western-queensland-gardening-guide.pdf - South West NRM

Planting trees in dry areas or areas with limited water
Establishing trees for farm or garden use in places with limited or unreliable rainfall
can be difficult, especially if there are not good supplies of irrigation water available.
Trees planted in the paddock or stock yards especially need to be able to grow well
with a minimum of extra work.
Plant small numbers of trees at a time
Unless natural soil moisture is good and other conditions for establishment are
favourable it is advisable to only plant as many trees as can be easily maintained and
watered. Each tree may require up to 40 litres per watering and time may be needed
for weeding and animal protection
Choose drought hardy species
Some tree species will perform better in drier conditions than others. Generally
plants which naturally grow in dry areas are likely to be most drought hardy. Local
native plants will most likely handle local climatic extremes. DPI advisers can help
in the selection of drought hardy species.
Prepare planting sites well
Cultivation and digging a deep planting hole will help to encourage better tree
rooting. Deep ripping up to 40 cm depth may also be useful to break up any hard
pans or rock layers which may stop deeper root penetration. It is generally
ended that several rips be put in about 30 cm apart to break up soil before
B Ponding bank on sloping site. I I
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Figure 11. Preparing the planting site