optional vacation watering system

[Joe Dupre']

Ok, I'm not saying anyone should do this, only that it's what I've done 3 different times and it has worked......well. 2 x4 frame screwed together on edge. My advise is to make it way over size for the amount of trees you have. I went with 5 feet x 8 feet with 3" deep water on the deep end and 1" deep on the shallow end ( carport slab has a slope). Drape 3 to 6 mil poly over the frame and fill with water. I put 30+ trees in mine and it needed filling by a friend halfway through an 8 day vacation. The trees were submerged approx. half way up the sides of the pot.

I had oaks, elms, junipers, hawthorns, mulberries, sweet gums, yaupon, serissa, J. red maple, swamp maple, silver maple, honey locust, ficus, boxwood , privet and a few more I probably missed. They all put on new growth......some actually seemed to prefer the extra water. A couple of kiddie swimming pools would probably work for smaller collections. I put them all back out on the benches and watered heavily to flush out any nasties and they all look refreshed. The only tree that maybe didn't like it was a Celeste fig, which really wasn't doing all that well before. Just to show a worse case scenario, in there was a blue rug juniper that, two weeks before had over 50% of it's foliage pruned and it's branches wired........no problem.

This is just an option for someone looking to leave their trees for a few days. I left them for 8 days, and I feel two weeks might even be possible. Just consider that big trees process an unbelievable amount of water.

 

[sixemkay]

This is very timely information for me. Thank you!

I'm curious, what was the weather like while you were away? I live in a very dry climate and I assume you live in a more humid one. Would I need to have someone add water more often? Also, do you think it matters if a tree is in a plastic or ceramic pot? Or for that matter, does it matter where its drain holes are? Thinking..... Drain holes are usually just on the bottom for ceramic..maybe that precludes them...
Any advice or insight you could provide is very much appreciated


Edit: I see in your pics that you are using all sorts of pots. I have a few pots that only have a hole on the bottom but no feet, like your front terra cotta pot. Does it need to be terra cotta to soak up moisture?

 

[sorce]

I made sure to keep my "pool" holes a little lower than pot lip, so if it downpours, high water won't wash soil out.

Cheers!

Sorce

 

[leatherback]

I would be concerned doing this for more than a few days though..

See also https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/m...tion-refined-collection-when-traveling.36158/

 

[cbroad]

@Joe Dupre'
Seems like it worked out for you pretty well, but I would be afraid of having them submerged for more than a day or two.

Too much water for too long can drown your plants. Over watering is really a lack of oxygen around the roots; the air is pushed out as the water takes it's place and fills the pore spaces of the substrate.

I was thinking about doing this a few weeks ago when I left town for the weekend, but thought 2.5 days might be too long. I didn't want to risk it, so I brought my bonsai with me

 

[Joe Dupre']

Well, let me address the "drowning the roots " thing. In south Louisiana ( and in many other areas) floods come in and water stays for days or even weeks. I've never seen or heard of mass tree and plant death for this reason. Every year, thousands of acres of land in my area floods for 2-4 months at a time as a normal part of nature. I've never seen trees or shrubs die from this. 60 years of experience.

I always submerge only the bottom half of the pot and roots. That gives plenty of room for oxygen gathering. Number, size and location of holes doesn't seem to matter. The water will find it's way in. An overflow of some sort, as Sorce says, may be beneficial.

My suggestion, if you're not quite sure, is to try it on a couple of trees when you're NOT on vacation and see how they react.

 

[GGB]

this is exactly what I do when I go away for a few days.

EXCEPT I don't have the balls to do it with my pine and juniper. Those I give to a friend or water really well and set in shade with a towel over the soil. I also don't recommend it to anyone for fear of getting chewed out (as it may not be the best option) but I have never lost a tree doing this. But I also choose species accordingly. Flood tolerant trees make up 90% of my collection

 

[Joe Dupre']

I had a parsoni juniper, blue rug juniper and eastern red cedar ( really a juniper) in there. I had the big cascade parsoni juniper in it's own mini pool, half way up the pot also. Guys, I think the damage people dread from wet roots stems mostly from mucky soil that NEVER dries out. This is just a temporary condition and plants have been adjusting to this condition for millions of years.

 

[Joe Dupre']

This is very timely information for me. Thank you!

I'm curious, what was the weather like while you were away? I live in a very dry climate and I assume you live in a more humid one. Would I need to have someone add water more often? Also, do you think it matters if a tree is in a plastic or ceramic pot? Or for that matter, does it matter where its drain holes are? Thinking..... Drain holes are usually just on the bottom for ceramic..maybe that precludes them...
Any advice or insight you could provide is very much appreciated

Very humid here in S. Louisiana. It probably rained at least once in 8 days. Next time, I'll make my pool almost twice as large. A 5" diameter hawthorn, a 3" maple, 4" yaupon and other 2" + trees processed more water than I prepared for. The pool was partly under the overhang of the carport and the trees got 4-5 hours of pretty intense evening sun. A few hours of morning sun would have been better but wasn't practical. It's definitely not an exact science. I still suggest trying a few trees in a smaller setup while you are around. I've just heard too many horror stories of equipment failure to trust timers and such.

Look at it this way. If your timer or other equipment conks out on day two of an eight day vacation, you are subject to lose ALL or MOST of your trees. With my way, you MAY have a tree or two have a negative reaction to "too" much water. I like the odds better with my way.

 

[Carol 83]

That seems safer than leaving your son the responsibility of watering when you're on vacation, like I did........ Luckily, there were no casualties.

 

[Joe Dupre']

I've talked to many people about "watering every day" and the concept doesn't actually sink in. I'll get " but if this or that....... " or "even if it rained yesterday.......". No.....every day means EVERY DAY. No if's . I really don't know anyone I could trust to even come and check on them every day. Sad but true.

 

[Palmer67]

Thanks for the tip but this isn't necessary anymore. Since getting into trees I've stopped having a life and don't go anywhere. I live from what the mailman delivers and vacations are spent on the homestead tending the precious crop. I'm starting to believe Forest Druids actually existed.

 

[Shinjuku]

Just to toss another idea out there... Here’s what I do. I bought an Orbit Programmable Faucet Timer for less than $20 on Amazon. I put it on the faucet like the picture below, attached a rotary sprinkler on the end of the hose, and put all my bonsai around the sprinkler to get watered on whatever schedule I programmed.

It worked like a champ for both a 3 week trip and a 1 week trip. It was cheap, very easy to program, and worked flawlessly.

 

[Joe Dupre']

Oh, I have a programable timer, just have heard too many bad things about them. I used mine a couple of times and it worked perfectly..................so far. I'm a manual door lock and roll up window kind of guy. I like simple and mostly foolproof.

 

[Insect]

I like the layout, often simplicity proves to work best. I wonder if a toilet float regulator set up at the proper height would be useful to automaintain the water?
Second idea,
1) Install a water timer (Shinjuku's post) set to fill it at 2:30pm using a toilet float off of the timer.
2) use a light timer to drain the water at 3:00pm (30 minute click on the timer) with an aquarium or bilge type pump. So you end up with short timeframe daily soakings.

Outdoor sprinkling sounds best for warm climate folks tho.

 

[Joe Dupre']

Insect, I thought about similar approaches but figured they were almost as mechanically dependent. Other than this last setup being a bit on the small side for the number of big, thirsty trees I have, I found it to be about as good as any other. I just finished trimming back some of the trees and was pleasantly surprised how much growth occurred in 8 days. A tiny, 5" tall serrissa ( a pretty fussy tree, FWIR ) put on over an inch of growth. An ERC put on an inch and a half of new growth. Most of the rest had obvious signs or good growth.

I look at it like a gambling proposition. The payoff is the same for the timer vs pool setup......... All of your trees survive. The timer setup has the most risk. A failure of any part of the system could cause as much as a 100% loss. The pool setup risks maybe 5-10% loss from trees sensitive to "too much" water. Now, I guess a pool could have a spontaneous failure from a leak or ??? , but I think the odds of that are pretty low.

All in all, if you have 10 or 20 trees, a couple of $10 kiddie pools could give you great peace of mind for a week away from your trees.

 

[pablo]

Insect, I thought about similar approaches but figured they were almost as mechanically dependent. Other than this last setup being a bit on the small side for the number of big, thirsty trees I have, I found it to be about as good as any other. I just finished trimming back some of the trees and was pleasantly surprised how much growth occurred in 8 days. A tiny, 5" tall serrissa ( a pretty fussy tree, FWIR ) put on over an inch of growth. An ERC put on an inch and a half of new growth. Most of the rest had obvious signs or good growth.

I look at it like a gambling proposition. The payoff is the same for the timer vs pool setup......... All of your trees survive. The timer setup has the most risk. A failure of any part of the system could cause as much as a 100% loss. The pool setup risks maybe 5-10% loss from trees sensitive to "too much" water. Now, I guess a pool could have a spontaneous failure from a leak or ??? , but I think the odds of that are pretty low.

All in all, if you have 10 or 20 trees, a couple of $10 kiddie pools could give you great peace of mind for a week away from your trees.

What are your thoughts on doing this same approach indoors? I have a spare room where I could set up 2 kiddie pools with the same approach. I'd only be gone for a weekend, leaving on a Friday and coming back on a Monday. I have like 10 trees.

 

[rockm]

What are your thoughts on doing this same approach indoors? I have a spare room where I could set up 2 kiddie pools with the same approach. I'd only be gone for a weekend, leaving on a Friday and coming back on a Monday. I have like 10 trees.

Two kiddie pools inside is asking for a disaster, IMO. The trees, if well-watered before you leave and brought inside and placed with their pots under a wet towel in a bathtub or sink or other place where the water won't damage the floor/countertops, they'd be fine.

 

[Paradox]

Agree with @rockm
Over a weekend shouldn't be too bad inside

 

[pablo]

Two kiddie pools inside is asking for a disaster, IMO. The trees, if well-watered before you leave and brought inside and placed with their pots under a wet towel in a bathtub or sink or other place where the water won't damage the floor/countertops, they'd be fine.

Yeah I thought about this too. Thinking about also the option of packaging the way they come when shipped. Water really and then wrap with plastic wrap. Ever done it this way?