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| In a situation where one is planting several large-caliper (3"+) trees and watering very heavily for several weeks is imperative, would something like this work?
They seem to be a good concept, take 10 minutes to fill it up then let it slowly seep out, but the way they sit on the trunk, it looks like you'll get a bunch of water only in a small area, not even through the entire rootball, let alone out into the native soil outside the rootball itself...am I right about that? Has anyone used them? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| IMHO, it would take two of them strapped together on either side of a new 3" tree. The city uses them on new plantings with large numbers of trees involved in non-irrigated situations and fills them with a tanker truck. Even so, two together only gives four weep holes to spread the water. Having said that, I am old school and prefer filling up the good ol' mulched dirt saucer a couple of times per watering, at least with plantings of just a few trees. hortster |
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- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Thu, Aug 2, 12 at 19:30
| if the option is total neglect.. then why not??? i would think.. in city applications.. the odds of anyone ever coming back are low to nil.. so they serve a purpose.. but if its on your own property.. whats the point of it all.. if you cant walk out there every 3 to 5 days.. and stick your finger in the ground??? the ground should be wet at planting.. and trees usually do not need water until the soil NEARLY dries .. which could be weeks later ..... if so of whats point is a constant flow of water ... unless you simply cant be there ... it simply is NOT necessary ... in my book .. this is right up there with spending extra money on time release fertilizer [engineered for potting culture and sold to people who grow in mother earth] .. and loving your plant to death.. because you think spending more money on them.. makes the effort better ... whats next.. sending them to college ???? really.. think that one out.. waste $20 to avoid walking out there every other week and sticking your finger in the soil ... why garden.. plant plastic trees ... save the walk ... lol .. and your finger wont get dirty .... crimminey .. thanks for giving me a chance to rant.. it will make me grin all evening. . lol ... ken |
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| ken, LOL! Your chance to rant is satiated! But, as Paul McCartney said in his song, "Let It Be." It is much easier to drop the hose on a slow trickle, dirt saucer or not, per tree than use gator bags. Don't beat 'em up for asking! 'Tis why we're here to comment!!! :), friend! hortster |
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| They work almost as well as 5-gallon buckets with small drip holes, but do have a few disadvantages. Of course by spending the extra money, you are stimulating the economy, I guess. |
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- Posted by hairmetal4ever Z7 MD (My Page) on Thu, Aug 2, 12 at 21:35
| Its a time thing. If you have a dozen trees, it could.take 24 hours to water them all using the hose at a trickle. |
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| Depends on the flow. So many trees, so little time...good thing I'm retired... hortster |
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| I like them okay. Be mindful that as water soaks into the soil slowly, it should spread out. People often criticize that watering with a hose (not the drip approach) leads to a lot of run-off, without much sinking down to the root ball. Seems to me this is a good way around that. And you can soak the mulch ring around the trunk before you fill the Tree Gator. Richard. |
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- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Fri, Aug 3, 12 at 8:37
| oh come on .. hort .. you surely know.. I WAS NOT RANTING 'AT' THEM ... i was ranting at the marketing genius of selling.. a very expensive product.. that should NOT be necessary for most of us ... and agreeing it WAS necessary for a city.. wherein they cant walk out after dinner to each tree in the city.. and trickle the hose ... besides.. hair was pro-offering a debate.. and i replied with passion .. lol ... it never fails to amaze me.. how peeps.. will spend buckets of money.. to plant and care for a tree.. e.g. .. when all mother nature does.. is drop the acorn to the soil surface.. and most times.. outperforms us.. no matter what our budget ... but for decent rain.. or moisture ... so if rain fails.. crimminey.. add some water ... but surely.. most of us dont need to go spend $20 to add a little water ... then again.. if budget is of no consequence.. knock yourself out.. and of course.. the key is.. is to moisten the soil.. like a good rain does.. at depth .. not a pistol grip spray of the leaves and trunk .. but at depth ... where the roots actually are ... never forget.. a tree is not grass.. where its roots are 1 to 2 inches below the soil .. and 15 minutes with a rainbird will moisten it .. trees roots are 6 to 12 inches down ... especially at transplant .. and most lawn irrigation systems.. simply will not put water.. DOWN INTO THE ROOT ZONE of a tree .. [until the tree brings the roots back to the surface.. on my most hated trees.. lol] .... ken |
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- Posted by hairmetal4ever Z7 MD (My Page) on Fri, Aug 3, 12 at 8:45
| Actually, if you water the lawn deeply and infrequently as we're "supposed" to, but nobody does, then, yes, it can reach a tree's root zone. ken, I know that nature waters them, usually, I specifically meant newly planted trees of course! Would it be helpful or even necessary to rotate the treegator a 1/8 turn before each watering, to distribute the water more evenly? |
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| They are good because they force the waterer to fill them up giving the tree the minimum of 5-10-15 gallons (forget what they hold) each time. Observed tham pull a number of trees back from death last year during record-setting heat and drought last year at government facility. The watering contractor fills them up each week, whereas if he was spray watering would probably just wet the surface and then move to next tree. I see no advantage using them over the dedicated home-owner who justs puts hose down and lets it soak for 10-20 minutes or who uses the 5 gallon water buckets etc. |
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- Posted by hairmetal4ever Z7 MD (My Page) on Sat, Aug 4, 12 at 11:06
| So yesterday, I was at our local mall, and saw three "clump" (three in each clump, 9 trees total) white-barked River Birch (probably "Heritage" - that's what they plant ALL OVER around here) with treegators filled up against each clump. I drive by that mall every day and never saw the treegators until then, and I remember them being planted this April or so. It appears they're attempting some last-ditch lifesaving effort, since the trees are all bare save for a few very small, brown leaves. Maybe if they'd have done this, oh FOUR MONTHS AGO...and kept it up, they'd have some nice young trees slowly establishing themselves, instead of (probably) dead $700 trees they'll have to replace. |
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| Hair, I'm late to the party again (nothing new there), but I have an alternative suggestion for you. Instead of popping $30/per tree gator, how about going to get a couple of long reach hoses, a couple of splitters, and a couple of hose timers. That way you can set them on each tree at a specific rate, for a specific amount of time. Depending upon how many trees your are talking about, will determine how many and how often to place the hoses. When I water our established trees, this is the setup I use. I put a sprinkler to deep water around and on our trees, set the timer, walk away. Move sprinkler to the next location some time later. I have ZERO runoff outside of a bit that hits concrete. Arktrees |
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