Depending on your area, the soil in your yard or around your fruit tree may become compacted. When this happens, the water will flow out horizontally and will not percolate down into the ground to the root system where the roots can absorb both water and nutriants. It is easy to check this. When you water the lawn, using a hose end sprinkler or a regular inground sprinkler system, take a look at where the water is going after about 10-15 minutes. Is the water soaking into the ground or is it running off the curb or onto sidewalk?? If this is happening your ground is probably compacted and no water is reaching the root system of your plants. This is a situation where aerating the ground will be needed.
If it is just your fruit tree, you may be able to take the simple approach and just use a tilling fork to poke holes in the ground around the dripline of the tree so that water will be allowed to percolate down to the root system of the tree. This same simple process can be applied if you have a yellowing spot in your lawn that you have watered repeatedly, but the water does not seem to be getting down to the root system. Time to grab our trusty tilling fork and start perforating the ground around and in the area the seems to be staying yellow after several attempts to water it. Once this is done, you should see a change in color in a matter of days after you have resumed your watering regimen. This is one solution the the problem of water not percolating inot the ground. Having clay soil is another issue, but then that another story to tell.
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