Drips system--will this work?

[justBonsai]

I just set up an automatic watering system to water my trees as I will be moving soon for the start of my fall quarter. I have have a rainbird timer into 1/2 inch tubing and 1/4 inch to my trees. Some of my pots are pretty shallow or small so I was unsure of what kind of drip/spray emitter to use. I ended up using porous 1/4 inch tubing which I covered over the surface of the pot:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/DIG-1-4-in-x-50-ft-Porous-Drip-Soaker-Hose-PSH50/202614899
Do you guys have any long term experience using this porous hose? Or better commendations for thorough even watering? So far it seems to work but I only have 1 day of testing so far.

Thanks,
Julian

 

[barrosinc]

there are a bunch of threads on this topic but all conclude on the bad results of drip systems with bonsai "rocky" soil.
Yo should use misters.

 

[justBonsai]

there are a bunch of threads on this topic but all conclude on the bad results of drip systems with bonsai "rocky" soil.
Yo should use misters.

I've read a few of the threads. My biggest concern is uneven watering and dry areas in the soil. I opted to use the porous drip hose so that I could cover a greater surface area and water more evenly. Do you know what kind of mister to buy should I change the terminal end of my system?
http://www.dripworks.com/category/misters
Not sure what is most optimal.

 

[watchndsky]

tried different drips and soakers back in the day - water wound up going straight in only one or two spots. not good results.

i use and recommend these :
http://www.littlegreenhouse.com/accessory/garden.shtml
for over head sprayers

and
http://www.dripworks.com/product/3892/sprayers
for individual plants

i water the hell out of my trees - but my soil supports it. where possible i have individual sprayers in the pot and over head sprayers so i have redundancy in the system. ive had timers fail (for no real reason-reseated batteries reset time and worked fine) attachments can work loose or be dislodged by critters, and tiny 1/8 lines can easily plug etc - so consider a plan that doesnt have single points of failure if possible

 

[justBonsai]

Overhead systems isn't the most optimal for me due to lime content in water. The foliage and trunk will end up getting stained white with calcium. Hopefully my system works out.

 

[justBonsai]

I did some more reading and in the future I'll grab some mist/spray emitters to test out. To be on the safe side I put an additional drip spray with some of my soaker tubing to ensure more even watering as well as extending the coil length of the porous tubing. I'm hoping this fall will bring a lot of rain with the foretold El Nino. It seems probable that Southern California should get some decent rain which would be a big help--my city has water restrictions to only Tuesday and Saturday now.

On an unrelated note I hate damn mosquitoes. Everyday when I go outside to work on or water my bonsai I get at least 1-2 bites. Vicious insects that are unrelenting.

 

[sorce]

I'd rather have white stains then be dried out!

Sorce

 

[barrosinc]

I'd rather have white stains then be dried out!

Sorce

Awesome! Dead white trees

 

[justBonsai]

Last year I had enlisted help from my family to water my plants while I was away. But now I have at least 3x as many plants so to ask for daily or frequent watering will be leaving too much a burden. Fortunately my Mom has agreed to water the plants twice a week or so. This should hopefully should cover any potential dry spots missed by the watering system.

Here is what my set up looks like so far:

(leaves aren't yellow, just the sun)

 

[sorce]

Looks good.
If it runs well for a week or 2 I'd leave em!

Sorce

 

[Robert E Holt]

Very interesting and helpful post, thanks. A couple weeks ago I quickly set up a auto-watering system for my trees. I was headed out of two for 3 days, my wife was going with and I was tired of asking my son and daughter to stop by the house to water trees. I have an 8 zone sprinkler system set-up for my landscape areas and vegetables garden. I didn't plant the garden this year, so I broke into that line and install a Gardner hose up to my deck. I installed a basic drip system but used a combination of the ¼" drip hose and micro-spray heads to make sure I got the best coverage possible. I'm not completely happy with it, but I am building a set of benches for my trees and will re-work it once everything is set up. I will definitely be using some of the tips here such as the spot spitters

 

[justBonsai]

Very interesting and helpful post, thanks. A couple weeks ago I quickly set up a auto-watering system for my trees. I was headed out of two for 3 days, my wife was going with and I was tired of asking my son and daughter to stop by the house to water trees. I have an 8 zone sprinkler system set-up for my landscape areas and vegetables garden. I didn't plant the garden this year, so I broke into that line and install a Gardner hose up to my deck. I installed a basic drip system but used a combination of the ¼" drip hose and micro-spray heads to make sure I got the best coverage possible. I'm not completely happy with it, but I am building a set of benches for my trees and will re-work it once everything is set up. I will definitely be using some of the tips here such as the spot spitters

Yeah the drippers definitely aren't the best for these free draining mixes. How has the drip hose worked for you so far? I'm a little concerned my trees aren't receiving proper watering.

 

[Robert E Holt]

The hose I used has built in drip emitters I used a section with 4 emitters in a loop with a T-coupler around each of the trees. That way I got coverage on each side of the tree. I added a second hose with the micro sprayer fitting aimed down at the substrate. This seems to give pretty good coverage; although, one of my trees (Dawn Redwood in a 3 gal nursery container) doesn't seem to get completely wet. Since I just needed something short term, so my trees wouldn't dry out over 3 - 4 days, it seems to do OK. While I am home I re-wter everything g by hand making sure water flows out the bottom of the pot.

 

[chansen]

When I had an automatic system set up, I used micro-bubblers in each pot (4-6 depending on the size of the pot), and stand up misters with a head in between each pot, and on the ends of each bench. Here are the bubblers I used: http://www.lowes.com/pd_231778-74985-67101_1z0wg79__?productId=3425324&pl=1 I liked these because I could put them inline with the 1/4 inch line, so they were less intrusive than those that just go straight into the 1/2 distribution line.

 

[M. Frary]

I get at least 1-2 bites.

I get that on my way to the trees. You don't even want to know many bites I get in the half hour it takes to water. I live in a swamp. You can hear them when you step outside. Thousands!
Way better than forest fires.