Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
lou_spicewood_tx

Micro sprinkler for established trees?

lou_spicewood_tx
14 years ago

My HOA recently hired someone to install bubblers for the trees but the problem is that most are established already. It doesn't look like tree bubblers cover enough area to reach all feeder roots. HOA put in 2 30g oak trees so I can understand that they need to be watered but for established trees??? it looks like 1/2" poly pipe so what would you recommend to replace bubblers to efficiently water established trees around dripline.

Comments (5)

  • lehua49
    14 years ago

    Hi Lou,

    Here's what I think and you can take it for what is worth. It is JMHO. Check out the Tree forum and find out how much water a mature tree of the type you have need. When you have that amount and duration. Reply to this thread or start a new one if you wish with the added info and we can begin to give advice. Then again there may be tree guys out there willing to jump in here and tell you some great opinions. I hope so. Some more question that will help. What is your average rainfall? Are the trees near lawns, gardens or flower beds? What are the diameters of their canopies Aloha.

  • lou_spicewood_tx
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    I am confused. This is irrigation professional place? It seems very easy question to answer. HOA is full of idiots so treat me as if I know what I'm doing and help me figure out what to do. It looks like it's half inch thing that I can replace so what exactly???

    And I know trees. I know what they need. I know that bubblers are useless for established trees. They put bubblers right up to the trunk (one bubbler per trunk) so only part of it is watered due to gravity.

  • lehua49
    14 years ago

    Hi,

    Okay den,

    You didn't answer some of most important questions, but that's okay. I can read your frustration and rightly so. Sound like a stimulus package to me. I am not familiar with DFW, but I assume you receive 30" of rain a year or more. Correct me if I am wrong, but mature large trees do not need any additional irrigation. Newly plant ones do of course. If the trees are near lawns or planted areas they are already receiving plenty of water or sometimes too much. The mature tree roots have already traveled to where the water places are. If they are healthy looking they have enough water. Nutrients are another matter and same comments apply. JMHO, Aloha.

  • lou_spicewood_tx
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Sorry about that previous post. Just frustrated with HOA.

    On average we get mid 30s inches of rain but it greatly vary year to year. Some years, it barely rains. Sometimes we go a long stretch of periods of no rain or little followed by heavy rainfall. You just never know. Try explain to HOA. They just don't get it. We have sprinkler system at the park that would have worked just fine for established trees. All they had to do was water deeply every once in a while but instead they set it on automatic for twice a week of watering that absolutely does nothing for grass because it wasn't watered long enough. The ground is clay so it can hold moisture for a long time when properly watered. Last year, I watered very deeply once a month to get the moisture deep in the ground and it worked great. Grass gets rainfall reminder of the month although it wasn't much. It does get very hot during the summer so this way works much better.

    The trees are not that large but established. It helps to water them to improve growth. They started as 5g size and they have already grown a lot without bubblers yet HOA hired someone to install them last month anyway. HOA is watering way too much with bubblers. i think everyday to water new trees AND established trees. I'm just gonna reduce flow rate so they don't end up dead from overwatering.

    However sprinkler system is not working now and HOA isn't even doing anything about new trees. They're just waiting for someone to come and fix it. They could at least bring some water for it, just enough to keep them alive. HOA should have not been used at all because you get unqualified people on the board that don't know what they're doing.

  • lehua49
    14 years ago

    Hi lou,

    Time for you to join the board. You definitely have irrigation and planting knowledge and experience. I can feel your pain and frustration. I have my own HOA horror stories. This could be just a simple mistake by a board official or could be a surface symptom of a larger HOA problem. If your dues keep going up for no apparent or visible reason call for an audit and watch the scurrying. Have fun. It's only money. Aloha.