I have fruit trees in both containers and raised beds and I’m trying to find a good deep slow watering option for all of them, so that I don’t need to water each one manually with a can or sprayer.
I know I should probably get some kind of drip irrigation kit, but they look so complicated I’ve been afraid to try! The other issue is my trees are all over the place, not in one area where I can easily run tubing between them - and the ones in containers I sometimes need to move depending on the season, so they can get more or less sun.
I was looking at soaker hoses. Seems like a possibility for the trees in raised beds. But unless I wanted to keep moving one myself from tree to tree, I’d need to buy one for each tree, and maybe just keep it arranged in a circle on each raised bed. For the containers I don’t think the soaker hose is as practical, since my containers are in different locations.
Has anyone tried tree watering bags? Do they work? Most of them look really big though, and seem to be made for huge trees. all of my trees are 3 years or younger, they aren’t big. Is there a type of watering bag that works well for a 3 year old tree in a 4x4 raised bed? And is there any sort of similar product that is smaller and could be used for container trees?
If you have found an option that works well for you, or you know what would work best in my particular situation, I’d love to hear about it.
I’ve got the same issues both in my greenhouse and outside. To me the best option to fully water everything automatically would be drip. Run main lines around near everything. Then off that attach smaller diameter drip or soaker lines for each tree. Each of those would have a shutoff valve. It’s not easy but there is no easy way.
I have a drip irrigation system I made. I think it was a good option for my situation. I purchased from https://www.dripdepot.com/ you can give them a call and they can recommend the parts you need for your system.
The trick for me was the length required 3/4" poly and I also had to go up a hill which requires some special parts. Overall it works well to water my newly planted trees and my raspberries in my grow bags.
This is a picture from an excellent book on the topic:
I think the watering bags is your best option if you do not want to drag around hoses or soaking hoses. I know I would not like the thought of that.
I have trees too far away from my water source and no way to make a watering system work here for me. I have had to resort to just taking water jugs up to water my young trees from dying when we have periods of no rain. Last year we had 40+ days of no rain and very high heat ( temps in the 90’s and 100’s) Even the many jugs of water did not save the little young trees I had planted that spring. I lost 3 of those 5 trees.
Try looking at A.M. Leonard site and I would call them as well. They may have something else that would work or send you to another store or site.
In the past I have just put a 5 gallon bucket with a 1/4 inch hole drilled in the bottom next to the tree. It still requires a hose to fill it, but it only takes a minute or two to fill it . The tree gets a steady trickle of water over a longer period of time.
Same principle as a watering bag, but cheaper and doesn’t require anything to support it.
That’s a great idea! Does one bucket in one place provide sufficient water for the tree? I’ve always heard you should evenly distribute water all along the dripline to make sure it reaches all the roots - but I guess that advice is for when we are watering with a hose? I usually try to saturate the entire raised bed when I water with a hose. I’m not sure how water gets distributed around the tree when coming from a drip system like this.
I guess that would all depend on the size of the tree and what it’s water needs are.
If you are watering a 2’ - 4’ tall whip, i think the bucket method would work fine. If your watering a tree that has a 10 wide drip line, then that isn’t going to be sufficient.
The bucket method will fill the same watering needs as the water bags, which are mainly used for smaller trees, or larger transplanted trees in their first 2 years.
The answer really is drip irrigation and it is not as hard as it looks. I put off doing it for 2-3 years and its been the best thing I’ve done for my garden. I have gone away for 3 weeks and did not have to worry about watering anything.
Agree with fruitnut here. You can setup your main lines and then have shutoff valves for the different areas. Would make a lot of sense if you are moving containers around.
Drip is intimidating to get into but it is a fairly simple process. There are not really any complex tools or skills needed. There are also lines and emitters to cover just about all the watering needs you may have. I made a video on it a few months ago that covers everything I did: https://youtu.be/zUyU2sNdbt4?si=Zo1N_ajFOI_0RXM_
spot spitters are really nice. havent yet done the spaghetti lines directly into the mainline as i fell like they would bust or pull out pretty easily. ive always used 1/8" or 1/8" to 1/4" coupler barbs. dripdepot.com and their support has been really good to me. free shipping over $50 is nice too.
took me until your recent avocado video to realize you were you
i made up a couple valve manifolds for two sides of the house. tried to hide in a deck box and keep it pretty:
I needed to put together a drip system in a hurry last summer before some travel, so I DIYed a very simple system that has proven reliable and effective for me.
From the hose faucet:
-two-way splitter (so I can still use the hose)
-simpel hose timer (Raindrip Programmable 1 Zone Water Timer Mfr# R675CT - Ace Hardware
-short length garden hose to get off the patio
-filter
-pressure regulator (20psi for drip I think)
-two way splitter
-1/2 and 3/4 black plastic irrigation pipe for trunk lines (3/4" for the long run to the far side of my 1/2 acre)
-1/4" barbs to connect to trunk line
-1/4" tubing to tree (<10 ft)
-1/4" emitter tubing (5ft/5 emitters per tree, more than necessary but allows to spread out the water
-1/4" endcaps
This cost me $350-400 and it covers basically my entire yard. I’m on a well and have decent pressure and it works as one zone for ~22 trees over a full half acre.
You need a few little tools for crimping and the barb connectors, you have to make figure out the irrigation pipe sizing, you have to stand in the home depot irrigation section for quite awhile to figure out all the little parts.
Since I was in a hurry I just laid the trunk lines on the grass, and slightly buried the 1/4" tubing, but it’s turned out that I can mow right over it. I think I’m at the upper limit for one zone but it’s working great as is.
I have the same question about a large volume of water dripping into just one spot around the tree. Especially with sandy soil, it would likely just percolate straight down, right?
