Ollas and Sapling Trees - one of the best ways to get trees off to a good start!

This is a photo sent by a lovely buyer, who planted an Olla with each of her Avocado saplings.

When we first started learning about Ollas, I was uncertain about using them with saplings.  I was concerned that young trees' taproots would grow toward the Ollas, making the saplings less stable.

Turns out I was wrong, and that saplings greatly benefit from the water support of Ollas while still developing strong, stable taproots.  In fact, Ollas have historically been planted with saplings.  The idea was - and is - to give the saplings consistent, on-demand, water support while their young root systems are being established.  Young trees will still send taproots to reach the moisture deep in the ground.   Once deep strong roots are established, the tree (usually) does not need to rely on the Olla and the Olla can be removed.

Here is what David Bainbridge with the Dry Lands Research Institute at the University of California-Riverside has to say, "Buried clay pot irrigation is recommended for dry orcharding in India and has proven to be very useful in tree establishment and revegetation.  In Pakistan, the survival of tree seedlings irrigated with buried clay pots was 96.5% compared to 62% for hand watering and the buried clay pot irrigated seedlings were 20% taller."

Did you get that?  Saplings that were planted with Ollas were larger and were much more likely to survive than those that were overhead watered.

He goes on to say, "Our trials of buried clay pot irrigation in the Colorado Desert near the Salton Sea suggest they have great potential for revegetation and orchards in the desert.  After eight months all tree seedlings on buried clay pots in one trial were alive and growing well, while all of the trees irrigated with the same amount of water using basin irrigation had died."

Further, " . . . After 8 months one of the plants was dug up to examine root distribution.  Although several roots were wrapped around the pot, TWO DOMINANT TAP ROOTS WENT STRAIGHT DOWN TO CONSIDERABLE DEPTH."

I cannot say enough about the brilliance of these simple clay pots, and of the people throughout the ages and around the world who use and understand them!