Automatic Watering System

[Superman]

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.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by Superman

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.

[Superman]

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

[wdfifteen]

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.

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by Superman

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

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 .

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by Superman

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

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&hvtargid=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.

[stevej37]

[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?

[Superman]

Originally Posted by KC911

Pics please, and what type, sources, etc.

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

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.

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

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&hvtargid=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.

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.

[Superman]

[QUOTE=stevej37;11950385]

Originally Posted by Superman

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?

5' to 7'. They will get 10-15 feet tall. These ones will be well cared-for. So.....15'.

[stevej37]

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

[Crowbob]

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

Which way is north in the pics?

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by Superman

Any further descriptions would be helpful, as I do not fully understand. You and wdfifteen seem to be pointing to the same system...

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.

[Brown747]

I hope that your front yard is fenced or the deer will have them looking like this.😩
Good luck.

[stomachmonkey]

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.

[Superman]

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.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by Superman

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.

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.

[Crowbob]

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.

[Superman]

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.

[Superman]

Here is another strategy we are considering:

[greglepore]

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.