Wicking Beds Modification

HEY ,,,how do you guys think wicking beds can be modified to serve long term purposes for actually growing trees in dry areas...please advice on ideas around this

This article from Milkwood Permaculture explains about using wicking beds in a Forest Garden:





https://www.milkwood.net/2015/05/04/how-to-make-a-mobile-micro-forest-garden-with-wicking-bed/

This method also reminds me of the Ellen White Method of tree planting:





https://permies.com/t/160325/Ellen-White-Method-tree-planting

Are these something similar to what you had in mind?

I think it could be as simple as burying a bucket next to the tree.
An open topped bucket or other container filled with sand, biochar or any other wicking medium would be a reservoir for water that was accessible to tree roots.
Add a fill tube, and you're good to go.
Elaborate by connecting the tube to drip irrigation, or maybe surround the tree with these reservoirs.

To incorporate this with a raised bury the bucket just below grade and build the bed on top of it.

 

I guess the first idea of the wicking bed is saving water by not wetting the surface. For this, it has a filling pipe. And a filling pipe is easy to install next to a grounded tree. But you can get a similar result just by digging a small shallow hole, not thicker than your hand, and watering through it. Well, the top of the hole will be wet after watering, but nothing else in the surface. That will create a water plume under the hole, good for the trees, bad for the weeds.

The second idea is holding water in the reservoir that doesn't rot. Having a bucket could be a solution. But there's a serious issue with rotting. In the wicking bed, rotting is prevented by having a geotextile layer that prevents any organic matter going into the reservoir, and a drainage is set under the growing soil to prevent water saturation inside the actual bed. I wouldn't rely in this solution for a long term tree. We have to consider that the tree will send roots to whatever structure we have there, looking for water, and tree roots can break so many things.

So, I'd rather have a column of humus, enveloped by compacted clay (but not so compacted that it can't drain), as if it was a pot filled with potting soil. If your soil is not clayey and you need to apply it, then I suppose it needs to be wet so it sticks to the sides of the hole. The clay will hold the water next we irrigate the tree, giving it time for the humus to absorb it, but not so much that it rots. Since the clay layer is not waterproof, the water inside the column will not be saturated so long that it could cause rotting problems, but it will retain moisture for longer.

Eventually, the roots or the bugs will break the 'pot', but by then you wouldn't have to worry.

EDIT:
Here are some people trying something like this, they call it deep irrigation, and use coarse sand instead of hummus.
https://www.orchardofflavours.com/deep-irrigation-for-clay-soils

I have been playing around with wicking beds this year.  In all honesty it isn't going well. YouTubers make it look so simple, and maybe it is, but not for me.  I have 3 types. The one that is working the best is the closed system. The two that have the water exposed to the air loose an amazing amount of water each day.  It seems to be an art because to much water and the soil is to wet, and the plants are drowning.  To little water and you have to water the same as all the other plants.  My closed system is the largest pot for the plants. It also has an area to feed composting worms, with a handful of my red wigglers.  I live in N. California. I think the pots and containers on all systems get to hot.  I'm not sure how well the worms are doing.  The soil feels quite warm.  Even the closed system requires me do add water every other day.

For the tree I like the bucket I idea, but at that point I don't think it's a wicking bed, but a large play on an ollas. I wonder if you added maybe 3 buckets and made a layer of shredded cardboard, cotton, peat or coco coir. When the water is added to the bucket, there is something to wick it up and hold it until the tree/plants need the water???  It might be fun to give it a try.

I have had a hard time getting trees to survive in the past.  My fault I don't water often enough or consistently. The last few years I have found a method that is working for me.  I did a bit larger hole then I need both diameter and deep. I shape the hole in a star shape * (I have clay soil and want to encourage roots to grow out, and not get root bound) I fill the bottom of the hole with piece of fire wood.  Add soil, then wood chips, then soil.  Then I add compostable stuff, native soil, finished compost, in no particular order. I put the tree in and finish with the best soil, or compost I have. Topping off with wood chips, close but not touching the trunk.  This has worked for me when other methods didn't. I think it's mostly the wood and wood chips holding onto the water, mulch helping with evaporation, and the organic matter feeding the tree, so I don't have to worry about it.
I think adding the bucket and wicking matter might take this method even farther. Maybe from surviving to thriving.  I'm going to have to give it a try

Good luck I hope you find a system that works for you, then share with the rest of us who struggle to grow trees.

Hi Jen,
I am using this system for my seedlings and seems to be working well.
https://permies.com/t/219970/dirty-cheap-unsafe-wicking-pot
I call it wicking pots, but actually it's an immersion pot.

I take young sprouts from the seeding tray, move to the immersion pot until it develops long roots, then plant in the soil.
It's true that it may kill the plants for being too wet. However, I think I am getting the hand of it. i just need to let the soil become almost dry between fillings.
In the worst of this summer heat, the pot has maintained my seedlings alive for a couple of days before they needed irrigation again. Believe me, this is a feat.
It's true that the substrate becomes too hot, in comparison to terracotta pots, so they need to stay in the shade.

I've also use this method with a 5l bottle where I am cultivating a tomato plant. It's the biggest plant I've ever had.

One year dear hubby tried the wicking bed type with the pipe to add water.

The squash plants without the pipe did better so it is probably just too hot here.

Here's  the aboveground version of what I suggested.
It's in a raised bed, made from a plastic tote.
The tote has part the bottom cut out, so the plants can also seek water from the soil below.
I packed the fill tube with charcoal,  leaves and bits of wood, to keep small animals from getting trapped .
When I water, fertilize or fertigate, the hope is that the carbon in the fill tube will mitigate extremes of tempature, acidity and  nitrogen content.