our experience of how we managed to grow a commercial crop of fruit every year throughout a 10-year drought.
💦 Smart Irrigation for Fruit Trees short course
💦 Creating water security for your fruit trees
💦 How much water is enough for fruit trees?
💦 Winter and water for fruit trees – understanding the impact of a wet winter will help you to plan for summer.
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hi,
I have 16 mature trees inside a enclosed orcard where hens live too.It has kikuyu grass and requires mowing.What therefore would be the best irrigation system please?
We are in East Gippsland and like you have very long dry summers and autumns when fruit is forming.We have an irrigation channel with water we can access.My gardener has advised me against my usual sprinkler rose as we constantly battle rot.I dont know how I could set up pipes if a mower has to run through the orchard.. dilemmma!
Also ,if I order some trees do you post as Im about 4 and a half hours from you.
best
Robbie
Robbie
Hi Robbie, probably the best irrigation system would be to put in to star pickets, run a wire along them a couple of feet from the ground and attach your irrigation pipe to this – it keeps it up off the ground and allows mowing underneath (which is what we do in our orchard). You can also just string the irrigation pipe in the trees if you want to go low-tech, and if the trees are close enough together. We favour drippers rather than sprinklers too, as they deliver the water to the soil without the fruit getting wet which does indeed increase the risk of fungal disease. There are some more modern pipes with in-line drippers that you can bury in the soil, but it’s harder to monitor that the pipe is working as it’s supposed to. Sorry but we don’t offer mail-order of trees, pick up from our farm in central Vic only at the moment. Good luck with your irrigation system. We have a short course that might be useful as well, called Smart Irrigation for Fruit Trees – here’s the link: https://growgreatfruit.com/product/be-a-wise-water-warrior/
What about young new trees how much water do they need
Once a week is usually enough Michelle
how do you know how much water is coming out through the irrigation system
If you are using drippers, a simple way is to measure how much comes out a single dripper in a given time, and then multiply that amount by the number of drippers. Sprinklers, soaker hoses, or trickle tape should give the output in the specifications (as should drippers).
how much water an mature apple tree need?
Hi Waheed, this is a tricky question to answer without more information. It would depend a lot on the conditions – soil type & health, the type of understory, rainfall patterns and location/aspect. With all this in mind, a mature tree may well cope without watering unless conditions are drier, in which case aiming for deep, slow watering is a good practice. Meg – Grow Great Fruit team.
Hi Guys,
Thanks for the watering info. I would say I have been underwatering and as a result I have lost the Ron’s Seedling I got from you 2 years ago ;( I did have a look at the soil after it died and it was not dry, but it sure was not damp. The soil is crap so we have mixed in organics as much as we can, a truck load of mushroom compost has helped. I think we need to put more mulch on top and I have cranked the drippers up to around 18L/Hr. Run the pump every second day for 2 – 3 hours when it is hot and dry. As the trees are young I don’t want to over water them, but with the crap soil being hydrophobic, once it gets dry it is near impossible to get the water to soak in. Any other tips will be gratefully received. One other thing, I hope you will have some Lappin’s for sale this year, as the Lappin I bought elsewhere is defiantly not a Lappin. The fruit was ready before the Stella.
Hi Mark, sounds like you’re watering plenty at the moment. Keep focusing on improving the organic matter levels in the soil as that’s the fastest way to turn hydrophobic soil around. Remember the diversity principle, keep adding organic matter from different sources, e.g. different manures, compost, mulch, worm castings, and also start thinking about planting a diverse understory beneath the trees as well. Keep an eye on the Weekly Fruit Tips newsletter to see whether there’ll be any Lapins trees available this year.
Apple 🍏 fruits are falling from the tree 🎄 before maturity. What could be the reason. Help please.
Hi there, thanks for this article-I have read it in its entirety and the comments above, and understand it’s a hard thing to answer exactly how much, but feel like some guidance on how to ‘work out how much water your fruit tree needs’(before irrigating it) would be really really helpful-would you perhaps consider doing an article on this topic itself please?
Is the 200 litres per week figure for a dwarf or full sized tree? Mine is about 2m.
The guideline of 200L a week is correct for a tree that size fully laden with fruit in summer – it’s the maximum you should be able to provide in your system when the tree is at the peak of it’s water needs, and there is no rain. The tree will not need that amount after the fruit is harvested, or while dormant, and of course if there has been a deluge of rain you can skip the extra water!
Jill – Grow Great Fruit Team
I’m growing oregano and rosemary under my fruit trees. The oregano grows quite high. Will this be a problem by encouraging pests onto the trees?
Lush undergrowth can be a home for pests – but also provide homes for beneficial insects. The best defense is to keep it from touching the lowest branches, so it doesn’t act as a ladder into the tree, particularly when there is fruit. You could always dry some of the extra oregano to use in the winter!
Jill – Grow Great Fruit team