Hoosierquilt, The well may be less than you expect. At least check it out. We drilled one on our land where my orchard is for under five grand, everything included, no work on our part.We operate it with a generator that we already had. Had we needed to drill at our home, the driller said it would have been double that due to a difference in the terrain and water table.
Going rate here in my area (I have checked it out), is between $10,000 and $20,000, and that’s no guarantee you’ll hit water. Another about $3-5 grand to hook it up to outside water (our water here isn’t really very potable, so no going to drink it), Our water table here in this part of San Diego county is very low (about 1,000 ft), and we’re on a lot of granite. In fact, all of the homes here have many very, very large boulders on them, left by the developer as “hardscape”. Several of the homes’ lots actually had to be blasted to cut the pads. I have two neighbors down the street who have wells. One just dropped their well last year. It was $20,000 + the additional hook ups. It would be extremely unlikely to get away less that $15,000 all in. And, there is a pretty significant wait as well, as there is a relatively high demand for residential wells due to our drought and continuing water cost increases.
Wow! I think ours was drilled just a couple days after I called to inquire. They had a waiting list, but couldn’t drive their heavy drilling trucks on the lesser roads until a certain date when the highway department decided the ground was firm enough in spring. Fortunately, my orchard is on a main highway, so we got quick service. It all happened so fast, I was pricking myself to see if I was dreaming. .
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I think this summer the waiting list was at least 6 months, maybe longer. And, when we were in Indiana, we dropped our own well. Just hammered it in. Water table was probably 15-25’. Sandy loam. All that cost was the sledgehammer, the point, pipe and the pump 
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In this area they won’t allow us to drill our own well but if they did I would Hydra-Drill - Deep Rock Manufacturing
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Those are really nice, Clark. I wonder what they cost. No mention of price, just a mention about financing, and a contact email. Sounds like they might be pretty expensive. We’d consider that, if they could drill further than 300’. The investment is probably less than what I would pay to have a well company come out and drop the well.
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I sent off for information years ago and they were $2000 and up. They sell rock drill bits so rocks not a problem. Those basic drills were for 100-200’ wells I think. They have very large drills also. If I had the option I would always drill myself so I could drop multiple wells. Dry holes are not a problem if you drill your own.
Drilling a well to 1000ft doesn’t sound like a do it yourself project to me. That’s a huge amount of material to come out of the ground. How do you even clean out the material if you don’t run drilling mud? If it’s soft material the hole needs casing. If hard rock, a 1000ft thru hard rock, wow. Sounds like a job for a big well rig to me.
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Is there any Interspecific hybrid worth buying besides Sugar Twist Pluerry?
It is, fruitnut. Just curious. The well drilling rigs here are huge. Looks like a mini oil well drilling rig. My neighbor had a pretty large mud pond created when they dropped his well. It was an amazing process. We’re fortunate here that there is a fair amount of ground water. It’s just deep.
Fruitnut,
I agree 1000’ is a very deep well. I would sign up for a 100-200’ well and would not be concerned about it. The drill needs water fed to it constantly while drilling that mud pond on the side is dug by hand to help lubricate the drill.
Patty,
I would call them. The big drills could drill deep. I would be comfortable with a 100’ and have watched it done. They drill a ways and clamp on the drill stem unhook and attach another peice of drill stem. Once water is hit they pull the drill. They then attach a screen on the end of pvc and feed it down one stem at a time again clamping on with giant vicescripts as the pvc is fed back down in the well hole. It takes awhile but it’s not hard. That company has support also so they will send videos, offer phone support etc. . They know what they are talking about. I’ve called them before and they knew exactly what I was asking them. fruitnut is right a little 100’ well like I planned is one thing but 1000’ is something different and the deeper you go the harder it gets.
Interesting link Clark. I’m curious how they handle the drill stem sections?
We had a couple wells sunk a little over 20 years ago. One well was 500’ and one 400’. The drill stem was in 30’ sections and took a big rig (over 30’ tall when they stood it up) to drill with the 30’ drill stem sections. It was a monster thing and the drill stem was so heavy they used a cable with a small crane to stand it up and screw it into the next section. These were 8" holes drilled with 6" casing.
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Olpea,
The drill stems just screw together and are maybe 8’ long if im recalling correctly on the smaller drills. The basic drill years ago was basically a lawn mower engine suspended in the air like a frame used to pull engines that drill stems were attached to one at a time. The drill stem was clamped with vice scripts in one or two places to prevent it sliding to far into the hole when you detached it so you could add another drill stem section. The top peice had a water hose attachment section so water could lubricate the drill stem. I don’t recall the additive but it’s not straight water used to drill the hole. Its a white powder that is mixed with the water. The mud pond is dug to the side so water can be constantly pumped to the drill. I think the pump used is called a mud pump. A lot of water is used and if the drill runs out of water it’s a huge problem. Look what I found on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smtllH-dGvQ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpAaP9SBfVk. I have an hour long actual deeprock video I sent off for. Here is another type of drill rig https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LE5dG6wChes and another https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovqwr92B2C4
Patty,
The DR100 Commercial Rigs - Deep Rock Manufacturing looks like it can drill up to 500’. Those larger ones can go much deeper but would cost a lot. They would get to 1000’ .
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Well, I’ve been holding off posting my list for this coming spring because I was mulling around a couple of things but decided not to go ahead and just hold off. Am running out of space here and need to get a little fussy about what things I would like to be my last plantings in 2018. That is excludings things that die or don’t do well that I replace like Sweet Treat Pluerry and Collette pear. So here’s what I have coming this spring…
Fedco:
Purple Heart Plum
Another Black Ice Plum
Raintree:
Tangy Green Columnar Apple
Candy Heart Plum
Cummins:
Harrow Sweet Pear
Paragon Pear
Pixie Crunch Apple
Arboreum:
Hakuto Peach
Spring Ruby Plumcot
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ljkewlj —>
I see you are ordering “Another Black Ice Plum.” Have you got to sample fruit from the one you have?
Yes I have back in '14 and thought they were excellent although at the time I picked them it was late due to conflicting info for a ripening date between inet and f,b and n inventory book. Unfortunately the last couple of years the bloom period for bubblegum(toka) plum and black ice have not been overlapping here except for that one year. Adding purple heart this year near it as well and we will see what happens…
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Ordered Snow Queen Nectarine, Fantasia Nectarine and Black Spanish grape from Willis Orchard. Really wanted the black Spanish so I decided the add nectarines since I don’t have ANY nectarines. Hope they work out - heard nectarines are more challenging than peaches so I have stayed away from them until this point.
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Outdoor,
Check, you may want to google, “Scoop on Wiilis Orchard” before you place your order. It does not have a good reputation.
In the reference section here, there is a list of reputable nurseries. Those nurseries would be a better choice.
They have gotten better in last several years. People who have had bad experiences with them in the past should give them another chance - at least if they have something you can’t get from other orchards. Not being too far away from me is another reason I don’t mind ordering from them.