More irrigation advice please

[Pete Tattam]

Firstly thanks to all for previous advice on this subject.

 

Returning to the planting programme at a local school I have been told that they are on an extremely limited budget and they are now planning to plant whips only. What are the thoughts on watering whips, how much, how often etc. They want to see if they need an irrigation system or whether it can be done by the occaisional dousing with a hose. The soil is pretty free draining chalk under thin topsoil ( we are on the edge of the South Downs). Their other option is to poke holes in an ordinary hose and bury it a couple of inches down. Is this a viable alternative to a proper irrigation system? I think it would supply very little water along the length and then dump to much water at the far end.

[easy-lift guy]

How many trees and how long or big of a planting area?, from you description is there a bit of a slope towards or away from the water source? Please advise.

easy-lift guy

[Pete Tattam]

Callum many thanks for the pm I'll discuss your suggestions with the caretaker (or whatever they're called these days) who will be responsible for the watering regime.

 

Easylift guy, first phase is only 6mx30m with a planned planting of 30 whips, to allow for some failure rate and possible thinning in later years. There is no slope to speak of, probably a fall of only a foot or so across 6m line and not much more across 30m line. Water source is about 75m away downhill by about 3 feet. Does that make sense?

[easy-lift guy]

Yes, and thanks. Might I suggest a soaker hose. This product is a type of hose that is more like a sponge that releases an even amount of water as long as the water is on. here in the states they come in 50' lengths and are available at most lawn and garden centers. I guess you could make your own as well, just have to be able to secure a cap for the end. Coat hangar wire or the like can secure the hose easily and a mulch will finish the job off. Simple and cost effective.

easy-lift guy

[Pete Tattam]

Thanks Easy-lift guy. sounds like a product over here called Leaky Pipe. I now have a good picture in my mind of the options. It's all down to the school now.

[Pedroski]

Pete, what you could do, rather than using the weepy irrigation pipe I mentioned to you before, is to use solid poly pipe with drip feeders where each whip is planted. The drips cost pennies, the poly pipe is inexpensive. When you add in more trees later then just tap in more drip feeders. About the only tools you need are a spade to make a slip for the pipe to push into, and a knife to cut the pipe at the points where you need to "T" in the drip feeders. Timer on a tap is only about £20, or they could just turn the irrigation on and off whenever they want to. I did this on a job near Billingshurst and it was a doddle and so have done it on several jobs since - it's good in that water is directed to exactly where it needs to be, where the weepy pipe is good if you want to irrigate a whole border.

 

Pete

[Pete Tattam]

Cheers Pedroski.

Excuse my ignorance but what exactly do you mean by poly pipe? Is it that flexible black stuff I keep tripping over in peoples flower beds? The schools idea was similar to your suggestion except they just wanted to poke holes in a standard garden hose at the relevant points. I don't see that as effective but money (or in this case lack of it) talks.

[Pedroski]

Cheers Pedroski.

Excuse my ignorance but what exactly do you mean by poly pipe? Is it that flexible black stuff I keep tripping over in peoples flower beds? The schools idea was similar to your suggestion except they just wanted to poke holes in a standard garden hose at the relevant points. I don't see that as effective but money (or in this case lack of it) talks.

 

Yep, it'll be the black stuff you trip over if people don't bury it. Hose pipe will work, but it's a bit random, and is likely to gradually split where the holes are poked. Also, with whichever system you use, you have to remember to block the far end of the pipe (plug it or just fold it over a couple of times and cable tie it) otherwise the water just follows the path of least resistance and gushes straight out the end. The GOOD thing about the poly pipe is that it's stronger than hose, however the BAD thing is that it's also stiffer.

 

The good thing about doing it properly though is that it's easy to rearrange things when more trees are planted. You have one main length of poly pipe feeding the system, then tee into that with very small diameter pipe to each tree, and add in more bits of small diameter pipe to other trees. It's all push fit stuff - bit like setting up a nice Hornby railway set with junctions and sidings etc. If you do it all with a normal hosepipe then you have to route that pipe in and out of everything, and dig it up and reroute if you want to change something.

 

If you want an idea of prices for all the gear, feel free to drop me a PM and I'll call our supplier to see how cheap they can do it.

 

Pedro