Best irrigation system for a bonsai garden

[Bonsai_lex]

Hey guys,

I have about 100 bonsai within a section of my back yard. I’ll be going out of town and I want to have something cost effective in place more reliable than a family member watering my trees while I’m away. Unfortunately every time I go away I come back to some struggling trees and some dead ones cause whoever is designated to water my trees either does a half job or skips a day or two and I don’t want to do it again. Any links or brands are all helpful. Thanks in advance.

 

[jevanlewis]

Sharing my system for ideas. The main caveat is I had to hook it into an underground sprinkler system. However, being able to control over the internet through my Rachio is really convenient.

Sharing my automatic watering system

There are several good threads on this topic already, which helped inform my eventual solution. Because of a vacation this summer, I am asking a friend to water my trees. However, as a backup, I wanted to have an automatic watering system. All my trees are pre-bonsai: 4 are in Anderson Flats; 6...

www.bonsainut.com

 

[david in LA]

I use this as my timer, Raindrip R675CT Analog 3-Dial Water, Sprinkler Timer with Rain Delay for Drip Irrigation, Garden, Self-Watering https://a.co/d/70Gx4pK

To "distribute" the water, go to your local hardware store to grab some 1/2" drip irrigation tubing, 1/4" drip irrigation tubing, some couplings, and drip irrigation emitters of your choosing. I like the multi-streams as it distributes water evenly.

 

[keithl]

Sprinkler and a cheap timer work well. You can get a good enough timer for around $40-60. Put a sprinkler on the ground and circle trees around it, set sprinkler to go off once or twice a day. Its crude but effective for travel. Always helps to set it up a week or so in advance to test its reliability, then during your trip have a family member/neighbor stop by a couple times to make sure things are wet and the system didnt fail.

 

[Shibui]

Sprinkler is cheapest but does waste a lot of water. Make sure you test the spray pattern of the sprinkler to find any dry areas before leaving home.
Micro irrigation may cost a bit more and need a little skill to instal but much better water efficiency and can be tuned to specific water requirements. Some people use drippers or 'shrubblers' and others prefer overhead micro sprays. Both will work provided your set up allows for enough emitters positioned in the right places.
I have overhead micro sprays to water a large area. I have identified a couple of drier spots where the sprays do not overlap enough but it has kept my trees alive for 15 years. I just make sure low water plants are in the drier areas or move plants away from those areas to places where the sprays reach properly.

 

[Maiden69]

I think I will have to make a thread about my set up one of this days. I have tried almost everything out there, from lawn sprinklers on an isolated zone to the 4 zone sprinkler valve I have now which enables me to have up to 4 watering times daily at specific times with specific durations.

Right now I am running this 4 way valve.


From the multitude of sprinklers and drippers I have tried, I settled on the Spit Spotters from Primerus. Especially their downspray spitters.


And my newest addition (still to add though) their Pot dripper stake. With this one you can add an emitter on the 1/8" feed line and use a 1/4" soaker hose to go around the perimeter of the pot. That way you only have to push a small hole for the stake instead of adding 2-4 spitters around the pot. Or you can use the dripline as recommended by them.


I run my zones out in 1/2" poly tubing, and 90% of my emitters are run in 1/8" tubing straight to the spitters. The heart to this system is the Primerus Punch that instead of just poking a hole for you to push the barb fittings in, it cuts a clean 1/8" hole where you push the 1/8" line and it compress seals it. So no need for barb fittings to push and fight to remove.


I also use some 3 and 4 way fittings, I have used barb fittings and they do hold up fine with the poly line that is sold at the Drip Depot, but if you want to use something that will be easier to install and remove get the Permalocks. This I use the garden hose thread-to-1/2" line. I have them mounted at the end of each zone with a 90 degree Permalock with a 1/2" FPT-FPT coupler. This prevents your barb fittings on the 1/2" line from ever blowing out if you are not using zip-ties on the barbs.


And my last advise, while not needed is to use vacuum relief valves.

Protect your drip irrigation system by using DIG’s Air Vacuum Relief Valve with 1/2" MPT to prevent back suctioning of debris into the drip line. The Air Vacuum Relief Valve allows air to escape the drip line when the system starts up until the pipe or drip line is full of water. It then allows air to enter back into the drip line when the drip system shuts off. This increases the efficiency and performance of your drip system.

For junipers I do use some mini-sprinklers. I think most of them I bought at Home Depot because I didn't know about the Drip Depot website. They are 1/2 the price or less including adding any shipping, with the caveat that orders above $49 ship free to the 48 cont states. Shipping is very fast too, most orders on Monday were received by Friday by FedEx with their free shipping.

 

[bluesky]

I made a 5-minute video about my watering system.

I have improved it a bit since then, I bought another one of these timers (they're excellent):


And I also wired the water sprays onto little posts between the pots, to facilitate taking a tree out easily when I want to work on it.




Top down view

 

[Ali Bubba]

Hey Lex. Love your insta, you've got some sweet trees.
Same. This thread couldn't have come at a better time to see what everyone is using. I'm going out of town and I can't trust anyone for 1 day, much less for a week.
I found this video helpful, he's using a whole host of stuff throughout his operation... Makes it easy to see what would work best for your setup.

 

[Paradox]

I use Orbit battery operated timers, hoses and lawn sprinklers on each of my two bonsai areas.

You can probably set it up and have it running in 15 minutes

 

[Cajunrider]

I have a 4 zone Orbit Bhyve with Wifi ($150 or so at Lowes) that I really like. This allows me to check my trees conditions with my camera and adjust the watering as needed depending on weather. I just have someone on standby if there is a system issue. I use 1/2” distribution tubing and 1/4” tube to each tree. Even with my haphazard planning, things work out well for me. I am still learning to adjust drippers, sprayers, soakers at each pot.

 

[ibakey]

How do you guys deal with low water pressure from the faucet? Are there any ways to increase water pressure so it can water more than 20 plants or when the water pipes gets too long.
Understand that you should ideally split the area of watering into zones, but what if I only have one faucet?
Is the only alternative to buy one of those water timer pumps with double water outlets?

 

[Cajunrider]

How do you guys deal with low water pressure from the faucet? Are there any ways to increase water pressure so it can water more than 20 plants or when the water pipes gets too long.
Understand that you should ideally split the area of watering into zones, but what if I only have one faucet?
Is the only alternative to buy one of those water timer pumps with double water outlets?

I water out of one faucet myself. I programmed 4 zones and stagger the start times to avoid simultaneous zone operation.

Of course there is always the option for booster pump bit I have no need for that.

 

[Clicio]

How do you guys deal with low water pressure from the faucet? Are there any ways to increase water pressure so it can water more than 20 plants or when the water pipes gets too long.
Understand that you should ideally split the area of watering into zones, but what if I only have one faucet?
Is the only alternative to buy one of those water timer pumps with double water outlets?

I installed a pressure pump between the source of water and my only faucet.
It's really a boost compared to no pump, but areas 30 meters or more away from the pump get less pressure, for sure.

 

[ibakey]

I water out of one faucet myself. I programmed 4 zones and stagger the start times to avoid simultaneous zone operation.

Of course there is always the option for booster pump bit I have no need for that.

Do you use something like this? to program into 4 zones? Would that mean that you would have to get 4 seperate water timers?
If I am understanding the usage of this faucet splitter well enough.

 

[ibakey]

I installed a pressure pump between the source of water and my only faucet.
It's really a boost compared to no pump, but areas 30 meters or more away from the pump get less pressure, for sure.

Ah, I see. I can see that working. and this pump would require electricity too i assume. Thanks for the tips.

 

[Cajunrider]

View attachment 487300

Do you use something like this? to program into 4 zones? Would that mean that you would have to get 4 seperate water timers?
If I am understanding the usage of this faucet splitter well enough.

I used this one 4 outlet water timer. The timer allows me to open one at a time as I wish.

 

[jonfromchicago]

I'm currently using Rainpoint Wifi Sprinkler https://a.co/d/dJF2rVS . You're able to control and set schedules on your phone, you just need a decent wifi connection in your backyard. I use 1/2-inch tubes with 1/4 tubes connected and I use these misters facing down https://a.co/d/iY1wmeF aimed at the soil and usually have just two for each tree.

 

[Shogun610]

A hose , hose nozzle (I like fine water like Japanese bonsai watering wands) and a trusted friend to help you while you’re away

 

[Gabler]

A hose , hose nozzle (I like fine water like Japanese bonsai watering wands) and a trusted friend to help you while you’re away

I think the point was that there isn’t a trusted friend.

 

[Treehassler]

Whatever system you end up with, I recommend adding a couple of things for insurance: redundancy and a camera. (I use Rainpoint Wifi timers). I duplicate everything in the system from timers to sprinklers so I have a complete backup that I can turn on in case of a problem. I also use a wifi camera that I can use to verify my system is working -everyday.