Remote Tree Watering Options

[dbwilson]

I have recently purchase some trees to plant at a ranch but they will be planted quite a ways away from running water. It's also not a piece of property I live on so it would be difficult to water every few days. What options are there out there for slowly watering young trees? Looking for something I wouldn't have to fill up but maybe once a month or so.

[scott.str]

About only thing would be a 55 gallon system on drip or 325gallon tote. Always run risk of clog though

[Ishi&Elvis]

Buy a 330 gallon tote, buy some drip irrigation hose with emitters and see how long it takes to empty a tank. You can adjust the emitters to allow as much as you want to go through them.

[Walker]

Don't know what they are called but my neighbor uses some green bags for each tree that slow waters his small trees.

[Txhunter3000]

Will the trees be close together? If so you can put a battery water timer (Orbit 62061Z Single-Outlet Hose Watering Timer) with some 1/2" pvc with connections just pushed on dry with a cap at each tree with an 3/16" hole in it. Connect the line to a Tote and set for a few minutes every few days. I run this during the summer on a place we don't live at it and it works very well.

[tps7742]

Don't know what they are called but my neighbor uses some green bags for each tree that slow waters his small trees.

They carry tree watering bags on Amazon. If you don’t live on the property they will not be beneficial to your needs.

[hog_down]

https://www.treegator.com/index.html is the bags that Walker was thinking about.

I built a 6' wooden platform for a 275 gallon water tote, on a timer, solar charge controller, with a solar panel and battery, and with drip irrigation tubing/fittings, it worked for a while.

Now I have a 1,500 gallon water tote on a hill, and still working out the bugs of the system.

Hope this helps, and in for info, more ideas, and suggestions.

[Radar]

I will make a suggestion about your trees and watering. I planted pecan trees in a remote area, built small cages out of goat wire and t posts, then placed the cage around each tree to prevent the deer from eating them. I watered the trees once a week and kept the soil damp around the base.

The hogs discovered the damp soil, tore down the cages and made wallers. 10 pecans gone in two days. I bought cattle panels and made round cages out of them, drove in t posts to support the cages. I have not had any problems since.

[bowhntrmatt]

caged tote, battery operated faucet timer, and a coil of drip hose around each tree. Might take some testing to figure out flow rate but this is all I can come up with that is simple.

[MAP]

One thing i've learned is to only water trees at certain times of the day. I use to do it late in the day, often had standing water after dark when i left. But hogs, armadillos, mice etc move at night. So by having water it encouraged those animals to mess with the trees. Now i try to water during the day so the water and most of the mud is dried before dark

[Sackett]

How large are the trees (container size or trunk diameter) and what type of soil are you planting in? Sandy soil will need much more frequent water. If going the timer method as suggested above, set to water an hour before sunrise. Morning sun is best for plants as it begins the process of evaporating moisture from the leaf, pulling water up from the roots….(transporation). Mulch the root ball well, but not too high on the trunk.

[dbwilson]

Thanks for all the replies guys lots of great ideas I will check out. These trees will be relatively small 2-3" diameter and I will be putting t post and wire around each tree to keep animals out. The caged tote with a timer and drip hose may be the best option for this.

[Bruiser]

gator bags fill em one every few weeks

[Sackett]

Go to Sams or Costco and buy the cheapest bulk box/s of diapers you can find. When planting the trees, cut open about 10 diapers per tree and put the absorbent material within the diaper mixed in with the soil around the root ball. This will aid in retaining some moisture for the soil to pull when it gets dry. DO NOT fertilize the trees until they’ve been in the ground 1 growing season.

[Huntindad]

Similer to above post, I use a 330 gallon tote with a landscape timer hooked up to a 12v pump and battery(with solar charger).

I have 10 Arizona Cypress I am watering remotely. Have 1/2" PVC going to all trees with about 1/8" opening for each. I have it go off every other day around 7 AM.