I am going to plant about 30 5-gal trees which means their small. Maybe 5 foot tall and only about an inch in diameter. Anyway I don't want to put a well around them so would I go with a 1/2" drip line which are standards for a drip system and 1/2" soaker hose which I would cut in 6 foot sections and rap it around each tree which would give me about a 2 foot diameter. (Is that too big?) I would plant it about 2 or 3 inches under the ground or lawn and hook them together like you would a regular drip system. Am I on the right track?
Starting out, I would wrap them twice until they grow some. Build the system so that in a couple of years you can modify it to wrap the trees again with the modifications you need at that time.
When you start the system up for the first time, check the end tree after 15 min, 30 min, and so on until you determine it has received enough water. Then you will know how long to leave it run from that point on. You don't want to over water them. Find out how much water per week that kind of trees will need, and set up a watering schedule to meet those requirements.
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I'm not sure what your saying? There won't be any mulch. That's why the soakers which will be bury under the grass. I don't understand the two parallel lines but I shouldn't need the Y splitter because I'm running the drip hose into both ends of the 6 foot soaker hose which is rap around the tree then the drip hose will be running to the other tree which again will lead into another 6 foot soaker hose. I'm trying to set this up as a regular drip system, but instead of using 1 to 15 gallon drippers, I'm using a soaker hose. Could you explain better please.
You really need to consider a lot of factors you are neglecting.
First, do not skimp on mulching. Mulch will help retain moisture so the trees will not dry out so fast in hot weather. It will decay into the soil, feeding the ecosystem and reducing compaction. And it will keep weeds and grass away from the tree trunks, reducing competition and eliminating the temptation to hit the trunks with a weedeater.
Getting new trees established will require different watering parameters than the established trees will. The container soil will probably drain much better than the native soil, so the original root balls will tend to dry out before the soil that won't contain any roots (yet). At the beginning, short bursts of water once or twice a day will go a long way toward transplant success. This would begin to taper off after a week or so, while the range of the irrigation should expand. Without creating a swamp, you want to get the surrounding soil moist so it will be habitable to the new roots. You really need to get down into the soil with a finger to see how deep the water is penetrating; make sure deep soil gets moist, but don't water if soil is still wet from last time.
Eventually, after the trees are established, you will probably need to encompass a much wider range than you are considering. I can't make specific recommendations without knowing more about the site and species, but a tree's root system typically exists in a wide, flat mat spreading 2-3 times the tree's height and mostly staying in the top
12-24 inches of soil. Deeper roots will exist, but they will be mainly anchors; the feeder roots are close to the surface. For a large tree, a soaker hose around the trunk will have very little effect. You need to water the whole yard deeply and infrequently (an inch a week is commonly suggested).
you didn't ask for planting tips, but here's one anyway. Most container-grown trees are planted too deeply. The nursery tends to add soil when repotting, then the consumer plants even deeper. This causes trees to suffer and perform poorly. It is absolutely critical that the primary trunk flares are exposed to open air. When planting, make sure to locate these flares and remove any excess soil to expose them. Then plant the root ball a little higher than grade. There may be settling after transplant that would lead to an at-grade planting being too deep later on. Even if this does not happen, studies show that too high is better than too low, and at least as good (often better) than at grade. When you add the mulch, you still need to maintain that exposed crown. A thick mat of mulch should cover the area around the trunk, but no mulch should be piled against the base of the tree--one more reason to plant high.
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