New tree / perennial watering hack

[Mr_Yan]

Here's a simple hack I use to water in new perennials and trees I plant. When I plant these I want to deeply water them roughly weekly for the first several weeks especially as it gets hot over the summer if planted in the spring.

Take a 5 gallon, or other large, bucket and drill a 1/4" (or about 6 mm) hole in the bottom near an edge. Then place that bucket next to the tree and fill it with water and let it slowly drain and deeply water that tree.

I can quickly fill 3 or 4 of these buckets with a hose at full force then walk away for a half hour and not need to think about it.

For new fruit trees planted in spring (assuming a dryish summer) I will typically water then 2x weekly for the first month, 1x weekly for the remainder of June and July, and maybe once every 2 weeks for the remainder of the season. But conditions will vary...

Just thought I'd share this hack while I wait to fill the next round.

 

[YumYum]

Never thought of watering a tree or anything else like that. Good idea but one 1/4" hole seems like a big hole to me for a drip line. Wouldn't you want to drill 2, 3, or 4 smaller holes (1/16") kinda cady cornered and place that near the trunk, on the uphill side?

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Good idea, you already have me thinking of adaptations for herbaceous plants. A two liter plastic bottle and a split bamboo that would fit the hole as closely as possible, directing the water under the plant and sticking out the top of the bottle to keep it in place.

 

[YumYum]

Hehe. Olivers garden will now look like the set of Gilligans Island with jugs and bamboo flumes everywhere.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Hehe. Olivers garden will now look like the set of Gilligans Island with jugs and bamboo flumes everywhere.

It's actually an adaptation of something I already do. I used plastic bottles with the base cut off to put over young plants their first nights out. When they blew off I found a bamboo through the neck of the bottle held them in place. Might be better to part bury the bottle neck down and have a hole in the cap, with the bottom cut off it would be easy to fill.

 

[Mr_Yan]

...one 1/4" hole seems like a big hole to me for a drip line. Wouldn't you want to drill 2, 3, or 4 smaller holes (1/16")...

I have a couple buckets with 1/4" and a couple with 3/16". These were "scientifically" selected by being the drill bit at hand when I made the buckets. This seems to be a good balance for my soil between draining too slow enough that the water absorbs into the ground and not run across and fast enough that 4 buckets won't take all day to water a bunch of things.

I have found that leafs, beetles, or mulch bits in the bucket can cause a 1/4" hole to greatly restrict or clog so going smaller could foul up very easily.

By using the buckets I can double purpose these. Instead of being only a watering tool I can still use the bucket to carry anything but liquids.