How do you conifer nuts water your beds?

3 years ago

last modified: 3 years ago

Question to all of the conifer nuts on here, how do you water your beds?

Background: As some may know, I have land and have been putting in larger conifer beds around the 1-2 acres around my home. Previously, I mainly hand water plants as needed. But as you can imagine, when you get more beds, water consumes more time. While there are some trees areas that I do not need to water or only supplementally water during times of drought, obviously things grow with more vigor if they get watered more often and especially when they need it.

I have started using some soaker hoses on certain beds and was conteplating burying them under my mulch. I do not inteand on installing a sprinkler/irrigations system mainly due to not wanting to water the leaves/needles of my plants but for those that do, I would love to know how your conifers do with it. An alternative that I was looking at was a low pressure drip irrigation system.

Frankly, I'm sick of dragging hoses all around my yard.

So my question, has anyone gone any of these routes and do you have any tips, pros/cons for me?

Just for perspective, I have put int 3 different beds this past year each around 30-40' long x 20' wide. I think I have put in the ground around 60 new conifers and japanese maples so far this year.

Thanks,

Matt

Gratuitous Conifer photo: Not a great photo as it needs mulch and a little more refinement. Thi bed is about 50' x 22' wide and is a kidney bean shape. Also, as I always state, there are things that are permanent in this bed and things I am willing to move as needed. Also, I have some other stones that I am thinking of incorporating.

Some of the items in the newest bed:

Abies grandis x concolor 'Leuteneggeri'

Larix kaempferi 'Diana'

Picea abies 'Perry's Gold'

Picea glauca 'Ketch Harbor'

Pinus pumila 'Glauca'

Picea orientalis 'Shadow Broom'

Picea orientalis 'Weeping Dwarf'

Picea abies 'Gold Fingers'

Larix larcina 'Nash Pendula'

Larix Larcina 'Craftbury Flats'

Picea orientalis 'Instar'

Thuja occidentalis 'Malonyana'

Pinus strobus 'Shaggy Dog'

Zelkova serrata 'Goblin'

Cunninghamia lancelota 'Glauca'

Acer griseum

Acer p 'Lil Annie's Jewel'

Acer s. 'Jordan'

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Comments (6)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
3 years ago
i put spigots around the yard .. so i could limit the length of hose i seeded to drag around ..

got the idea from cemeteries.. which had random spigots everywhere ...

at the old hose.. i just ran cheap hose around the perimeter ... with homemade spigots ...

here.. i had them pulled into the sand ... as fast as the guy could walk.. it went underground.. and i learned how to put in a T ... and a spigot ...

it was well worth the investment ... as i panned on dying here ... lol ...

i think 75 foot hose was the max i could pull ... so i made sure all new beds were within every circle ...

and.. btw .. if it need be said ... let your hose drain the night before ... so you drag just hose.. and not the water ...

i also pulled the hose with the riding lawnmower ... when i needed to cover long distances ...

ken
DeanW45
3 years ago
Ha! That's a loaded question. Well, I started off trusting nothing and no one except my own two hands and my hose. But then I kept planting stuff and started getting tired. So I moved to drip irrigation, which worked well until I kept planting stuff. And at some point I realized that one or two expensive plants, plus my time (which, my wife made clear, was also time I wasn't spending with her or the kids), plus any future expensive plants that I might cram between the existing expensive plants, plus the risk of mosquito-borne illness, plus the risk of melanoma might actually become worth the price of watering the dirt between expensive plants. So I moved to spray nozzles and area watering. I'm much happier and my water bills are bigger (so not ecstatically happier), but, guess what? I still grab a hose because I like just standing there and communing with my plants. I just don't feel guilty when I feel like going inside.
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whaas_5a
3 years ago
Lesson learned was to focus on one bed annually but also prep the next bed for the following year.

Unless you have clay, anyone that removes grass to prep a bed is an idiot - sorry no offense to any GW friends that do!

Basically I smother the soil to allow the grass to die which then the roots die and improve moisture retention.

This is a big deal for anyone with a very fast draining soil or soil that dries out quickly but you want to stop ahead for the new plantings.

Year 1 - water by hand

Year 2 - hope for the best or put an overhead sprinkler on for multiple hours if it hasn’t rained for 3 - 4 weeks

Year 3 - hope for the best or put an overhead sprinkler on for multiple hours if it hasn’t rained for 4-5 weeks

Year 4 - they are on their own.

One of three things will happen If you have failures due to moisture at this point. 1 - you screwed up with plant selection or placement. 2 - you weed out the plants with poor root systems 3 - record heat and/or drought take place
Addison in VT z4a
3 years ago
We have a few acres. I have been, likewise, planting and growing many more plants than I could possibly expect to water when it is hot out. This year, I laid half a mile of tubing and installed both drip emitters and micro-sprinklers. The micro-sprinklers were a mistake. Drip emitters are great and totally focused on the individual plants. There is no water wasted. I got three timers with 2 faucets each to create 6 zones. I have timers programed for every day, but it is easy to turn them on or off. I will be installing more drip emitters to replace the sprinklers next year.
plantkiller_il_5
3 years ago
your plants should not need too much extra water in future years

Whaas has it approximately right

ron
Addison in VT z4a
3 years ago
Ron,

We live in an ideal place for Thuja occidentalis (it grows all over--even out of cliff faces on the side of the road.) in 2018, I planted a line of bare root Thuja occidentalis along both our mown lawn and our meadow.

The lawn plants did absolutely beautifully with frequent watering in 2018. In 2019, I didn't give them much water, and they did miserably. All the central leaders on the lawn plants died back. [The meadow plants, which did not do as well in 2018, did much better without watering. Only one central leader died--out of a couple dozen plants]

The plants on the lawn spent all this year recovering, and they are not as tall as they were but they are bushier again.

My plan now is to ween them off the watering by giving them the same amount that I gave them this year: Ultimately, it will be virtually no water compared to their daily consumption.

While I was at it, I gave water to my Picea abies 'Virgata' on the lawn and discovered that it will stand up much straighter with watering.

How do you conifer nuts water your beds?

Comments (6)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

DeanW45

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