Temporary Watering System

Yesterday afternoon, the temperatures here on the north end of town (Southern Nevada), reached a high of 110° F. By 9:30 PM it had cooled to 102° F.  I definitely checked in on my fruit trees yesterday to see if they needed a sip of water.  After checking the soil with my handy-dandy soil moisture meter, I confirmed the trees in the front yard orchard needed water.  The back yard orchard will get their drink today.  It’s supposed to be 110° F again today.

With a budget of about $0 right now for our permanent watering system, hubby and I had to improvise by setting up a “temporary” watering system to help the watering process go a little quicker for me. Yup, I’m the keeper of the fruit trees and darned proud of it!  I love caring for my trees, but I do have to say though, moving the hose from tree to tree in the front and back gets to be a little much, especially when you have 16 trees to care for (not that I’m complaining or anything).

With this heat, the “temporary” watering system is a huge help! We’re hopeful that we’ll be able to install our permanent watering system sometime next spring.

My husband is very talented in figuring out and implementing solutions for “mechanical type things”.   He’s a “take it apart, analyze it and put it back together better than before” kinda guy.  I love that about him.  Give him a problem like coming up with a temporary solution for watering our trees and he’s all over it. We’re both perfectionists, but he definitely takes it to a whole other level. 

I’m going to attempt to relay his genius right here in my blog, though it’s not my area of specialty, so I apologize up front if I’m not 100% accurate in my description of the temporary watering system (sweetie, you know I try my best 🙂 ).

At the beginning of the system, hubby installed an in-line 25 psi pressure-reducing valve to help regulate water flow to all the trees.  Initially, he tested it without the pressure-reducing valve, but the water pressure was too high and water only went to the first two trees.

He also installed a quick disconnect where the system ties into the hose.

The temporary system comprises of a series of pvc pipes (¾” for the main line going down between the trees and ¾” pvc pipe that T’s off to each tree).

From there the ¾” pvc pipe connects ¾” funny pipe to form a circle within each tree’s water basin.

 

Each loop of funny pipe has a series of 5 gph non-adjustable emitters (the green item) with diffuser cap (the black item) on the end of each emitter to prevent the emitters from spraying the trees and leaves with water (not a good thing here in the desert). 

After installation, hubby and I tested the system by doing a quick water flow test and determined that the trees at the beginning of the line and at the end of the line received the same amount of water at the same flow rate.

With a few quick “technical” adjustments to the system (i.e., put a small flat rock under each emitter to prevent the dripping water from “drilling a hole to china” directly underneath each emitter). The system was in place. Hubby also installed a shut-off valve on the first tree in the line (our All-in-One Almond).  The reason: to prevent water overflowing the water basin – the Almond’s water basin is smaller than the other tree basins.

Our last step in the process is to cover the exposed pvc pipe and funny pipe with mulch.  Up until a couple of weeks ago, the weather has been cooler, rainy, overcast, etc. so we’ve been able to put off the task of covering the pipes.  That’s not the case anymore.  The sun is brutal and can make the pvc pipe  brittle and crack very quickly here in the low desert.  We never intended for this setup to last more than one season, but I need it to last until at least the spring.

We started using the system on July 9^th and it’s been working like a charm.  Now I just go out, turn on the hose, take a look at the trees to make sure they’re doing okay and to check that the emitters are flowing properly. I let the water run for a little over an hour (equates to approximately 20 gallons per tree).  After the water is shut-off, the water continues to seep deep down into the soil (I know this because I’ve checked it with my soil moisture meter) and my trees are happy.

We may be giving our trees a tad too much water at each watering , but I’m not too concerned at this point.  We have not been able to put mulch down for our trees yet (this should be happening in the next couple of weeks) so I feel the little extra is helpful for a deep cool soak.  Now mind you, I am very careful to not over water.  I’m no expert when it comes to watering fruit trees, but I do give it my best to get it close to right.  I believe I mentioned this before, but it’s worth mentioning again…

Overwatering…

You cannot over water your trees by watering too much at one time

You can over water your trees by watering too often

I try to test my soil with my soil moisture meter on my scheduled watering days (before I water) to confirm the need to water that day.  Currently I am watering approximately 3x a week.

If the soil is still moist, I hold off on watering until the next day or so. Testing the moisture level in the soil is especially important if there are any temperature changes (hot or cold) and if there has been rain or wind. If the weather and temperatures have been consistent with no extreme changes, I’ll just go ahead and keep to my schedule without testing. I also keep a close eye on the trees themselves to make sure there are no signs of yellowing, dry or burnt looking leaves, etc.

Also, if it’s really windy, whether or not it’s my scheduled watering day or not, I’ll test the soil with my meter the very next day to see how the winds impacted my soil’s moisture levels.

This may sound like a lot of work, but it’s not. It’s VERY easy to take a couple of seconds to slip the meter into the soil and view the instant moisture level reading. I also only check a couple of trees each time in both the front and the back orchard. This gives me a good idea if I need to water or not. I also re-calibrate my moisture meter every couple of months to ensure accuracy of the reading. For my soil moisture meter, this involves a quick slip of the meter into a cup of water and a simple turn of the dial to make any adjustments.

For the back yard orchard, I’m still using the “flood” method.  The process: turn on the hose to a slow gentle flow, place the hose in the water basin and let it run for about 15 minutes per tree.  I tested the water flow before and it came out to be approximately 1 gallon per minute.

 

Before and After Photos

For fun, I’ve included a couple of before and after photos of my Black Mission Fig and Wonderful Pomegranate.  When they were delivered, both were only about 12” or so high.  I tried to find a better before shot of the Fig (alone) when we first got it (it was just a stick then), but I had no success.  But you can see from the photos how much it has grown in just over a month.

Remember to make time to do something you love today and stay cool.

Many blessings,

The Artistic Desert Gardener

August – Watering Fruit Trees

After a brief hiatus, I’m back and ready to go.  Hubby and I have been up to our ears and eyeballs in busy work around the house and I’ve been, well, a tad pooped!  I was a bit delirious on Monday from lack of sleep and made every effort to post something on my blog.  I began to write something, but it seemed like I was reading/writing the same line of text for an hour (ever have that happen?).  I was going in slow motion and my vision was blurry.  While I was playing around with some videos on my post, I inadvertently clicked the “publish” button.  My adrenaline kicked into gear as I quickly deleted the pre-mature post, but it was too late, an e-mail went out to subscribers (sorry subscribers). 

For future reference, with the amount of work we need to do around here, it’s  safe to say you should expect a few more “breaks”, but I promise those gaps in time will be brief 🙂

After some odd weather lately here in Southern Nevada, the temps have decided to heat up over the past couple of weeks. It’s been clear and sunny with warmer temps ranging from 103°F to 106°F.  Looks like we’ll be cooling off a bit this weekend with a slight chance of thunderstorms and rain.  My heart goes out to the folks in Texas who are experiencing a record-breaking and devastating drought.  Some are predicting beef and vegetable prices will be going up in price later this year as a result.  If you’re on a tight budget, like we are, it’s time to get out and get your veggie garden started to offset the costs.

With consistently warmer temperatures, I finally had to start watering my fruit trees 3x a week (I started on Monday).  Some gardening folks I know started watering their fruit trees 3x a week some time ago, but with the erratic weather (hot, cold, rainy, etc.) and lower temps, I was reluctant to change my watering schedule. My decision to hold off was partly based on the UNCE Orchard Horticulturalist’s recommendation to go from watering 2x a week to 3x a week when the temperatures reach 105°F.

My main reason for waiting was based on the fact that I regularly check my soil with a soil moisture meter (I use a REOTEMP meter) and the soil’s moisture content was very consistent up until this past weekend when I noticed the soil was drying out quicker between watering.  I manually “flood” my fruit tree water basins with a hose giving them a nice deep drink (versus using a drip or bubblers) and by doing so, it forces me to be outside regularly so I can keep an eye on my fruit trees.  I’m hoping next year we’ll have our irrigation system in place, but for now, with a little extra care and attention on my part, my fruit trees are happy (what’s a gal to do on a budget besides make it work).   My hubby put in a temporary solution in the front yard orchard that I’ll have to share with you in a future post.

Front yard orchard just after "flooding" the water basins

I also want to note that I water for approximately 15 minutes each tree each watering (approximately 15 gallons each tree).  Note: I tested the water flow from the hose with a quick bucket test.  The flow I typically have running through my hose is approximately 1 gallon per minute, so basically, I’m watering my fruit trees with about 15 or so gallons each watering.  I know, it’s a rough estimate, but it works.

Over watering…

You cannot over water your trees by watering too much at one time

You can over water your trees by watering too often

 

Now that I’ve passed along some important information about watering, we’ll get back to Step 2: Designing the Orchard Layout tomorrow.

God Bless,

The Artistic Desert Gardener