Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
damnyankee36

Deep Watering method

damnyankee36
10 years ago

I've never seen this before, so could I have everyone's thoughts on this? Is driving water pipes vertically into the ground around a tree an acceptable practice to deep water trees?

I had a non-bearing Mulberry tree in the past and its roots tended to grow along the ground surface. Is this normal for this tree? I though it was because the only watering it got was from the lawn and also that maybe there wasn't enough water deep in the ground.

I am hoping that if I plant another one, this method of watering will keep the roots going in a downward direction.

Thanks!

Larry

Comments (9)

  • brandon7 TN_zone7
    10 years ago

    I think you're going about this the wrong way!

    The majority of tree roots are in the top foot or two of soil. They are there, as opposed to being much deeper, because they need oxygen. The oxygen is delivered to them when water drains down through the soil. This drainage pulls gases down to root level. The water also brings nutrients to the roots. So pipes driven more than about 1 foot into the ground are going to miss most of the roots.

    When water drains like normal, it wets the ground over the entire rootzone of your tree. When you drive a pipe down into the ground (depending on your soil type) you may be wetting only a small cone of soil down under the pipe. This is an inefficient use of your water.

    If you dig down into your soil, I think you'll find that it's already moist down at a deeper level. Making it wetter will only reduce oxygen levels and drive roots back up to the surface. Tree roots in moist areas frequently do grow higher in the soil and along the surface so that they can get the oxygen they need.

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    10 years ago

    a bunch of old wives .. got together on this pipe idea... and the WWW spread it everywhere..

    pablum ... IMHO ..

    put a regular sprinkler on .. under the tree.. and leave it on.. until .. after digging small holes.. with a hand trowel.. show moisture at 3 or 4 inches ... or as deep as you want ... none of thi8s 15 mins is good enough for grass...

    IF IN FACT YOUR TREE NEEDS MORE WATER ...

    finally... where a tree puts its roots is genetics ...not cultural ... you are not going ot out think a tree.. and trick it into growing roots deeper ...

    see pic of 40 year old maple .. and where it put its roots ...

    ken

    {{gwi:234645}}

    {{gwi:208954}}

  • Embothrium
    10 years ago

    The general tendency in forested regions is for all the soil activity to be near the surface. As mentioned it depends on how deeply air penetrates. If a soil is well-aerated to some depth, as happens in deserts then different story.

  • damnyankee36
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Dang, that is shallow. I just got done felling and digging up the stump of a tree that was partially uprooted from high winds. The roots were also shallow from what I thought was lack of deep watering. I thought trees, at least a typical species, the roots went deep.

    Actually, I don't believe I ever heard of my proposed watering method before. It seemed to be a good way to water a tree. I thought of all on my own!

    That's why I trust your knowledge and opinions.

    Thanks again!

    Larry

  • damnyankee36
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    bboy,

    We have clay in our area. Very little drainage and very hard when dry. Does that tend to produce roots along the surface?

  • mad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY)
    10 years ago

    It is very hard to make assumptions on the tree's behavior without any idea of what is normal rainfall for your area. If you were local to here, the question comes up of why in the world are you watering a tree in the first place?

    BTW, when Jackson & Perkins was in NY state, their normal method of irrigation for show gardens was running perforated pipes through a gravel bed 3 ft down. Those pipes were filled by a vertical standpipe. Apparently it worked extremely well. Most of my large trees have access to the water table, and no doubt know how to get water from there.

  • Embothrium
    10 years ago

    >Apparently it worked extremely wellOr had little effect and the plants grew well for other reasons. Did you actually ever see direct evidence that the plants tapped into this water source? You are talking about them growing down 3' and rooting into gravel + pipes (water does not normally travel up through a soil). Before they got down that far they would have been able to get by without the system.

  • mad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY)
    10 years ago

    Given that grafted hybrid tea roses in this area are often planted in holes that are more than 2 ft deep in order to get the graft at the proper depth (below ground) it isn't nearly the stretch you may think. They also are dug up and replaced at regular intervals, so the people responsible for digging the bed would know.

  • aquilachrysaetos
    10 years ago

    I had one of those mulberries. I removed it because of those surface roots.

    I have fast draining sand and rocks. My trees look freshest when I flood irrigate them.I let the water run for a couple hours. A sprinkler would probably work just as well except these are sycamore which get mildewy leaves if I wet them.