How much to water?

EtchedFicus

Well-known member
It's been relativity mild and on the colder side since I setup my irrigation system. However, the past 2 days have been in the mid to upper 90s. I have my trees in 8gallon, 5gallon, and 1 gallon pots. Those have 1gph, .5gph, and .25gph PC drippers. I've been running my irrigation system for 20 mins every morning and the plants seemed happy. Today some of my larger trees looked sad, so I ran again for another 10mins for a total of 30mins. That means that my 8gallon plants got around .5g of water. I assume the hotter it gets or stays, I should look at running the system longer or maybe do a long morning run and short early afternoon run?

Any suggestions on how much water I should be giving trees in 8g or 5g pots? My mix is pretty much 50/50 peat/perlite, so it drains fast. I have osmocote on top and watering with Jacks 20-20-20 in the fert tank, though that may be clear by now.
 
It's been relativity mild and on the colder side since I setup my irrigation system. However, the past 2 days have been in the mid to upper 90s. I have my trees in 8gallon, 5gallon, and 1 gallon pots. Those have 1gph, .5gph, and .25gph PC drippers. I've been running my irrigation system for 20 mins every morning and the plants seemed happy. Today some of my larger trees looked sad, so I ran again for another 10mins for a total of 30mins. That means that my 8gallon plants got around .5g of water. I assume the hotter it gets or stays, I should look at running the system longer or maybe do a long morning run and short early afternoon run?

Any suggestions on how much water I should be giving trees in 8g or 5g pots? My mix is pretty much 50/50 peat/perlite, so it drains fast. I have osmocote on top and watering with Jacks 20-20-20 in the fert tank, though that may be clear by now.

On 90+ days I run 3x a day about 15min each time. 7a,12p,7p. .5gph dripper on 3-5G- two of those on 10-15g.
 
All my trees are in 15 g pots on homemade potting soil: 3 parts coco coir, 3 parts garden soil DG, 1 part leaf mold, and 1 part pumice. Most were rooted cuttings in winter, growing as a single trunk. I was watering 0.5 gallons per day when the temperature was below 80 and 1 gallon per day when the temperature was above 80; they grew nicely. I expect to water more this year as they get larger. I hope it helps.
 
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