Irrigation economics and logistics

[gocards1177]

I need some opinions on the smartest way to irrigate some trees. I've searched the threads and can't find a similar solution. Here's our situation: Our acreage is on the other side of town, about a 15 minute drive. It's an old pasture. We hope to build there someday soon. Over the past 2 years, we've stratigically been planting trees for privacy. Last year, I was able to keep those trees alive through last year's drought by hauling water from our house in two plastic barrels in my truck bed, dumping them into to IBC tanks as resevoirs sitting on the ground, and then gravity fed to drip irrigation on a timer. It worked OK last year, and I'll probably do the same for those trees this year, depending on weather. However, now we're turning our focus to trees on top of the hill where the house will go, so I can't use gravity to my advantage. Due to logistics, finances, and a local policies, we are waiting to run electricity and dig a well until we start the house - which I hope will be soon, but probably not this summer. Although expensive, the well isn't as much of a problem as the electricity. The county electric co-op will subsidize installation if done at time of home construction. Fortunately, on top of the same hill, there are also two ponds.

Specifically, we planted a small orchard (16 trees) this past weekend. There's already 10 other trees nearby that we watered by hand last summer. Plenty of rain so far, but I'll need to do some watering of the new trees ASAP and it would be nice to do something for the summer that didn't require constant supervision. I'd like to build a short tower about 6 foot high and put an ICB on top of it to gravity feed water to the orchard trees that are all in one area. The problem is how get water into that tank. Here are the ideas I've had:
1. Haul water from my house and pump it from my truck bed barrels into an elevated tank
2. Pump water from one of the ponds (160 feet away) to the tank
3. Fill barrel in loader by submersion into pond, and then gravity feeing into elevated tank
4. Have well dug and power it with a generator as needed
5. Any other suggestions?

In my opinion, option 4 is the least desirable given expense. Number 3 sounds like a lot of work. I'd prefer nubmer 2 instead of number 1. I could do number 1 pretty easily with a 12v pump connected to the truck battery, it would just take a while. I like number 2 the most, and would like to do it with a solar set up that could just run all the time. I don't mind if overfill spills on the ground. If I went with number 2, how big/wattage of a solar set up/pump would be required to pump for 160 feet of run and about 20 feet of head? I would like to do at least 20 gallons per day with this type of set up. For the water tower, I'd probalby just stack some pallets or could fashion something out of piers. I have a lot of experience with drip irrigation systems.
Thanks,
Gocards

 

[gocards1177]

How much elevation change is there between the pond and where you want to put the tank on the tower?

Aaron Z

This is just a WAG, but I'd say no more than 30 feet. Probably closer to 20'.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

If it were me, I would go to Lowe's and buy 16 of those 5 gallon plastic buckets; drill a small hole in the bottom (you will probably have to experiment with the size of the hole); set one by each tree, fill it up with water and go home; come back in a day or 2 or 3 and fill them up again.

 

[charlz]

Use a gasoline water pump to fill the tank on the stand from the ponds. If feasible put all the tanks on the hill and just run a line down to the existing drip system to take advantage of more gravity. I have a 2" Honda clear water pump that is rated at 220gals minute, would fill those tanks pretty fast. Then the drip systems would slowly let that water out to the trees. Minimizes how much time you have to spend on site (just enough to fill the tanks) and maximizes keeping the water around the trees where you need/want it.

To keep costs down you could probably use a 1" pump to fill the tanks. Would take a little longer but keeps the cost of the pump and the pipe (I would use black poly) down. Have to determine the head and find a pump size that will work.

 

[gocards1177]

If it were me, I would go to Lowe's and buy 16 of those 5 gallon plastic buckets; drill a small hole in the bottom (you will probably have to experiment with the size of the hole); set one by each tree, fill it up with water and go home; come back in a day or 2 or 3 and fill them up again.

Yes I have done that in the past and still have several buckets with holes like you describe. But a drip irrigation system is MUCH preferable. You should try it sometime.

 

[gocards1177]

Use a gasoline water pump to fill the tank on the stand from the ponds. If feasible put all the tanks on the hill and just run a line down to the existing drip system to take advantage of more gravity. I have a 2" Honda clear water pump that is rated at 220gals minute, would fill those tanks pretty fast. Then the drip systems would slowly let that water out to the trees. Minimizes how much time you have to spend on site (just enough to fill the tanks) and maximizes keeping the water around the trees where you need/want it.

To keep costs down you could probably use a 1" pump to fill the tanks. Would take a little longer but keeps the cost of the pump and the pipe (I would use black poly) down. Have to determine the head and find a pump size that will work.

Would this be like a "trash pump"? I don't have a lot of experience with pumps like these. Could I connect it to water hose to pump the water on the discharge side to my resevoir?

 

[/pine]

If you are going to be building sooner rather than later...go ahead and have service power (saw pole) set up...then pump the water from the ponds...

For about $30 you can get 100' of 3/4" black plastic poly water line (Home Depot) easy to make your own drip soaker system...

I am having to treat several large hemlock trees for woolly adelgid infections...this requires a lot of water to wash the chemicals into the roots...I used the black 3/4 line to make a large hoops (with 'T's) and drilled 1/8" holes around the hoop then assemble them around the base of the trees...I am able to use gravity so I don't even have to clamp any of the connections

With a soaker system use a timer on the pump and it's a big labor saver...

 

[gocards1177]

Yes I have done that in the past and still have several buckets with holes like you describe. But a drip irrigation system is MUCH preferable. You should try it sometime.

Sorry 2LaneCruzer, I wasn't trying to be "smarmy". I've done the landscapping in 5 different houses with drip irrigation systems and I'm a huge fan. They're pretty cheap, user friendly, customizable, and best of all can be put on a timer. I just need to figure out how to get some water up in the air to feed it.

 

[gocards1177]

If you are going to be building sooner rather than later...go ahead and have service power (saw pole) set up...then pump the water from the ponds...

For about $30 you can get 100' of 3/4" black plastic poly water line (Home Depot) easy to make your own drip soaker system...

I am having to treat several large hemlock trees for woolly adelgid infections...this requires a lot of water to wash the chemicals into the roots...I used the black 3/4 line to make a large hoops (with 'T's) and drilled 1/8" holes around the hoop then assemble them around the base of the trees...I am able to use gravity so I don't even have to clamp any of the connections

With a soaker system use a timer on the pump and it's a big labor saver...

My hang up with holding off on the electric is that the Intercounty electric here will pay for the install (about $2K!) if I wait and have them do it once the well is dug and the house foundation is in. That's their policy. Otherwise, I can do it now but it's on my own dime. The house plan and timing is pretty indefinite. Could be breaking ground in 2 months or 2 years for all I know.

What you describe is exactly what I did for my other trees. On another part of my property we planted 30 trees along part of the driveway for privacy. I have 400' of tubing run up to an IBC tank that's about 80 feet higher in elevation. It's sitting on the ground, and I just fill it with two barrels in the back of my truck that I fill at home. I had the timer go for 20 minutes twice per day. My work isn't far from our land, so I would just run out 100 gallons of water every 3-4 days. But I did it all...summer...long... last year. The home site and the new trees are about 2000' feet from the original set up, so I need to come up with something different.

 

[aczlan]

$150ish (with tax) will get you a 1" gas powered water pump such as 1" Clear Water Pump with 79cc OHV Gas Engine. Add a roll of black poly pipe and a suction strainer and you would be good to go.

Aaron Z