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nafex - [NAFEX] sandy soil and sugary fruit

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  • From: Alan Haigh <alandhaigh@gmail.com>
  • To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [NAFEX] sandy soil and sugary fruit
  • Date: Fri, 12 Jun 2009 06:19:27 -0400

I get to observe fruit trees growing in soils with a wide  textural diversity from near beach sand to heavy clay.  Of course my observations are still only anecdotal but I do believe sandy soils consistantly produce higher brix in fruit just because they don't hold so much water.  This becomes very apparent during wet seasons where sites with poor drainage will suffer by way of bland fruit much more frequently than sites that dry out quickly.  This may not be so important in areas that don't get rain in the summer. 
 
I wish I had more information about the relationship to excess water and relative sugar content of fruit.  I'd like to see some experiments where weeds are alowed to grow under some fruit trees from mid-summer while others were kept from competition and brix measurement were compared of fruit from contrasting trees.  With all the rain we're getting I'm planning on doing a limited experiment in my own orchard this season.
 
Whenever drainage is at all an issue I recommend that fruit plants be grown on well raised mounds.  This not only helps the trees grow well, but I believe it also elevates the quality of the fruit.  I don't think adding sand to the soil is at all a practical method, except perhaps to grow a few melons.



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