Automatic Watering System
 

I planted fifty arborvitae trees a week ago that range from 5-7' in height. One of the best ways to kill these young things is to fail to adequately water them. Starting now of course but particularly through the upcoming summer. I hope to set up an automatic system.

I intend to bring in some mulch (bark, basically) to reduce evaporation. I have hoses and timers but I do not know what type of irrigation lines to use, or what type of dribble-nozzles to use. Hoping for a solution that is cheap and easy to implement.

Please offer your thoughts and suggestions.

How close together are they?

Anything in between them like grass or other plants?

If yes to the above just run soaker hose the whole way.

Standard stuff you find at any home improvement store.

I would also recommend replacing your sprinkler controller (if you have one) with a Rachio.

They are about 3' apart, with nothing between them.

Rainbird and its competitors have a system that isn't too expensive and it's easy to set up. It consist of a 1/2 inch supply line, 1/4 inch drip lines with nozzles that have different flow rates, and a pressure regulator.
You can buy a kit that really won't help you much, or you can buy the components individually.
You just attach a water supply to the pressure regulator, connect the regulator to the 1/2 line, roll the 1/2 line out along the line of trees (or thread it through the trees to keep it off the ground), plug a 1/4 line into it at each tree, and plug a nozzle into the end of the 1/4 line. It's very easy, but be sure to replace the crappy plastic connectors they supply with the pressure regulator with power clamps.

The connectors for the 1/4 line come with a tool that lets you insert them into the 1/2 line at any place, so you can customize it for your needs. For those big trees I would use 2 gpm nozzles. Somewhere along the line plug in an extra 1/4" line with a nozzle and put the end of it in a container to catch the water. That way you can monitor the performance of the system and adjust the amount of time you let it run.
This is the system I use on my tomatoes, which are 6 feet apart.

I'd probably just run cheap regular hose(s), and puncture holes at the trees for drip feeds. Multiple hoses with a few T shutoff valves connecting them strategically for flow control, etc. Hooked to a spigot or barrel collector, etc.

Pics please, and what type, sources, etc.

I need to do this ... on a few properties :).

Just figure out how much of this you need.

https://www.amazon.com/Rain-Bird-ET256-50S-Irrigation-Compensating/dp/B00PP632VS/ref=asc_df_B00PP632VS/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=193150648923&hvpos=&hvnetw= g&hvrand=8514472925274499774&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt =&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1026193&hvt argid=pla-313884696689&psc=1

Do a loop around the base as wide as the trees current drip line.

Can be one contiguous run.

You don't need drip nozzles or anything fancy.

[QUOTE=Superman;11950311]I planted fifty arborvitae trees a week ago that range from 5-7' in height.

I hope you meant inches...not feet.
How tall are these trees expected to get?

They took away the forest behind my back fence and replaced it with large ugly two-story homes on postage stamp lots looking down into my fairly shallow back yard. Enough to make baby Jesus cry.

Emerald Green arborvitae trees are about $35 for 5' and $70 for 7'. If you will plant a lot of them (like me) in rock soil (like mine) then I strongly recommend renting a large auger. I rented one from Home Depot that is towed behind a pickup. 16" auger bit. Saved me a LOT LOT of time and frustration.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1679247710.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1679247710.jpg

Any further descriptions would be helpful, as I do not fully understand. You and wdfifteen seem to be pointing to the same system. Looking at the link, the 50' roll seems to be a different animal from the 100' roll. One seems to have dribble sections and the other does not. There are connectors and plugs which are often bought at the same time, but I do not understand what they do. Perhaps start by describing the system. One long line with dribblers every 6"? Or a non-porous trunk line with separate branch lines for each tree with (maybe) dribble nozzles? Pressure regulator?

Perhaps I should just do some reading. Rain Bird probably has educational material.

Another concern I have is this: I would expect the flow rates at the end of the line to be far lower than at the start. I have basically 150' of trees here.

[QUOTE=stevej37;11950385] 5' to 7'. They will get 10-15 feet tall. These ones will be well cared-for. So.....15'.

^^^ I see now. When you mentioned 3ft spacing, I was thinking a very young tree.
Looks good!

They’ll grow taller than 15’. Which is good for your situation.

Which way is north in the pics?

What I linked is standard garden variety drip line also known as soaker hose. Note: Drip line is the hose, The dripline is the area directly located under the outer circumference of the tree branches which is how far the roots should extend.

I probably have 300 ft of that stuff along my back and side fence lines.

They water my trees, which include Italian Cyprus very similar to what you planted, as well as shrubs, cacti, Japanese Maple, just about everything that's in the ground.

Your objective is to get water on the ground, that's it.

I have the entire back and one side on one zone of my in ground sprinkler system. I 'm sure at some point you can run it too long where you start to lose pressure but it deosn't matter, just water longer, water will always come out the entire length of it.

For your situation you'll start at one end, when you get to the first tree do a loop around it the width of the leaves (dripline) then rinse repeat for every other tree in one long run.

The hose has holes at regular intervals and you don't care that you are dropping water between them, in fact you want that. It's just as important to keep the root ball wet as it is to encourage roots to spread which is accomplished by having wet ground away from the trunk.

Again, you don't need to worry about drip heads at the tree trunk.

Don't think of it as watering each tree, think about it as soaking the ground they are planted in which is what happens naturally when it rains.

I hope that your front yard is fenced or the deer will have them looking like this.😩
Good luck.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1679250718.jpg

This pic is a couple of yers old, there's a pool in there now, but everything you see on the left plus more behind me on the side yard is being watered by one long soaker hose identical to what I linked running off one zone on my sprinkler system.

The Cypress went in when they were around 5-6 feet tall and today are around 25 ft.

The yard is 90 ft on the back side.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1679250749.jpg

The second pic looks north.

You have a nice spread there, SM. Outdoor fireplace!

Given the principle of keeping the area around the trees wet, I wonder if basically two hoses can be installed in a Figure 8. That way, there is drip line on all four sides of each tree.

I am skeptical but respectful of the assertion that the drip rate along a LONG run of hose might be virtually the same everywhere. When I have daisy-chained ordinary flat soaker hose, the last section delivers little water. But....that system is basically low-pressure. If the system you are advising is higher pressure, then it can serve a larger area.

BTW, I am not terribly worried about cost. These systems are certainly not expensive. I want effectiveness.

These hoses don't squirt water in a stream, it basically dribbles out so not much pressure is actually lost.

Recent pic from the other side.

It runs the length of the yard then along the far side.

Behind the Pergola on the far side is Japanese Yew, a lovely Japanese Maple, some Agave and along the side is Oleander. On the side yard out of view are also box shrub and Wandering Jew.

There are at least 5 splits / branches to the main line for flower pots, the two tall grey ones on the right, the low bowl in front of the first tall one and two under / near the window on the far left.

Buy a roll, hook it up and see what you get, you may need two water sources but I doubt it.

It will handle as much pressure as you can feed it so even an outside spigot turned up to 11.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1679253040.jpg

Soaker hose will be fine. Arbs, especially these, don’t take much care or water once they’re established, and these are facing east so not much hot afternoon sun.

These can also be pruned to very precise shapes. If you want the tops to be even with or slightly taller than the fence, and flat, like a tall manicured hedge, you’ll want to clip the tops off a little lower than you want the mature height to be. If not, just let ‘em grow.

If you want the row to be a uniform height, I’d suggest topping the taller ones near the top of the second pic a few inches to let the shorter ones catch up. That’s a good place for those evergreens. They’ll like it there.

Yes, this is the PNW and these will have afternoon shade after a few hours of sun. They should do fine and I used good dirt, but they will need regular watering until they are established. The tall ones are placed so that the people in the house right behind me won't be looking directly into my friggin' dining room, kitchen and bedroom! Can't wait until they are tall. 15' would be great. Ideally, I'd like to see no houses from my back yard.

And a pergola is also under consideration. And grape plants to climb it. We do have lovely summers here. Very nice spread there, SM. Unsurprisingly. Thanks for the introduction to this technology and the information. I'll be learning more about drip watering strategies.

Here is another strategy we are considering:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1679257289.jpg

The Rainbird mainline comes two ways-one with built in emitters every x feet and one solid, that you punch holes in and run 1/4 line with an emitter on the end.
For a long line of plants like that though I'd just use standard soaker hose and a timer.

Will give my input later tonight. Fairly simple process.

Thanks Super. You are giving me some good ideas :)

That's great Bill, but just don't post pics. ;)

I think it's likely just a matter of me getting some of that hose that dribbles every six inches, and some connectors and a plug for the end and a connector to the hose or hose bib.

Monkey and I are describing similar systems. The one he posted is a plastic line with slits cut in it every few inches (or feet, depending on which one you get). I have one of those for my bedding plants.
I like this one for individual plants that are relatively far apart. I use it for my tomatoes, which I plant 6 feet apart. It starts with a pressure regulator. Then a 1/2 inch solid plastic "hose" (line). The pressure in the line is fairly low, but I can't say exactly what it is. The system has little barbs that you can push into the line at whatever interval you want to tap into it. The barbs connect to a 1/4 inch line that has an emitter at the end that regulates the volume of water that flows. You place the emitter at the base of the tree. The emitter "emits" water at a specific gallons per hour rate. It's really that simple. I use this system to water individual plants because it doesn't waste water on the ground between the plants. It seems perfect for your trees. Based on your picture, I would run the 1/2" line about 3' off the ground through the branches of the trees to keep it off the ground and drop 1/4" lines down to the ground under each tree.

You can push the barbs in at whatever distance your plants are, connect a 1/4" line to it with a 2 GPH emitter at the end that will drip 2 gallons per hour at the base of every tree.
As I said, as a check on the amount of water the system is REALLY delivering, you should add a 1/4" line and emitter drop and have it drip into a container so you can monitor the actual amount of water that is being delivered by the system.
For a run as long as yours you might install two monitoring drops, one at 75' and one at 100' to see if they are getting the same amount of water. If they aren't the same you may have to use 1 gph emitters and run the water longer. The emitters cost about $10 a dozen, so no big deal.

I will be happy to draw you diagram in the AM. Right now I have a warm woman in a warm bed calling.

GF is doing much the same at her place and using griselinia trees. She said she is going to setup a watering system that is below the surface so it doesn't evaporate off and gets to the roots.

You might consider putting landscape fabric down before mulching. That drip line is gonna promote uncontrollable weed growth, otherwise.

Supe......

50 trees planted at 3' centers = approx. 150 linear feet, right?

So, SM was on the right track but the link he provided in his post was for QUARTER INCH Rainbird drip tubing.

What I would use is the HALF INCH size Rainbird drip tubing.

Typically available in 100' and 250' rolls.

Here is the 100' roll from HOME DEPOT: CLICK

And the 250' roll from Amazon: CLICK

I gave you two different vendors so you could read reviews, etc. and look at other related stuff they always show you.

For 150 liner feet you could go two different ways:

1) Serpentine the tubing so it goes in and out between each tree much like a dog running Agility weave poles. If you do this method you'll probably only use 200', or less.

2) Run two lines - one on either side of the trees - parallel to each other. Keep the tubing about 6" off the trunks. Using this method you'll need approx. 300'.

This tubing has a (drip) hole (emitter) every 12", and as Scott said the objective is just to soak the ground where your roots are. So you don't need a ton of water pressure/volume. What comes out of your garden hose would probably be plenty enough.

The tubing is held in place by ground staples. Get the ones with the round tops - not the squared off ones. They are about 6' long and you just push them into the ground about every 2' or so....maybe even longer depending on your layout.

The tubing comes wrapped in saran wrap. Leave the wrap on and when you install the tubing walk backwards while unrolling the tubing while holding with your hands in the center so it unrolls itself out of the wrap, so it doesn't get twisted. You do not want any kinks!

If you need to connect two sections they make couplers. You can push these on but it helps if you have warmer weather so the tubing isn't rock hard and stiff. I never used hose clamps but some folks do.

At the end of the tubing when you want to close it off simply fold the tubing over about 6" from the end and tape it closed with Gorilla Tape. :)

If you have an irrigation supply house nearby, you could buy everything you need there and save money as well as get questions answered.

You could also go to You tube and do a "Rainbird drip tubing" search and find probably all kinds of info.

I've used this stuff for many many years with great success and for your application it's the perfect choice.

After the drip tubing is installed, a layer of mulch on top would also really help with conserving water and also weed management.

I have a ton of photos from previous projects I used this on but doubt you need any.

I didn't go into timers but nowadays they make all kinds that make life easier. Happy to provide my take on that iof you want - just let me know what water source you are using. If it's a hose bib just get a battery operated one like this: CLICK

Water every day for 1 hour maybe and see if that's enough.....

HTH and good luck, brother!

Each of the trees came with its roots encased in burlap. So....I have a pile of burlap pieces that are about 2.5' squares.

I think I like the idea of two lines of tubing that drips every 6", in a figure 8 pattern, crossing between trees. This achieves what SM says is an important water 'range" under each tree to promote root expansion. I think the trees were harvested with a clamshell machine that cuts off all roots outside the immediate ball of around 16" diameter. These things need to rebuild those cut-off roots.

Thanks, Baz. The Orbit timers are the ones I have, and there is an irrigation supply house nearby. I think I will throw them some business tomorrow. Your explanation is understood and your suggestion to use 1/2" line is important, I suspect.

Excellent - the supply house will be very helpful. Remember - get the staples with the ROUND tops....not square.

Also, the 1/2" is standard in the landscape business. It's used all over the world. The company who first got it started was called Netafim. I just happen to prefer the Rainbird brand tubing.

The 1/4" tubing is sometime used for small planters and potted stuff - not so much for landscaping. Too small.

Also, I never liked figured 8-ing the tubing because that makes it cross over itself. I prefer no crossing over. All tubing in direct contact with earth.

Just my preference.

Best and good luck! SmileWavy

I don’t understand the reasoning to have a drip every 6 inches or 12 inches? Seems you would want the drips at the tree, which would be every 3 feet. Maybe two drips at each tree?

About f'n time you showed up. SmileWavy

My bad, I just looked at the pic and didn't check the size cause I figured you'd eventually chime in set us straight anyway.

Because you don't want to water just the trunk.

You want to water the ground around and away from the trunk to encourage root expansion.

If you were relying on mother nature and only rain you'd get the most water at the outer circumference of the canopy, the dripline.

The root system will expand as the tree grows and the dripline expands.

You want to encourage root growth out and away from the trunk.

If you water just at the trunk the planting may stay root bound which is not beneficial.

Trees stay in the ground because root spread anchors them better, if they stay root bound they will eventually get too large / tall and will uproot themselves especially in strong winds.

Plus, that’s how it comes from the store.

There are two basic types of couplers.

Barbed which you just push into each piece of pipe.

Perma Loc, they have a screw on collar, think brake lines, a couple of pennies more and a tiny little bit really insignificant more work.

I used to use the barbed but switched to Perma Loc because the extreme temperature swings in my area causees ground expansion / contraction and I've had the barbed type pull apart on occasion.

We used standard soaker garden hose in a similar situation. screw together, simple. Loop around each tree (dripline) and simple programmable garden hose timer.

Once they are established, you won't need a permanent system.

We tried that Rainbird hose product that weeps every 12" or 18". It was lousy. Very inconsistent watering pattern along the length. Watered much heavier on the inlet end - and even lowering the pressure didn't help equalize the pattern.

I'll post pics later - we used the Rainbird 1/2" solid hose with the 1/4" flexible line and drippers in our garden. We've been very happy with the results. The drippers come in multiple variations - we used the 2 GPH on tomatoes and 1 GPH on the pepper plants. An automatic timer makes it labor free once installed and set up.

Edit - remembered I've already posted pictures of the garden. On this thread below you can see the black 1/2" line with multiple drippers connected via the 1/4" flex hoses.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/off-topic-discussions/1119361-2022-vegetable-garden.html

I don't understand it either. You don't need to water beyond the reach of the branches.
From the web:

"The area beneath a tree's drip line is called a critical root zone or a protection zone. It is very important to a tree since the most critical tree roots are generally found beneath the soil in that area. These roots are the ones that need the most protection and nurture. This zone must not be disturbed if the tree is to remain healthy."

Two or more drip emitters at every tree within the drip line would be better than than wasting water in between trees. I use one of those Rainbird soaker-type hoses with the slits every foot in bedded plants and they deliver water inconsistently along their length. I haven't found a way to monitor the output from them very easily. I see dry patches when I use it in my strawberry bed and move the hose, but who wants to do that on a 150 foot run?.

The trees' driplines are currently, wider than their roots. This, because they were harvested with a clamshell machine that cut off everything outside about a 16" clamshell digger bit. Those need to regrow. Watering outside the 16" root circle is needed to encourage roots to grow out TO the dripline.

But the dripline will change as the above-ground part of the tree grows. They will widen, eventually touching each other. This is why water is needed between the trees and outside the current dripline.

Right now, the roots are confined to a 16" circle. Which is, basically, the reason why I need a 30" wide wet area.

These reports of uneven water distribution from the Rain Bird 1/2" drip tube....are unsettling. Baz?

Targa, I would not expect better distribution with lower pressure. I would expect the opposite. If there were 60 psi of pressure in the hose, then that same pressure would likely be found at the end of the hose. This is a question I will be asking: Can this system have full (city water supply) pressure inside the line?

BTW, it's raining today. It might rain all day. It rains here.

The rain stops around mid-July and does not return until at least late September. With a few exceptions, of course. We are not planning for March or April. We are planning for August.