The replacement apple trees were planted 2015 and 2017. (The watering trailer photo is from a couple of years ago). About half of those trees took off and are thriving by now, they no longer need watering. And half still need to be babied, I think because of so much gopher damage to their roots.
Here's a photo from 5/11, a few days ago.I put 30 gallons of water down this hole and it was still taking water faster than I was pumping it through my 1.25" diameter watering wand. This tree has grown from its original 3/4" diameter but isn't as bushy as others planted the same year, so I continue to include it in my watering.
Yes, I water weekly for the first couple of years. After that, a few times during our rainless summer. As soon as I see leaves curling which is a sign of stress.
I think the problem with trees like in this photo, is that these replacements were put at the same orchard grid location where a mature tree had died with a big gopher meeting hall beneath it. Tree sites on the grid never got disced. So the gophers were never disrupted, and they are still there waiting when the new tree is planted at the same location. When I dig out a stump with the backhoe I disrupt an area at least as large as a dining table to discourage this, hoping they won't find the new tree for a while. This was likely a location where no roots remained to be dug out, so the new tree may have been planted over an undisturbed gopher colony.
A neighbor tried trapping gophers but decided it was hopeless after the first hundred. For a family garden, burying wire mesh keeps them out but that isn't practical for a whole orchard.
What sort of new trees did you plant? And what region are you in, with so much rain?
View attachment 1587