Carob Varieties for the Semi-Arid Southwest

Abstract

In 1949 Dr. Walter Rittenhouse invested a fund, the income from which to be used to test the feasibility of commercial carob culture in southern California, Arizona and northern Baja California. The time limit was twenty years. The ten acre demonstration orchard is located on Buena Road, five miles from Vista, in northern San Diego county. THe distance from the sea is about ten miles and the elevation is 800 feet. The soil type has been classified as Escondido silt loam. The average recorded rainfall for sixteen years is 12.23 inches. No damage from low temperatures has occurred except in two years, and that, at the lower end of the area. No irrigationwas used until 1960, after which one row was watered occasionally during a period of drouth.