Question about watering systems.

[edprocoat]

I have been thinking about this for some time and was wondering if anyone has put anything together about the timing of either drip or mist watering systems? I woudl assume this would be crucial to the trees health and probably dependant on the species as well.

I would assume that tropicals would benefit more from the mist systems, aerial roots and such, and that deciduos and evergreen varieties would probably benefit more from the drip method systems. The timing would seem to be key, too much water and the plant suffers at the roots and too little and it dries up.

On a non organic medium would or could one use a steady diet of fertilized water as it is just washing through the medium, and in that case could the water be collected and re-used? I wonder what the viable life span of fertlizer would be in water? I guess you could use it for a week and then change it out, it would seem that the fertlizer would not break down in that time frame.

Any thoughts or actual data?

ed

ed

 

[rock]

Any thoughts or actual data?

ed

ed

Ed Ed,
I don't mist or drip or have actual data, but have been using continuous fertilizer (super weak) with every watering for over a decade. I use the siphonex by hyponex. I really don't like the look of fertilizer cakes on my finished trees. So this way I can use organics but not have the ugly of the stinky puffs.

 

[edprocoat]

I constantly fertilize too. What I was mostly asking about was the use of a watering system. I know they have drip types and fine mist types. I know you can overwater as easily as underwater a tree too. I was wondering about the timing of the waterings, I would think for hot weather it would be nice to have a timer system that would water in the morning then each hour from 12:00-3:00 for 10 minutes during the heat of the day. I would think you would need at least that with non organic medium as it would dry out quickly.

Rock, your diagram looks liek a simple Venturi injector similiar to how a pump up sprayer works, along the lines of a chemical injector used on pressure washer machines. The force of the flow picks up the material from the siphon tube, the size of the tube regulates the flow.


ed

 

[rock]

Rock, your diagram looks liek a simple Venturi injector

ed

uh huh, its a siphonex by hyponex (aka) hozon)

Second question is unanswerable , too many variables...wind temp soil mix type of trees

Personally I would use drip/mist as a total last resort, hand watering is better in my opinion. Done both ...so why right
Again variables... soil mix, length of time since repotting, type of tree, sun exposure, all give a different need for water. Misters dont know from variables

good luck

 

[mcpesq817]

I use a mist watering system when I'm out of town. I usually cycle it on for first thing in the morning, but if I'm out of town during the heat of the summer, I'll put it on in the morning and again in late afternoon.

I bought the components from www.dripworks.com for relatively low cost. Has served me well the last few years.

 

[mat]

I use a mist watering system when I'm out of town. I usually cycle it on for first thing in the morning, but if I'm out of town during the heat of the summer, I'll put it on in the morning and again in late afternoon.

I bought the components from www.dripworks.com for relatively low cost. Has served me well the last few years.

This is basically my approach too. During the summer, I'll have the system timed to go on at 6:00 am, then I'll go through and hand water anything that needs another shot after work. It's absolutely essential if I'm going to leave town even for a couple of days.

This Spring I've been switching from drippers to sprayers. I find that the drippers tend to only water a small section of the pot if you have soil that drains quickly. I even had 3 or 4 drippers on some big trees, and there would be 3 or 4 wet circles in the pot rather than the whole thing being soaked. I'm moving towards sprayers which distribute the water over the whole surface, and also kick up the humidity that the tropical species like. You can get adjustable sprayers, which give you some (limited) control.

 

[edprocoat]

I have always hand watered too. Lately I have been thinking about a watering system though. I think it would be nice to have an automatic system, but I can not think how to work it out, as I said during hot weather it would have to be more often and wet weather, less... etc. Which seems problematic. I have seen the timers with the digital pad that work for lawns, set the times and forget it. I do not know if there are multiple time settings, or just once or maybe twice a day, guess I will have to look into it. I had some little plastic tube sprayers that emitted a fine mist that I would leave on my tropicals, the Scheffelera was all aerial roots, but it would have been too much water for my other trees to be wet all day.

ed

 

[edprocoat]

Mat, have you seen the drippers that circle a tree trunk at the base and drip water around the circumference? I have seen them in nurseries and in use on Florida orange trees, they would have some potential on a timed system for what you need. They look basically like 1/8 inch black plastic tube reduced from a water pipe source and freeflowing.

ed

 

[mat]

I have a pretty basic timer, and with it I can set the time the system comes on, the interval between waterings, and the duration of watering. Probably some other features too that I never use. So, I have it set to turn on at 6:00am, once a day for 20 minutes. I think the interval goes down to 2 hours and up to 2 days.

I have seen those circular drippers for real trees. There are so many different parts and pieces these days. I think I'm sold on sprayers. I was testing a few out anyway, then we went to Heathcote Gardens and saw that those trees are all on timed misters. Seeing that system in action convinced me it was the way to go.

 

[gergwebber]

automatic water is an essential in my area. we have very hot/dry summer months and I find that drip plus mist from may to september make bonsai gardening much easier. the misters help keep the surface of the soil moist allowing for a shallow root zone and the drip will keep all consistent. when you are not able to spend a hour a day, everyday, at the right time of day, all summer, use a timer!
personally for feeding I prefer to mix up some earthsea or kelpmeal or fish or compost tea at intervals during the spring... in the heat of the summer I rely on time release fertilizer. I also like to ammend with worms.Most of you probably dont have enough OM in the mix to do this, but I find in my climate, organic rich soil allow for better summer survival and give the worms a bit to eat which gives the plants a bit to eat!

 

[mcpesq817]

This is basically my approach too. During the summer, I'll have the system timed to go on at 6:00 am, then I'll go through and hand water anything that needs another shot after work. It's absolutely essential if I'm going to leave town even for a couple of days.

This Spring I've been switching from drippers to sprayers. I find that the drippers tend to only water a small section of the pot if you have soil that drains quickly. I even had 3 or 4 drippers on some big trees, and there would be 3 or 4 wet circles in the pot rather than the whole thing being soaked. I'm moving towards sprayers which distribute the water over the whole surface, and also kick up the humidity that the tropical species like. You can get adjustable sprayers, which give you some (limited) control.

I should have been more clear that I use the sprayers too. They put out a ton of water for such small emitters, even though the spray is very fine.

What I do is run the line up and over my benches supported by garden shepherd hooks like these. It's not the prettiest thing, but it works well and is easy to put up and take down.

http://lawn-and-garden.hardwarestore.com/80-517-garden-shepherd-hooks.aspx

 

[tomhamold]

I could not do without my watering system. I have a Hunter model that is typically used for lawns, etc. It has a feature you can add on that measures evapo-transpiration factors (temp, humidity, rain, etc.) and will adjust the watering time accordingly. I didn't buy this add on as I will be OK if it waters on days we get rain (like maybe 1 day a month- maybe) I use 180 degree jet misters on rigid risers on all my tables, the individual mister heads for any plants that need more water or dry spots, and yellow stake sprayers for trees growing out in nursery containers. I use different soil mixes (% organic matter) to compensate for plants that want to remain wetter or those that like it drier and different % shade cloth. In my area trees can go from wet to bone dry in no time at all. Around here people that hand water or rely on neighbors/ kids have a lot of losses or weak trees from one forget, mistake, stuck in traffic, etc. less those that are retired and home a lot.

 

[daygan]

This is all great information. Thanks, Ed, for posting this question!

 

[HotAction]

I too, ordered my system from dripworks.com. I couldn't live without it, and for around $100 no one else should either. I have drip line and misters, although, I plan on adding more misters to the setup soon. I have a timer I can set to come on up to 4 times a day for as long a duration as wanted for each cycle. During the hot summer months, I have it come on around 6:00am for about 8 minutes, and again in the afternoon and early evening for about three minutes a piece. The emitters come rated with a Gallon/hour so it is rather easy to figure out how much water you are dumping on the trees.

I don't worry about overwatering with modern substrate at all. Untill I run into an issue, I will probably continue to not worry about it. Underwatering on the otherhand....

Keep in mind, the auto system is a preventitive measure, I still go out with the hose and make sure everything is soaked pretty thouroughly when I get out of bed. (not an early riser)