When you go on vacation, if you have plants, it is very normal to worry about how they are going to take care of themselves. If you have friends you know that you can pull them to go to your house and water, but you can’t abuse either. So, you dare to think about several automatic irrigation systems, such as drip irrigation. But do you know how to install drip irrigation on trees?
If you want your trees to be watered and you don’t have to worry that when you come back you will have to remove those that have died, drip irrigation can be the solution. And it is not as difficult to install as you may think at first. We show it to you.
What is drip irrigation
Drip irrigation has become one of the most efficient forms of irrigation and is used not only for trees, but in general for the entire garden, plants, etc.
It consists of placing tubes or hoses with small holes in a parallel or even circular way in the trees that you want to water. In this way, when the water faucet is opened, it passes through the tube and through the holes it releases small droplets that are used for watering.
It is said that they can spend about 4 liters per hour, which helps to customize the irrigation for each tree (as long as there are different divisions in the tubes and the water faucet).
For example, imagine you have two trees, one that only needs to be watered once a week; and another that needs two irrigations. If we put a system of two nozzles and two drip irrigation tubes on the water faucet, we can activate one or the other as we please, in such a way that if both are opened, both trees will be watered, and if one is closed, the water flow would only focus on one of them.
How to install drip irrigation on trees quickly and easily
There are many methods for installing drip irrigation on trees. Us We have chosen one of the simplest and it will not be much of a problem for you. although, if you want to do it right, you would have to dig up the pipe to hook up a more professional irrigation system.
However, if what you want is to use it for your garden, with this other system it will be easier.
What do you need?
In general, in the market you will be able to find special drip irrigation kits. These are very good although they come somewhat limited. So our recommendation is that you get the following elements:
- A programmer. To be able to determine the periodicity with which you are going to water the trees, the time, etc. There are them with solar batteries, or with battery, electric, etc. The choice will depend on each case (there are those who do not have plugs nearby, those who have the irrigation in a shaded area…).
- Microperforated tube. It is the one that will carry the water and thanks to those small holes it will be able to distribute the water among the trees. This has the drawback that sometimes the water outlet does not coincide with the place where what you want to water is located, and although they can be covered, it would be more work.
- Droppers. They have the advantage that they can be placed in the right places based on your garden. In addition, you can change them in case they stop working (depending on the quality of the water and/or the limescale it may have, they can easily become clogged) and changing them is much easier.
- faucet adapter. To be able to convert the garden faucet into an automatic watering one. In this case there are several options, the simple one, in which the irrigation tube (or hose) is inserted and distributed through the trees; or a double adapter, which allows you to install two irrigation systems in the same water intake. The advantage is that you could customize the irrigation since both pipes can be opened or only one of them.
How to install it
Source: metzer-group
Installation is very, very simple. You just have to have all the above items at hand and follow a few steps.
- First is place both the programmer and the tap adapter in the water outlet you have. It is usual that in the garden there is a tap to be able to water.
- Once you have them on, there are two options. If your trees are far away, you could use a hose to bring the watering closer. That is, put the hose and take it to the area of the trees. To the other end of the hose you will put the automatic irrigation tube or hose. This should be placed around the tree but without being attached to the trunk. It is better to separate it a little to prevent the water from rotting the roots.
- The last step consists of place the droppers. Depending on how big the tree is you may need more or less. You may even have to give it a turn or two with the irrigation hose. What does it depend on? The type of tree and its age. The youngest require a little more water while the oldest do not require as much.
For it to work, you must make sure the faucet is open since it will be the system that you have installed that is in charge of letting the water pass or cutting it based on the programming that you have made.
Maintenance
Once you have it installed, it does not mean that everything is already there and you can stop worrying. Every so often you’ll have to check, among other things:
- Let the water come out of the drippers and change them if not.
- That the programming jump on time and last as long as it should.
- There are no problems with water leaks, for example because the hose is worn.
- Avoid problems with lime. If the water you use has a lot of it, you may need some treatment to prevent the trees from getting sick.
Of course, there are more “professional” ways to install a drip irrigation system, but if you don’t want to do too much work in your garden, this can be a good solution. Do you have doubts about how to install drip irrigation on trees?
