POMEGRANATE
T&T Ranch (Morris DeLee and sons) grows alfalfa
and pistachios,
which are both very popular crops in this area. Many homes in Amargosa
Valley have fruit orchards and vegetable gardens. Mediterranean and
Middle Eastern plants such as pomegranate bushes and fig trees are popular.
The pictures on these agriculture pages are mostly of the T&T Ranch,
because those are the pictures we had handy. If you would like pictures
of your farm or ranch on this web site, please let us know.
POMEGRANATE
The climate in Amargosa Valley is hot and dry. The soil is sandy and slightly alkaline. Growing a crop here requires frequent irrigation. Several types of irrigation are used in the valley:
Center pivot irrigation devices, known as "pivots," make those green
crop circles you see from the airplane. The crop grown under a pivot
is usually animal feed -- most likely alfalfa (hay), or maybe sorghum or
sudan grass (or a crossbreed of the two called sordan).
This aerial photo of Amargosa Valley was taken during the off-season.
During the growing season there is a very dramatic difference between the
green fields and the brown desert. The pale straight lines in the
picture are roads, and the pale wavy lines are "washes" where the water
flows across the desert after a heavy rainstorm. The dark straight
lines are "tree lines" where someone has planted a wall of trees as a windbreak.
The Amargosa Valley is generally flat, and gently slopes from 2600 feet above sea level in the northwest corner to 2200 feet above sea level in the southeast corner.
For more on alfalfa, click
here.
For
more on the Ponderosa Dairy, click here.
For more on pistachios,
click here.
For Nevada
Agricultural Statistics Service Web Site, click here
The two photos above show rancher Michael DeLee repairing a pivot on
the T & T Ranch.
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