Inexpensive Method of Watering Trees
We mentioned in an accompanying
article about using a soaker hose to
water trees. We thought it might be
helpful to provide more details.
Soaker hoses are notorious for non-
uniform watering. In other words, you
often receive too much water from one
part of the hose and not enough from
another. On small trees,circling the tree
several time with the soaker hoses will
even out the amount of water applied
but this isn’t practical for larger trees.
Hooking both the beginning and the end of the soaker hose to a Y-adapter helps equalize the pressure and therefore provide a more uniform watering. The specific parts you need are shown in the photo above and include the soaker hose, Y-adapter and female to female connector.
It is also helpful if the Y-adapter has shut off valves so the volume of flow can be controlled. Too high a flow rate can allow water to run off rather than soak in.
On larger trees, the soaker hose can circle the trunk at a distance within the dripline of the tree but at least ½ the distance to the dripline. The dripline of the tree is outermost reach of the branches. On smaller trees, you may circle the tree several times so that only soil which has tree roots will be watered.
Soil should be wet at least 12 inches deep as 80% of a trees roots are in the top foot of soil. Use a metal rod, wooden dowel, electric fence post or something similar to check depth. Dry soil is much harder to push through than wet and your probe will stop when it hits dry soil. How long it takes water to reach a 12 inch depth varies depending on the rate of water flow and soil. Record the amount of time it takes to reach 12 inches the first time the tree is watered. After that, simply water for that same amount of time.
K-State Garden Hour Webinar Series, hosted by K-State Research and Extension horticulture staff across the state of Kansas. We hope you'll join us each week on Wednesdays at noon for some horticultural refreshment and training. Find the schedule here
Each webinar in the series has a separate registration page. You will need to click on each webinar that you would like to attend. Sessions will be recorded and posted on the HNR website after each event.
K-State Garden Hour Webinar Series