How much water for an inground fig?

S

shevitz

Well-known member
I’m moving this discussion to a new thread. I have a 6’ wide x 5’ tall tree in ground. I live in the desert with no rain, sandy soil, temps around 90 atm, and rock mulch over landscaping fabric. I’d like to hear opinions on how much water this tree needs a week. I’ve been giving it something like 10 gallons and the brebas are dropping although the tree looks healthy.

There are lots of AI answers, and possibly even a fig calculator online, but I have searched the archives and really haven’t found anything in this forum so I thought I would come to the experts.

Doing the math, a 6’ circle with 1.5” per week comes out to something like 17.5 gallons.

Also what circle would you water within?

Thanks!
 

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shevitz said:
Also what circle would you water within?
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At least 6 foot diameter, with perimeter to contain a thick layer of wood chips as recommended by Pete. The evaporation rate is high in your location, so the water should be delivered quickly to sink in -- not by soaker hose. I use four Orbit 1/4 pattern Stream Bubbler heads per tree basin, mounted just inside the perimeter. They are programmed to come on twice per week for 8 minutes. The quantity of water delivered is intended to match our local evapotranspiration rate.

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What time of day are you watering? I am definitely not an expert but in our area we have to water very early in am or late evening to avoid the rapid evaporation or steam killing the plants.
 
Charlie Dodgson said:
At least 6 foot diameter, with perimeter to contain a thick layer of wood chips as recommended by Pete. The evaporation rate is high in your location, so the water should be delivered quickly to sink in -- not by soaker hose. I use four Orbit 1/4 pattern Stream Bubbler heads per tree basin, mounted just inside the perimeter. They are programmed to come on twice per week for 8 minutes. The quantity of water delivered is intended to match our local evapotranspiration rate.

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would drip emitters below the mulch help with that?
 
Motherwise said:
What time of day are you watering? I am definitely not an expert but in our area we have to water very early in am or late evening to avoid the rapid evaporation or steam killing the plants.
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I've heard, but don't know whether it's true, that if you
Charlie Dodgson said:
At least 6 foot diameter, with perimeter to contain a thick layer of wood chips as recommended by Pete. The evaporation rate is high in your location, so the water should be delivered quickly to sink in -- not by soaker hose. I use four Orbit 1/4 pattern Stream Bubbler heads per tree basin, mounted just inside the perimeter. They are programmed to come on twice per week for 8 minutes. The quantity of water delivered is intended to match our local evapotranspiration rate.

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Hey @Charlie Dodgson would it help at all to bury a soaker hose in those conditions?
 
paupau said:
would drip emitters below the mulch help with that?
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cdh said:
would it help at all to bury a soaker hose in those conditions?
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No. If the mulch is not getting wet then both it and the soil surface are at the air temperature. As a result, you have a slow trickle of water competing with a fast evaporation rate. In addition, drip only wets small spots on the surface and in shevitz's soil there will be little lateral dispersion as it sinks. Overall, under those conditions it is better to quickly flood the basin.
Motherwise said:
we have to water very early in am
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An excellent choice. This will help but flooding is still needed.
 
Charlie Dodgson said:
No. If the mulch is not getting wet then both it and the soil surface are at the air temperature. As a result, you have a slow trickle of water competing with a fast evaporation rate. In addition, drip only wets small spots on the surface and in shevitz's soil there will be little lateral dispersion as it sinks. Overall, under those conditions it is better to quickly flood the basin.

An excellent choice. This will help but flooding is still needed.
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Interesting... i think you may be the first person i've ever heard say that burying drip tape under mulch would not help keep the water from evaporating.
 
Charlie Dodgson said:
At least 6 foot diameter, with perimeter to contain a thick layer of wood chips as recommended by Pete. The evaporation rate is high in your location, so the water should be delivered quickly to sink in -- not by soaker hose. I use four Orbit 1/4 pattern Stream Bubbler heads per tree basin, mounted just inside the perimeter. They are programmed to come on twice per week for 8 minutes. The quantity of water delivered is intended to match our local evapotranspiration rate.

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Thanks for the detailed response. So how many gallons a week is that?
 
I was stressed getting out the door to the airport. I needed to do something in a hurry. Listening to what was said here. I put in a 6’ loop with 8 2gal/ hour drip emitters. The two already there were also 2gph, so I 5x’ed my water. I reset to 3x per week for 20 minutes, so I’m at 30 gallons per week. I also moved the rock out of the way and cut the landscape fabric and put the emitters below it and put the rock back. While it may get hot, hopefully there will be minimal evaporative loss. I’m watering at 5:30 in the morning. 2 gal/ hour is pretty much a stream not drips. Thanks for all the input. I’ll be back in 2 weeks, hopefully there will be some visible improvement.
 
My soil may not have such great drainage. My quick and dirty inspection showed pooling water. Which is what I want I gather.
 
shevitz said:
I put in a 6’ loop with 8 2gal/ hour drip emitters.
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Drip emitters are very sensitive to water pressure, which can vary hourly in your neighborhood. Tests by members here have found them to be inaccurate. One means of testing is to purchase an inline flow meter with WiFi output to an app on your phone or desktop computer.

Eight drip emitters is enough to supply water but minimal for your goals. Water pooling around an emitter is very different from flooding a tree basin.

shevitz said:
how many gallons a week is that?
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My water needs are different than yours, and the water pressure is likely different as well. Find an evapotranspiration map for your property location, then measure your flow rate. You'll then be able to determine your needs.
 
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They say to give them an inch of water a week here if it doesn't rain. 1.5 inches/week sounds like it would be about right for your climate.
 
This is a very interesting video that you may want to watch. It may help you, as it helped me. Living in a semi-arid region she helped me understand how to water my plants. Take a look and tell me what you think. Enjoy.
 
Super interesting and completely at odds with what @Charlie Dodgson says. I have no idea which or both are correct. I haven’t had a chance to look at his evapotranspiration dataset.
 
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I think that's a difficult question to answer. Here, where I am...never! The soil is pretty good and holds a lot of moisture. I never have to water any in-ground tree. If you're in sandy soil though.... you might need a ton of water very regularly... You may even need to amend to help it hold the water. Alternately, if the tree is sitting in a shallow, clay basin and it doesn't drain, you may need to be careful that you're not drowning it

The best advice I can offer is, if you dig a little into the soil and if it's dry... add water.
 
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I never water my in ground trees....because mother nature seems to do it for me often. Lol
On a serious note, my clay seems to hold a good amount of moisture, so I never have to water.
 
TorontoJoe said:
I would think the water table level is also going to have a lot to do with whether you need to water them
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Thats a valid point.
My property is at the top of a small mountain/hill, all sides lead downwards.
However, with all the rains...it seems to retain water quite well.
 
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