Irrigating/feeding trees with pipe in the ground

[justoneguy]

Has anyone here tried Irrigating /feeding trees with pipes in the ground?
this article suggests not going very deep - 12 inches? and using 6 or more around a tree.
If I did go deeper, wouldn't the roots follw the pipe down?
what about turning a pipe on it's side and a foot deep and 4-6 foot long?
would I need a permeable mesh?
Or is drilling holes good enough?

Treetop ????

http://aces.nmsu.edu/ces/yard/2001/061601.html
http://www.rootwell.com/
http://puyallup.wsu.edu/~linda%20chalke ... orkels.pdf

[johnbrickner]

The only irrigation I can think of that is good is drip irrigation, and then with a lot of mulch over it.

[Treetop]

not sure how I missed this...

whoever is answering the question isnt terribly bright, or they are talking about a specific species and I missed that somehow.

He claims that many of the trees roots soaking up water will be well past the dripline. I noticed this gentlemen is in new mexico and that sure is true of many of our wilder types of trees. Roots can go very far. But if you are talking about a grafted fruit tree, or most of them grown from seed as well, you wont have that happening with most rootstocks. Wouldnt be ideal for a orchard situation at all. So that is totally dependent on the species.

also while this guy is correct many of the feeder roots are on the surface, you want that water as deep as possible anyway. No the feeder roots wont chase it deeper, which I assume is why he said that, but maybe this dude is the reason so many around here have such crappy fruit trees. They forget to water a week, they are half dead. which from what I can tell of how they manage their trees seems to be from so much surface watering. I make sure to water DEEP. and rarely. I also do other things to maximize the water going deeper into the soil and staying there with various means, such as stones across the surface... He talks of having multiple sources of water past the dripline, I dont see the point, I want my trees roots to go DEEPER so they dont NEED irrigation at all. Ive got a few trees on my remote 5 acres, we just visitied a few days back. Only watered it well its first year, and once its second. Im in a pretty dry place... they are thriving. After about 5 DEEP waterings their first year, and other means to hold the water there.

He claims once the water goes past three feet, it is "wasted". Again this mindset I can only imagine is why everyone elses fruit trees I find around here NEED water all the time, whereas mine are fine many many years sooner. I know one guy with 20 year old trees that instantly show stress if not constantly irrigated.

as far as fertilizer.. I never personally bothered for a tree. I DO howerever add lots of organic matter before I put a layer of stones over it. From a technical standpoint this wouldnt be doing to much for fertilizing, but it does get the biological life going, something I find amazingly useful. In fasct at this point I do this months or a year ahead when I know a tree will go in a specific spot. they really perform alot better in such spots....

As far as multiple pipes, sure it would help spread out the water, and the roots will concentrate around pipes in obvious fashion if its not terribly spread out. I know several who have used grey water systems though and took just ONE line of pipe down a row of trees, and they still got the desired boost. So Im not sure thats really as big of a deal as this articles author believes.

Me personally I just flood my trees, rarely. I will water next based on how the soil under my mulches and stones is doing in regards to moisture. hmmm not exactly something I could describe, beyond I wait until about the top three inches or has the faintest amount of moisture. This is after the initial period I water much less but more often the first month or so just until I know the tree is sending out roots. Not sure if this helps, Im sure you did whatever you did long ago... but I certainly do not agree with the linked article at all.

I dont do it anything like that, and my trees perform better then anyone Ive personally met here yet. Actually one group of growers wont even talk to me now. They decided Im a liar, after we had this exact talk, and I told them about my trees out at my land, which is pretty close to their half dead attempt at a commercial orcheard where they had HEAVY irrigation the same years my trees thrived on their own, while being younger not older. They even brought in "experts" who told them to water more and more... the trees showed water stress each year as they aged. which to me doesnt imply it needs more water, it implies it needs a deep enough root system to support itself... apparently Im wrong according to their experts as well as your article, but my trees continue to thrive...

[Treetop]

those same experts have now told them they will NEVER have a commercial orchard on that land. To much irrigation, with to expensive of a well to run constantly. In reality Im going to be buying up lands in the same area within the next few years literally to make commercial orchards on. Im perfecting the methods now, with obvious and undeniable results. I will NOT need irrigation beyond getting them going... I wont even need a well for that, trucking in the water is serviceable when I only need to do it a short duration of the trees life.

water isnt the issue at all. The potential for a warm period followed by additional hard freezes is the real issue at this elevation. Im still collecting varieties and trialing thm for that, I should be fine all but the most extreme years.

Im told from a mutual friend, their experts also laughed at me, for thinking I am doing what Im doing. They dont know me so its easy to dismiss something they dont understand I guess, but I still find it odd that they never heard this stance. Its in several old orchard books I have. It isnt like I made up that understanding of establishing a tree, it was around atleast a hundred years before I was born.