How I water tree seedlings in dry weather...photo

[sixdogs]

Here is how I water my tree seedlings during the dry spells. I put three 55 gallon plastic drums in the loader bucket and chain or strap them in. First I drilled a hole in the side near the bottom and installed a plastic farm-type petcock with a garden hose adapter on it. It does not leak but you need long arms to install. Be careful, barrels can fall out of the loader if you are not careful.
I can use a short hose and raise the loader or just use to fill 5 gallon pails. I put other five gallon pails around the trees in which I drilled a small--3/16?--hole in the bottom. Then the water can drip out slowly and it does the tree a whole lot better. Anyway, here's a photo.

 

[bx24]

Nice and your concept gives me an idea. This came to me because my FEL will only lift around 500lbs at a time, but I was thinking that I could get a handful of barrels and mount them on little pallets and drop one off why I go and fill up another one ..... and so on etc. That way after I have delivered three or four to their destinations, the first one will be empty and I can start the process over again.

Thanks for the inspiration Sixdogs

 

[RobS]

Nice setup... really nice tractor! I finally broke down and got one of those three point carry all things. Put some decking on it (literally, 5/4 deck boards on 2X4 stringers) and now I can throw my 55 gallon drum on. Used it just yesterday to plant a new batch of trees. There is probably room for more barrels but I don't know the weight limit of the thing. Gave me plenty of room for the barrel, a five gallon pail to water from, spade, the trees and my coffee mug!

 

[sixdogs]

Nice setup... really nice tractor! I finally broke down and got one of those three point carry all things. Put some decking on it (literally, 5/4 deck boards on 2X4 stringers) and now I can throw my 55 gallon drum on. Used it just yesterday to plant a new batch of trees. There is probably room for more barrels but I don't know the weight limit of the thing. Gave me plenty of room for the barrel, a five gallon pail to water from, spade, the trees and my coffee mug!

RobS--- you have all the essentials and that is a great setup. The rear platform does work fine and that actually was my first choice but I already had the loader and the buckets fit so that was the path of least resistance. Using the loader I can lift the buckets ten ft in the air and use a hose that the wife can direct the water.
She is not willing to do this any longer and the five gallon water bucket with a small hole in the bottom actually works better.
I think the hole-in-a-bucket idea was a major discovery because I have not seen it mentioned before.--See my inital post here but it gets every bit of water into the root zone and no runoff.
I think water is 8.5 lbs per gallon so 55 gallons is 467 lbs and three of them is 1400 lbs. But , all of my trees have lived, other than the ones I mowed by mistake.

 

[Redbug]

That's a great application with the barrels, Sixdogs.

Just thinking, instead of drilling a hole in the lower barrel section, would a pvc threaded adaptor fit in the bung hole? If so, then you could add the valves at the bung holes and not drill any more holes in the barrel. I hate cutting more holes in a good barrel. Of course, the barrels would have to be horizontal to work.

 

[sixdogs]

That's a great application with the barrels, Sixdogs.

Just thinking, instead of drilling a hole in the lower barrel section, would a pvc threaded adaptor fit in the bung hole? If so, then you could add the valves at the bung holes and not drill any more holes in the barrel. I hate cutting more holes in a good barrel. Of course, the barrels would have to be horizontal to work.

No can do Redbug--the barrels have no strength on their side. Upright is the only way. Barrels are cheap in the upper Greak Lakes area--they are old soy sauce containers from Wisconsin and you can buy for maybe $5-$7 each if you buy five.
I also cut the tops out --leaving the edge of the barrel intact for strength --and use to haul bulk fertilizer. And who knows, if the recession worsens I could add suspenders and save on farmyard attire.

 

[Richard]

I don't have any picture of it but we've got a 275 gallon plastic tank. I think it's used for watering or chemicals as it has a 8" or so opening on the top of it and a shutoff with a 2" outlet (if I recall) on the bottom edge.

Its sitting permanantly on a little trailer so I just hook it up to the tractor, fill the tank with water and go on my way.

We've taken the outlet and fabricated a hose attachemt for it...actually two attachments. One is for a singular hose and the other will allow 4 hoses to be attached.

It was this tank that saved our blueberries from last years drought. I probably carried 1,000 gallons to them and let it soak in. (I use a soaker hose and not a regular hose).

Anyways... makes it easy to carry & deliver as long as you don't mind gravity feed.

 

[Doc_Bob]

Nice idea, but for me with 400 newly planted 2-0 trees, I might run out of buckets!
Bob

 

[sixdogs]

Nice idea, but for me with 400 newly planted 2-0 trees, I might run out of buckets!
Bob

Dr Bob,
That's where you lift the bucket, attach the hose and try to get the spouse to walk along and give each tree a small drink as you creep along in 1st gear. We did it with 3-3 Norway Spruce and 3-3 Northern Cedar and I don't think we lost any. The buckets are for the bigger trees or things we transplant.