Trees and drip irrigation?

Good Afternoon Permies!

I have planted two apple trees and a peach tree with hopes to add in a couple cherries or maybe look into plums. I have been lucky with water management... meaning I have not been watering enough and they somehow have stayed alive.

I plan on repurposing some 5 gallon buckets that otherwise are 'trash' by drilling in a line attached to a drip emitter. Has anyone utilized drip lines for their fruit trees and had luck? Anything that should be considered?

I plan on suspending the buckets and gravity feed to a 1/2 emitter for a slow constant drip on the edge of the canopy line. I'll put together the water requirements for each tree, consider the weather, and use the buckets as a long watering solution.

Thanks for any advice that can be provided, I will follow up on this post with my project if there is interest.

I have used 5gal buckets with a hole in them to directly water the tree. The hole is sized to take about an hour to empty. I have generally a tiny swale uphill of the tree planting berm, filled with organic matter. This diffuses the water, so no need for drip line there, which generally needs at least 12ft of head for pressure.

A lot of drip emitters only work within a specified pressure range, so make sure you're buying "low pressure" emitters for this project.  

I also know someone who made his own drip system with pvc and holes of a particular size to optimize flow rate. This could be adjusted to the pressure/head you have available. I would also look into possibly scaling this up to using 50gal food safe barrels or an IBC, which are both easily plumbed to garden hose or pvc. Brewers and wineries often have them available used for free or cheap, having contained food safe cleaning/sanitizing liquids like citric acid or its alkaline counterpart used in the 3 waters method of sanitizing. Then you could possibly fill one central tank more easily than many buckets.

Matt Todd wrote:A lot of drip emitters only work within a specified pressure range, so make sure you're buying "low pressure" emitters for this project.  

Where were you Matt when I was ordering stuff and feeling super confident?

I have appeared to have ordered the 30 psi required emitters, but I have a backup plan! I also have 1/4 soaker hose that I can use instead and see if a friend of mine with a piped irrigation system can use the emitters.

Live and learn, I'm just glad I didn't get farther in to only get disappointment!

Ben Zumeta wrote:I also know someone who made his own drip system with pvc and holes of a particular size to optimize flow rate. This could be adjusted to the pressure/head you have available. I would also look into possibly scaling this up to using 50gal food safe barrels or an IBC, which are both easily plumbed to garden hose or pvc. Brewers and wineries often have them available used for free or cheap, having contained food safe cleaning/sanitizing liquids like citric acid or its alkaline counterpart used in the 3 waters method of sanitizing. Then you could possibly fill one central tank more easily than many buckets.

This is actually my goal!

I've been diligently working on a chicken coop and now I need to learn how to put up gutters with the eventual hope to do a raised tank fed out to my garden beds.

The bucket system is a trial of products/settings with minimal cost but also for the portability for some tree planting shenanagins.

I can set up a slew of the buckets and tear them down so they organize away for the winter. I live on a .25 acre on the edge of a village so scale is important so nothing becomes too cluttered.

I just use a soaker hose that I stick under deep mulch.  Anything more complicated is beyond me.  (Wry grin.)

What about just making a raised edge of soil around the tree and filling it with a hose when the tree needs a deep watering?

I feel like drip irrigation could be like frequent shallow watering and encourage shallow roots.

Have you considered wicking water?  I just read this book by David A Bainbridge: Gardening Less Water Low Tech Techniques. $12 kindle

https://www.amazon.com/Gardening-Less-Water-Low-Tech-Techniques/dp/1612125824/

And then I found out he has been publishing these for years.

https://www.academia.edu/3810836/2012_Wick_Irrigation

https://www.academia.edu/3804322/2006_Buried_clay_pot_irrigation_booklet

I think the book is most current.   He says nylon or polypropylene rope will supply wicking water to a tree on demand.  Works like an buried clay pot (olla ).   I have tested several ropes and all the soft braided ropes tested lifted water 12+ inches.   I am going to try a 5gal bucket with the rope 1/2 way up, and a hole in the lid.  If it is over 1/2 full it should supply water faster. As the water is used out of the bucket it will slow water delivery. A hole in the lid will allow rain to refill the bucket.  Somewhere he also showed using a piece of rope as a wicking emitter for a drip system.  Heatshrink the rope to the end of a 1/4 drip line.   This would let you use 1 bucket for several plants. Tom

Ps: this old thread shows in the similar list  https://permies.com/t/22657/Wicking-Irrigation-Tree-Establishment.