A Self-Contained Root Feeder

A Common Problem with Tree Watering Systems

There are lots of different products and methods for watering new trees. Most of them work, but they all require one one important thing... You! Will you be able to stick with the program? Will you get out there and use them once a week? You don't lose weight because you bought a treadmill, and your trees don't thrive just because you bought a watering system.

 

Here are the main things that challenge your commitment:

I have found the following solutions that help homeowners get the results they want:

 

How much? Use a method with a fillable container sized for your trees. Most new trees have a root well of about 5 cubic feet, which can be entirely soaked with about 5 gallons of water. Larger trees should get 10 or 15 gallons around the drip line to promote outward growth. Large quantities of water around the base of larger trees do not promote outward growth.

Run-off cannot happen if the water never touches the surface. Use a method with a short root feeder tube to "inject" water into the root well. Depth of injection is not important, as water will wick downward and sideways. The purpose of the injector is to stop surface run-off. If you apply the correct amount in a central location, proper depth and width should be attained.

Time consumption can be less than 1 minute per tree. Use a method that will fill fast so you can walk away and let it work. Putting this kind of system on each tree means you can be done in the time it takes to fill all the containers. One-at-a-time methods can take up to 15 minutes per tree. That's over 2 hours for 10 trees! I think 10 minutes makes more sense.

 

If you find a tree watering system with these features, it will be much easier to stick with a weekly watering program and get maximum tree growth, health, and beauty. The best solution I have found is a Self-Contained Root Feeder with a simple 5-gallon container. This type of system gives you the best of all methods, letting you efficiently water dozens of trees in only minutes. Additionally, a 5-gallon bucket can be Plugged, Filled, and Hauled to remotely located trees, then attached for instant watering. No other method can do this. If you are handy, you can even Build Your Own for an extremely cost-effective system. Hope this helps!

 

General Guidelines for Watering New Trees

 

Tree Watering Frequency

Daily temperatures, rainfall, time of year, and soil type all have an effect on watering frequency. But the best approach is to periodically check the soil and gain a feel for when to water. Once per week is usually adequate, but if the soil ever becomes drier than a damp sponge, increase the frequency. Never water if the soil is already wet.

 

Establishment Time

It will take some judgment on your part, but tree growth is a good indicator. Once your new tree has doubled in size, you can be sure that the root system has taken a good foothold. This may take 3 to 5 years.

 

Quantity per Application

Newly planted trees with less than a 2” trunk diameter will have a root well of about 5 cubic ft (24" dia. x 20” deep). Since typical topsoil will saturate at about one gallon of water per cubic foot, it should only take 5 or 6 gallons to soak the root well. It could be wasteful to exceed 10 gallons on trees of this size, but be sure that you are efficiently applying at least 5 gallons.

 

Problems to Watch For

 

Inadequate Watering

Roots develop where moisture is available. This is why light surface watering can be harmful, promoting shallow root systems while starving the deeper roots. This type of development leaves the tree at risk of winter injury, summer heat stress, and wind damage.

 

Over-Watering

Too much water can be just as bad as too little water. It may not seem intuitive, but tree roots actually need to breathe. Excess moisture pushes oxygen from the soil, and without a drying period, roots will slowly begin to die.  One symptom of too much water is the unexpected lightening or yellowing of leaves starting on the lower part of the tree and slowly move outward.  Other symptoms may include wilting of young shoots or brittle green leaves.  Watering once per week is usually adequate, but never water if the ground is already wet.

 

Excess Mulch

Most experts agree that proper mulch depth is 3-4 inches, enough to shield the soil from sunlight and control competing grasses. Deeply piled mulch is commonly used to hold water to speed up the process, but there are three flaws with this technique. 1) Mulch does not stop water-runoff, 2) roots will develop above the soil, and 3) mulch around the trunk flare can cause trunk rot and eventual death.

 

Tree Watering Methods Compared

 

Watering methods include open hose, soaker hoses, drip-irrigation rings and bags, hose-fed root feeders, and self-contained root feeders. You should become familiar with each of these methods. Choose one that does the job using minimal time so you can stick to a weekly watering program. WARNING: If it takes too long you won't do it and your trees will suffer!

 

Traditional "Open Hose" Methods

This is the default method of watering trees. Unless you construct a sizable soil dam around each tree, it will require a minimum of 10 minutes per tree. Soil dams require periodic maintenance due to erosion and mower damage. Automatic shut-off timers are also available for hose-watering, but is still long-term babysitting job for multiple trees. Disadvantage: Time and water waste.

 

Soaker Hose Methods

Soaker hoses come in a variety of configurations, including "tree specific" designs. Given the right amount of time, they can be an effective way to surface water a tree. However, soaker hoses don’t provide any peace-of-mind for volume or depth, and they are not very practical if you have several trees that need watered at the same time.

 

Drip Irrigation Methods

Drip irrigation is a very common method of watering trees. There are several types of drip irrigation, including self-contained bags, self-contained rings, and semi-permanent emitter systems. This category has a higher cost associated with it, but the time savings over the hose methods may be worth it.

 

Bags

"Self-contained" means the method has its own reservoir. You must use a hose to fill it, but it will fill fast and then drain at a pre-determined rate. The bag unit is portable and sits on the surface around the base of the tree. They are very effective and get good reviews, but do have a few drawbacks. They are larger than necessary for new trees and need to be readjusted while filling. It's also good to remove them periodically as they cover the trunk and can promote the growth of fungus. Run-off is not a problem with bags as they use emitters to limit the drain to a drip. Unfortunately, bags cannot be moved while full, so they must be used within range of a garden hose.

 

Rings

Ring products are semi-buried and meant to be left at the tree. They are easier to fill than bags, but there is no portability. They don't need to be removed periodically like bags and are much more durable, but like bags, they must be used within range of a garden hose.

 

Buckets

Poking a few small holes in a 5-gallon bucket or pail is a very inexpensive and fast way to water many trees. You can easily set one or more at each tree, fill, and walk away. Since this is surface watering, the holes must be small so water soaks in before it runs off. These small holes easily clog with any foreign matter, and the empty buckets tend to blow around on windy days, but it's a cheap way!

 

Emitters

Emitter systems are available in kits. They include hose that must be networked to an emitter unit located at each tree. Attachment to a water supply is usually permanent and a timer can be used for automatic watering. Once the set-up is engineered and properly assembled it is the ultimate in time savings, but the installation may be more than the average homeowner is ready to take on. Water pressure and emitter orifice sizing must be taken into account if you want to estimate quantity per application. It may also be impractical to use this method for trees that are remotely located.

 

All drip irrigation techniques are surface watering. Since you are soaking the surface, including mulch, more water is required to reach the deep roots. Unlike a root feeder, you can never be certain of the depth. Drip irrigation is a better alternative than hose methods but still may not match the efficiency and time-savings of a self-contained root feeder.

 

Root Feeder Methods

This technique involves some type of injector that actually forces the water to by-pass the surface and go directly to the root well of the tree. Run-off is no longer a concern and unwanted surface root development is minimized. There are two types of root feeders, hose-fed and self-contained.

 

Hose-Fed

A hose-fed root feeder attaches to a garden hose and requires 10 to 15 minutes per tree. The device looks really cool and each tree gets a good deep soaking, but this is a one-at-a-time method. If you have more than 3 trees to water, the demand on time becomes too impractical for most people to bear. As with the other hose methods, quantity per application is also difficult to know. If you choose this method for newly planted trees note that if the water pressure is too high you can to boil air pockets around the roots of newly planted trees.

 

Self-Contained *

The self-contained root feeder combines the best features of all the other methods. Since it's self-contained, you can water dozens of trees at the same time. Like the bucket method, they are extremely easy to set up and fill. In fact, they can be plugged, filled, and transported to remote trees! It also features a deep feeding injector that insures the water goes where it's needed. They are extremely durable, do not clog, and do not blow away when empty, and don't cover the trunk and promote fungus growth. They can be used in the root-well of small trees, or near the drip line of larger trees. Drain rate is not set by hole size, but by the natural percolation rate of your soil. They can even be used on tomato plants! Tree I.V. brand is currently the only self-contained root feeder commercially available, and can be purchased online at sayegrow.com. If you already have buckets, SayeGrow even offers a "Build Your Own" kit that includes an injector and a rubber grommet for sealing.

 

Last Word 

Choose a method that is not time-consuming. No matter how expensive, cheap, colorful, or cool a method is, if it takes too much time, you won't stick with it. Without you, no method works. Good luck!