The water balance of an euthrophic red yellow podzolic soil grown with coffee trees of different ages and sizes, that is, 'Mundo Novo' with normal growth (18 years - 3m tall), 'Mundo Novo' cut back (3 years- 2m tall), and 'Catuaí' (4 years - 1.5m tall) were performed during the period between two harvests (1971/72), in Pindorama, State of São Paulo, Brazil, through the neutron technique down to the 2.4m depth. Such soil held about 1mm of water per centimeter of soil depth when under the tension of 15atm. There was a dense layer between 60 and 90cm which helped to keep the moisture in the upper part of the soil profile and restricted the deep drainage. The minimum and maximum storage observed were, respectively, 500 and 620mm for 'Catuaí', 460 and 600mm for the cut back field, and 390 and 590mm for the field with normal growth. In general we can say that: (a) the normal growth field used about 97% of the total rainfall as evapotranspiration and did not have an effective deep drainage; (b) the evapotranspiration of the cut back field was about 94% of the total rainfall with an effective deep drainage of 55mm; (c) the 'Catuaí' field evapotranspired about 88% of the total rainfall and contributed effectively with 152.6mm to the deep drainage.
coffee trees; podzolic soil; evapotranspiration; deep drainage; moisture storage