Over the years of I have always counted on having someone reliable to come water the trees for me while I was on away on vacation. Usually one of our grown children until they were busy with lives of their own, or moved away from the area....or the neighbor kid....not really very reliable.

It takes away from the enjoyment of a vacation when you are wondering if you will come home to a bunch of healthy trees or a disaster.

"This past summer was the last straw. As we were within a day of leaving for two weeks, the boy that was going to water for me, decided to go on a trip"

This past summer was the last straw. As we were within a day of leaving for two weeks, the boy that was going to water for me, decided to go on a trip with his grandpa (and who could blame him?) but he didn't tell me this. Luckily, I found out about it from another source. Otherwise, I would have gone away thinking I had it covered and come home to God knows what...... I began investigating what was availible in the automatic watering line. It turns out that you can set up a drip system pretty reasonably.


Photo from DIG Irrigation Products, DIG.COM

At Home Depot they sell a DIG G77AS starter kit for under $20.

G77AS drip kit with backflow preventer Kit contains:

• 50' of 1/2" poly tube, for distribution
• 50' of 1/4" micro tube, for connecting the drippers
• 1 x 3/4" adaptor ,
• 1 x hose coupling,
• 1 x 1/2" tee,
• 20 x PC drippers 1 gph,
• 2 x PC drippers 2 gph,
• 2 x PC drippers 4 gph,
• 1 x punch to make just the right sized hole in the large tube to connect the distribution tube to the 1/4 inch drip line with a connector barb
• 2 x 1/2" holder stake,
• 2 x hose ends,
• 2 x goof plugs,
• 1 x 1/4" ball valve,
• 2 x 1/4" tees,
• 2 x 1/4"barbs,
• 5 x 1/4" micro tube holder stakes,
• instruction manual.
• a hole punch to make just the right sized hole in the large tube to connect the distribution tube to the 1/4 inch drip line with a connector barb
• inline shut off valves
• connector "Ts" and assorted other fittings

In addition, I bought a battery operated programable digital timer for $50. You can buy extra tubing of both sizes, extra dripper heads, fittings, etc.. but they cost more than the kit so I wound up buying 3 kits! I used all of the one gallon per hour dripper heads in the 3 kits and a couple of the 2 and 4 gallon drippers, all of the small drip line tubing (150 feet) and had to buy extra barb connectors and "Ts". You can also buy little sprinkler heads if you would rather.

My bonsai shelves are A-frame with two shelves on each side and one across the top....16 feet long. The large tubing runs along the full length of the middle shelf on each side with the drip lines coming out of it where ever there is a tree . You cut the small tubing to reach from the large tubing to each tree, punch the hole in the big tube, put a connector barb in one end of the small tube and push it into the hole you just made in the big tube. At the other end of the small tube you push on a dripper head and lay it on the soil of the tree. (If the sight of the black tubing bothers you, it could be disguised or hidden behind your display area.)

"Love those programable timers."

There are fittings in the kit that allow you to connect a garden hose to the large tubing. At the faucet on the corner of the house closest to my shelves, I connected the timer and programed it to come on for 30 minutes every other morning at 8:30am. You can program it to water up to 4 times a day for any length of time you would like. I will water more than one time a day come next summer.

It took a couple of days to set up but now that I have the hang of it, I could do it again in a day. I do recomend having a heat gun (or blow dryer) to use to heat and soften the small tubing to make it easier to push the connector barbs and dripper heads into it. Made a world of difference.

I was nervous because we just got the system set up a few days before leaving for a week. I only got to observe it work twice before I left but it did work well.

I plan on buying another timer to attach a garden hose and sprinkler to, so I can water a small group of trees in growing pots on a different schedule than the ones in bonsai pots. Love those programable timers. Batteries are supposed to last about two years in them. There is also at least one online site that you can order components from. I just didn't have time to go that route before I went away. But for any modifications to the system, I would look into buying stuff online.

Cheers,

susieq

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Susieq,

Thanks for sharing that. I have been wanting to do the same. I don't even want to go on a vacation because of that.

I need to get on the ball and get it done.

You have inspired me to go out and look for the stuff.

Peace
Bob

Hi Bob,
I thought about it for quite a while too. Wish I had done it sooner. It was really easy and if I can do it, anyone can. Do it......
Best of luck
susieq

I have had the same problem for all of the same reasons. However I have too many trees to make a drip system practicle so I installed mini-sprayers, or a mist system. I have used it now for two years and it works pretty well. It is set up on timers that go off twice a day at twelve hour intervals. You have to run it for a while to make sure every thing gets covered and you have to make sure your trees are secured and not likely to be blown of the benches or otherwise dislodged from their positions. It does work and does provide a good option for those with no alternitives.

Greetings Vance,
I agree with you on having too many trees to run individual drip lines to....
I have quite a few on drip line that would be better served sitting in a sprinkler areea but being crunched for time and in a hurry to get things up and running before we left, I didn't get a chance to go slowly as I put it together and think things through.

Now that we are back, I can tinker with what I have set up and make some changes. Would really like to only have "potted" trees on the shelves and get all of the other "in training" stuff off to the side in an area that could be sprinkled instead. The shelves are too crowded the way it is now. Thank goodness for "goof plugs". I need to get some more of those. For those who don't know, a goof plug is the little piece of plastic made just the right size and shape to go into a punched hole the large tube, that you either made by mistake or don't need any more. They allow you to change your mind about things.....very important to me as I change my mind a lot.
susieq

Now that I have had the system up and running for a few weeks I can see a few things that need re-doing. First, I have quite a few tropicals on the shelves but with winter coming it is time to move them onto the little garden wagons I have. They stay on these little wagons all winter and at the first frost or freeze warning they get pulled into my work shop until the danger is over then back out into the sunshine until the next warning. Here in Florida that means being pulled in and out a lot.

Mean while, the drip heads that kept them watered now need to be shut off.
I went to Home Depot last week and bought several packages of shut off valves that can be inserted into the drip lines. They come two to a package and end up costing about $2. a pack. Today I cut each drip line that ran to a tropical and inserted the shut off valve into each cut end of the line. Now when I remove the trees from the shelf, turn off that drip head and no water is wasted. While the tropicals are on the wagons I water them manually. More modifications to the system are expected......
susieq

Susie,

Great post! I really need to set up a microirrigation (aka drip) system for my trees also.

My concern with the drip heads, though, is that they seem to shoot a small jet of water instead of actually dripping, which would disturb the soil. I've heard that many bonsai masters use the spray or mist heads for this reason.

Do you find that your drippers disturb the soil at all?

Thanks!

Josh

Josh,

You can also get a soaker hose for the emitter portion, and circle it around the trunk. It emits constant dripping from the entire length of the hose, avoiding the stream you are having trouble with, and (hopefully) more thoroughly watering most of the pot.

Brian

Greetings Josh,
The answer to your quesiton is NO. Not in my case anyhow..... The drip heads don't shoot a stream, they drip. I have not had a problem with disturbed soil except with one drip head that popped off from the water pressure. I had used a heat gun to soften the drip line for a few seconds to make it easier to shove a drip head into it. In this one instance I may have held the heat to the line a few seconds too long and weakened it some. It popped of the first time and I put it back on......a few weeks later it popped off again and made a little disturbence in the bonsai soil. This time I cut off that part of the line and re inserted the drip head into the fresh unheated end of line. I think that will solve that problem. None of the other 70+ drip heads have given me the slightest problem. I am using the DIG brand drip supplies. I bought the kit and then added more pieces as I needed them. I do find that because bonsai soil drains so fast it is better to have the drip head fastened to one of the little stakes made to hold the head a few inches above the soil rather than laying the dripper directly on the soil. This seems to disperse the water over a larger area before it sinks in. Laying directly on the soil, the water from the dripper seems to soak in right at that spot alone.

I love this system....and kick myself for not doing it a lot sooner.
susieq

I did this about 4 seasons ago and it is still to date the best Bonsai investment I have made. Most of mine came from dripworks.com but I have seem pieces at Lowes/Home Depot also. Mine is all on my deck, with various zones for everythiong from individual drippers to spray shelves and even my growing beds. Mine is all timed out so each area relaibly gets the watring it needs. I also just added a syphon system tha feeds low dose fertilizer every time I water. I can be turned from off to high dose and everything in-between and can be filled with any fertilizer you like. My plants love the watering and feeding and it not only saves me from vacation stress but also frees up my daily time to actually work on my bonsai or look for bugs rathe rthan watering all night. A few pieces of advice if you do it...

-Use 1/2-lines to feed to main areas and buy 90-degree bends since this stuff kinks when bent too tight.
-Buy "misting" heads. These soak the soil gently without blowing the soil away or dripping one tiny column through the soil.
-Create areas with overhead misters. This allows for temporary placement of seed trays or plants that need watering while on vacation. We move everything into these zones when we go away.
-Put fresh batteries in your timers a week or so before you go on vacation.
-Check the aim of your heads periodically. Even with stakes some get turned or blocked.
-Measure your water output. Drip heads have a flow rate in gallons per minute. It is possible to have so many heads that there is not enough water pressure to make them work correctly. It's a simple calculation and a simple fix if you go over.
-Be sure to use a filter and backflow preventer at your hose valve. Both are cheap and both are invaluable, especially if you are using a fertilizer system.
-Do have someone stop over just in case...your power can go off, your water can shut off or your timer can fail. I had a timer fail ON (luckily I was home)...It watered for 20 minutes before I noticed it. I just ask them to see if the decking looks wet.

You'll see. It is an affordable AND easy project and even what I'd call fun. And when you do it you'll find out it is addictive. I have almost everything automatically water itself now.