Suzanne, building a plant sprinkler system takes a lot of time, but it's also fun. Climate change with dry seasons requires new ideas, you are doing a good job 👍👍
Thankyou, yes it does! But it will be worth the extra time. Plus I DID manage to run some to my fruit trees, so hopefully they will do better next year in the dry spells ;)
As someone who worked on a 300 acre tree farm with 88 000 Christmas trees and a 150 acre sugar bush in the Ottawa valley for 8 years I can definitely say you are making a major upgrade for their first years survival. This will help you a ton. Also saw another comment about blowing out the lines which is a fantastic suggestion. Love your content and efforts. Keep up the great work and happy 4th/ independence day. From Millet Alberta Canada.
If you have tips for us, we'd love to hear them! You can e-mail erik at orangecapricess@yahoo.com We are always on the hunt for new ideas, or old tips and tricks!
@@This1LifeWeLive I suppose the first questions I have are what is your climate "zone " your soil base and topping and which species do you plan to focus on spruce, balsam, fir, pine ?As a young man,I thought that there were an amazing amount of peices to put together to get the farm to work. Mowing. Minding the height of wasps and bees nests. Which surface crops..hindrance or helpful ....what are the baby deer doing in the 3 year old trees? Low lying areas needing drainage. Absolute pride in maintaining the equipment due to costs. Personal safety... Pruning, stings, spraying, firewood on your own, thinning the sugar bush and firewood. Never ending firewood. You two are absolutely what this world needs more of. So making the farm interactive was key... ya that's tough. Hay rides, u cut, hot chocolate, reindeer. Santa's shop etc. Which is tough. It is also a fantastic opportunity to sell maple candy, syrup and pictures with horse rides and reindeer. Hopefully a family member loves photography and could capitalize on this. Custom photos, frames, borders. Those lil trees love calcium. Eggshells and easter and chicks and bunnies all bring eyes to your awesome efforts. I tried to email but I am busy and don't know how exactly to get that, of all things figured. Much happiness and love to you and yours. And thank you very much for acknowledging my comments.
You can also put an inline fertilizer injector , homemade from PVC. Then you can utilize it for bud growth in spring and for root growth in fall. We are currently doing the same with our plantation now.
You also were wondering if they would grow faster, they will grow way faster, vs no irrigation. They will be able to better withstand insect attacks. We found with our black hills spruce that we were able to get a second flush out of alot of them and some even a third flush . Which is three times the growth in one growing season. This shorting number of years to marketable size
Our best results came from 3-0 plugs, we use an auger bit in Milwaukee 18volt fuel drill . We had a huge improvement over bare root .We now grow our own plugs from our own seed source.
thats a great idea and put a pair of vise clamps on the pipe to keep everything together. Thats why youtube is great we can put our minds together and come up with great ideas.
Most of our Christmas tree farms here in Ga. are drip irrigated as well as most all of our pecan and peach orchards. It just doesn't rain when you need it anymore. If you get it set up right you can also inject fertilizer into the system. Make sure you have a GOOD filtering system so your emitters won't get plugged. Filters are your friends. Also you need to have your water sampled for anything that may hurt the trees. One last thing make sure your residential well can handle the added water needs. Most orchards around run a 6 inch well but they are big orchards.
Smart move installing the irrigation. Lotta work, but you guys got it done. I liked Eric's invention and his mom joke comment. Cracked me up. Those trees should grow faster and more consistently with the irrigation.
WOW! I know THAT was a lot more work than what you showed us, but it will def pay off in the long run! Pretty envious of your green pastures....Ours are hurting atm. Fun vid, Suzanne! Good luck with the trees!!! A+++
Thankyou Dr. Lee :) Things are certainly crispy, but not nearly as crispy as yours I'm sure! I can't remember, do you ever put round bales out for your deer? I know some guys do that in winter out here . . . I tried that once during a winter and didn't see any deer nibble at it, lol. But I'm sure in your area hay costs an arm, a leg AND a tail!
@@This1LifeWeLive I've only had hay out one year and it wasn't touched...Even on bad drought years, there's enough grass to keep the wildlife fed...especially with 3 corn feeders going and range cubes added...
Great video Suzanne. Happy 4th of July. Wishing y'all the best of luck with the trees. The irrigation system is a good thing to have. Take care and have a blessed day and I'll see you on your next video.
Susan a week or so back we were talking about urea. Many yrs ago I put urea on brome. If I did not get a rain in a couple of days, the urea went into the air .
Yes, it does. That's why it;s not the first choice for many farmers. I try to get it before rains hit, but we know how that can be :P. I guess you can get it treated too, but of course that costs extra $$$
Suzanne since you are on a well you do not want to take too much water out of your well. You could collapse it. Plus with black pipe it help when it is warmed by the sun. A torch works well for the connectors.
I think your right about not having to irrigate the trees once they are established have have deeper roots. Hopefully the irrigation costs don't eat into your cost per tree too much. So far so good!!
It will eat a bit into it, but the system should last many years. It cost a bit over $1,000. Our previous waterting methods didn't put down enough water per tree .Our New Holland eats fuel at roughly 6 gallons per hour, and if it takes a total of 6 hours a week to fully water the lot of trees, that's 36 gallons of fuel, or $208 per week (plus the lost time). Had we managed to install the system right after we finished planting, we might have only lost a handful of trees (of the bareroots).
we did install one but we can only water 4-5 lines at a time so we just set the timer for 1hr and then on to the next bunch for 1hr. at least if we forget to turn off the rain bird timer does it for us.
Your irrigation system is looking good! As others have said, definitely make sure you get the water out of the lines before winter. I wouldn't bother with air, that many holes, it would be really hard to get the water out. My parents' sprinkler system takes a really big compressor just to blow out 4 heads at a time. I would just undo the clamp at the end of the runs and lift the lines like draining a garden hose. If you want to make your system a bit more efficient next year, you could add a sprinkler timer and electric valves, then you can water all the lines of trees on a schedule.
we did install a rainbird single line timer. that way we set it for 1hr and it shuts itself off and trees dont get over watered if we forget to shut it off.
Maybe add a sediment filter before you pump water into those lines, the low flow rate will allow even microscopic particles to settle out and clog your drips
Viewed 7-4-22 from Illinois Hey Sue Suggestion : (1) Consider pinning the lines down at maybe every other tree. This will assure the lines stay in place. (2) Since you are feeding the drip lines via a manifold from only one end........check the water flow volume at the far end of the drip line. Volume will be greatest at head end and less at the far end, because of pressure drop. To balance for uniform flow you'll need to feed from both ends. (3) What is you input water pressure ?? Bye Bye :))))
we just ordered a box of 500 6in 9 gauge round end galvanized stakes. We got them from amazon. www.amazon.com/Sandbaggy-Galvanized-Landscape-Staples-Garden/dp/B077PPGWVD/ref=sr_1_38?keywords=drip%2Birrigation%2Bstakes&qid=1656001455&sr=8-38&th=1
I think Erik said the water pressure regulator puts it at 25 psi, but the tap is at 60psi? We set the number of lines we water at a time based on how easily the water reaches the end taps of each line. That way, the last trees get as much water as the first trees. And the taps themselves cannot put out extra water, only less. They are regulated too, only 1 gallon per hour. And yes, we are defiinitely going to pin down thos lines ;D
You guys did a hell of a job I couldn't do that as well as used didI was thinking maybe you should weave one-on-one side and one on the other every other one so the line stays close to the tree and it won't move from the tree you can just pick up the two and place it on the other side of the tree every other one just a thought love watching your shows
Uffda that had to be a good one Suz lol 🤣🤣💨💨💩💩 did you have enough time to go "Farting" around at Menards to pickup those hoses, those trees are looking pretty good, just keep plugging away, so anyways I love your channel like I love country music 🎶, that's a new song by Kane Brown, have you ever heard of Shane Holst channel? It's a good one too, it's my birthday today, have a good 4th of July Suzanne 👍🎆
Have you ever considered growing hay and/or alfalfa for export to other states? In Montana our crops saved our ranch because of the drought in Texas and the southeast. We grew the crops mostly to feed our own cattle, and the extra we sold locally. But when the drought hit the south our crops were sold out in almost two weeks and for four to five times the usual price. We didn't raise the price, wholesale buyers would just offer to buy huge amounts (what seemed to us) of hay and alfalfa. Everything is speculation though, and our family was very fortunate to have excess crops at the time. By 1978 we had sold off the cattle simply because it was too expensive to raise them than what the selling price was.
I have advertised for it, and contacted a few places, but most want it delivered, and the cost of a delivery serivce was too high for them. We almost trucked some to Mackinaw Island last year, but she decided it was too expensive :)
That's pretty fascinating, definitely labor intensive, but what isn't with trees?, I think you've all done a helluva job setting that system up, at first my concern was what happens when you mow, but the way you've laid them out should be safe, hope everything works, sure looks it will, thanks for sharing this idea, Suzanne and Erik
it would be great to get like 100 bare root trees and put them in pots somewhere you could water them then you could have some replacements when some die
Watch your ph levels. 5.0-5.5 is the best. You don’t want your well water to behind pH and turn around and try to lower it with chemicals in the ground. You may have to treat your water in a big tank first and then use it as irrigation. Trust me. I learned the hard way
Our ground is at 5.4 pH right now (all of our ground is somewhat close to that actually), but our water is slightly basic, so I'm curious as to how long it takes to see a difference in the pH with the water?
"She of the woods" had a great video on collecting Pine cone pollen for tincture, tea, breakfast cereal topping, etc.. Easily collected and used for those guys and gals that are low on testosterone/energy. It's natural organic supplement and verified by her own and others experience. Fertilize those trees through the water drip lines too? Don't forget the occasional Aria.
I have heard a LOT of stuff on pine trimmings too, using the soft new growth and CANNING it, lol! I guess it's pretty tasty, people even make jam from it! I think once they get larger, I might be willing to sacrifice some growth to food :D
that was certainly a concern. Fortunately they are run right up next to the trees where the mower cannot get to, and only sit an inch on the ground -- as long as the mower deck is high and stuff is staked in place it shouldn't catch anything.
I DO need to go through and stake it down . . . but it's only an inch tall and we mow at 4" so it should be ok ;) We did run lines to my fruit trees and ended up burying that with a metal pipe over it to help protect it when it ran across the driveway :)
about $1/tree but now we will save on diesel fuel and time it took to hand water. when we hand watered with the tractor it took 5hrs to water 100 trees. Now we just turn a few valves on.
You didn't show your FILTER between your well and your DRIP LINES. Most wells pump some sand (it's called watersand). Without filters your emitters WILL clog after time. Systems on large cotton fields here in the South, have HUGE filter systems. Congratulations on installing DRIP. I told you in the comments, in the beginning that you would probably have to do this. I think you realize that MOST of the "bare-root" trees would've probably made it with water. I farm in an ARID PLACE. SW US. The FIRST thing we worry about is water! Having it ready. Having a plan. Just tryin' to be helpful. Just want you to succeed. FILTERS!😀
Thankyou! Our well does already have a filter on it and it SHOULD be good since it's only 8 years old, lol, but it might be wise to help keep the pH neutral as it does tend to run basic, and someone else commented that high pH water can raise soil Ph over time ;) Filter might help with both issues ;D
These firs actually like clay soil. they were specifically grown to thrive in clay :) They don't like sand. Erik's boss planted 5,000 in his sandy soil. All died this year.
Most places don't irrigate. I think a nice cover crop of radishes the fall before we would have done wonders. But we sort of jumped in on this with not much thought. With that said, there are certainly ways to cut back on the work involved, but any farm crop has some degree of work ;)
I'm Deaf and sign language my own fast two hands. Good afternoon hello 👋🏾 how you doing your still working on your best way pine trees and I said that understand right now . I pray for you and will support you and come 🌧️🙏🏾🔜👍🏾 landscaping farmer home and applauses and hopefully you 🤳🏾🆗
I wouldn't have even fertilized the first year. Milorganite would probably be alright seeing it isn't a chemical fertilizer that can be used all summer without burning. It's slow release. Also did you get your water pH tested? I never understood why nothing thrived around here with my well water. It turns out that the pH is 8.1. In a drought, it's better than nothing, but I've been adding a pH down acid to my water for my vegetables now. I have a meter to determine the water is closer to 6.5. Also, whenever we planted bare root trees for the apples the feeder roots always got trimmed. I do the same with White Pines. You don't want to cram the roots into the hole. They need to spread out.
@@ruralridez6165 I've got a half a box full of the slow release tabs left that you bury a little bit from the roots. I bought mine from Forester Supplies over the internet. I also use Terra-Sorb when I plant trees and bushes to help hold moisture in my sand.
@@ruralridez6165 I normally plant bare root White Pine trees that I purchase from the Newaygo County Conservation tree nursery near me. On the home farm, we always planted bare root apple trees. The apple tree are always planted dorment in the spring.
This kind of dripping system is expensive (thickness) and needs painstakingly works. The newer system already have holes on the tube and you just need tape the unnecessary one. Distributing the even pressure is very important otherwise some too much water 💦 some less water💧 . Probably plastics mulching the trees above the tubes you can save more water and prevent the competition from the surrounding grasses for nutrients. Pumping some liquids fertilizer in the tubes after you test the soil. Just my 2 cents ! 👍🤔
This taps regulate the pressure, so each line gets the same amount of water :) They are calibrated to 1 gallon per hour. But we are going to research on liquid additives. Right now they have fertilizer tablets, but I'm not sure the chemical make-up of those :)
Good job on fabricating the rotating spool contraption, I cringe when I see people trying to spiral pipe/wire off a stationary spool because they are creating a world of pain for themselves
Horse fencing. The stories I couold tell ya! We once rigged a system into our side by side that held the spinning jenny for the fencing lines. Much easier for a one person job ;D
I think the cutting tool is not very useful. With large systems with many branches you do not need a pressure reducer unless you have crazy high pressure. When putting in "tees" - hot water or doing it in the sun works the best. To water more trees per line - use 1/2 gph emitter. I would skip the valves. Good job on The rainbird self tapping emitters. they are the best and easiest to install. When putting in the emitter squeeze the tube it makes it easier and makes it impossible to push the emitter through. Keep and eye on the lines while watering for the first dozen or so waterings. Most problems happen them. It would have been cheaper to use drip tape that could have been installed when you installed when you planted the trees. That is a tip is for next year.
@@ruralridez6165 Sounds good, Erik. With the 1/2 gallon emitters you could have run it all, all at once - and run it for twice as long. As is, you could run two 3/4 hoses from your hydrant with a 3/4" "Y" and create two zones and have two feeder lines. Also those valves do not winter well, just as an FYI. The rest of it will winter pretty well., and is pretty UV resistant. Also after the first winter the tubing will settle down and make it easier to mow around (over). As an FYI a weeder can go through the tubing. If you plant trees next year, drip tape will make you life easier. Trees look good. Provided that they do not get a diseases or a pest - trees are a cash cow - for those that are patient. If you are not going to do "u-pick" - find a buyer the year before they are ready. Good luck.
If you watch the begining of this video you will see that you are driving your watering machine way too fast. You need the valves to be opened and closed at each tree which you could do with a 2 row watering setup and 3 people. That is an insane amount of work to put all those drips in. Mount the new hose on a turntable to unroll. This info is way too late of course.
We did do a system of watering one by one with the hose on the tractor, but I didn't have good video of it :) And it took a long time too. This IS time consuming, but it's one and done, no more labor :)
The ones in back are doing so well too because of the grass shading them and modulating the soil temp. If I remember correctly sun scald on the trunks can damage the trees as well. I know you do a lot of research but don’t forget the ag. colleges and USDA, they both do a lot of research and their help is usually free. Looking good and I think you are keeping ahead of any problems that could pop up.
Ohh Boy 😂 !! Irrigation systems... You might want to think about digging out a watershed or your going to drain your well dry... 108 degrees in Oklahoma we didn't make it home for the 4th.. But we ate good 🐗 oink oink... Don't run over that hose with the mower , personally I would just get a sprinkler system but that's just me...
This is a bit cheaper than a sprinkler, 500 feet for $45! I was more concerned about wearing out the pump and such much faster (we are the only one in the area with a well at 150ft so I don't think it will dry up - most run to 45 or 80 feet). But I am thinking long-term that perhaps a dug pond with solar pump might be in order ;) Hope your piggie was tasty!
They all taste like BBQ Hun... lol We never had a drip system growing up on the tobacco field's but if you do see one where I live it's running to either a moonshine still or a marijuana field 😂🤣😂🤣
Your going to see that this crop will be your most exhausting thing you have on the farm. I am planting 1 acre a year for the next 8 years. This is my second season and I am exhausted 😅
What did you grow before christmas trees? I feel like trees are similar to gardening, or fruit farming. Fruit farmers ahve it much worse. Heat, bugs, critters, everything wants to ruin your crop. So far our only issue is rain ;D
The lines ran us $1,000, future profit (if all 600 trees survive) will be over $60,000. Now you bring up an interesting look at costs vs profits, our bareroot trees cost us $1,000 (a friend bought 5,000 and got a deal), but death rate is higher for bares. Our potted trees cost us $5 each and we bought 500. So, that's $600 vs. $5,000 out of our profits. But bareroot trees are VERY hard to find, hence the potted ones we bought. And trying to find a FEW replacement trees for any that die that are the SAME AGE is going to be TOUGH if not impossible. So, spending a mere $1,000 on waterlines is going to save headaches down the road. As far as my electric bill, well we shall see ;)
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Don't forget to blow out the lines in the fall before your first freeze or you'll have a lot of cracked hoses.
I remember making a adapter to blow out our underground sprinkling at another house.
⁷
Suzanne, building a plant sprinkler system takes a lot of time, but it's also fun. Climate change with dry seasons requires new ideas, you are doing a good job 👍👍
Thankyou, yes it does! But it will be worth the extra time. Plus I DID manage to run some to my fruit trees, so hopefully they will do better next year in the dry spells
;)
As someone who worked on a 300 acre tree farm with 88 000 Christmas trees and a 150 acre sugar bush in the Ottawa valley for 8 years I can definitely say you are making a major upgrade for their first years survival. This will help you a ton. Also saw another comment about blowing out the lines which is a fantastic suggestion. Love your content and efforts. Keep up the great work and happy 4th/ independence day. From Millet Alberta Canada.
If you have tips for us, we'd love to hear them! You can e-mail erik at orangecapricess@yahoo.com We are always on the hunt for new ideas, or old tips and tricks!
@@This1LifeWeLive I suppose the first questions I have are what is your climate "zone " your soil base and topping and which species do you plan to focus on spruce, balsam, fir, pine ?As a young man,I thought that there were an amazing amount of peices to put together to get the farm to work. Mowing. Minding the height of wasps and bees nests. Which surface crops..hindrance or helpful ....what are the baby deer doing in the 3 year old trees?
Low lying areas needing drainage. Absolute pride in maintaining the equipment due to costs. Personal safety... Pruning, stings, spraying, firewood on your own, thinning the sugar bush and firewood. Never ending firewood.
You two are absolutely what this world needs more of.
So making the farm interactive was key... ya that's tough.
Hay rides, u cut, hot chocolate, reindeer. Santa's shop etc. Which is tough. It is also a fantastic opportunity to sell maple candy, syrup and pictures with horse rides and reindeer. Hopefully a family member loves photography and could capitalize on this. Custom photos, frames, borders.
Those lil trees love calcium. Eggshells and easter and chicks and bunnies all bring eyes to your awesome efforts.
I tried to email but I am busy and don't know how exactly to get that, of all things figured.
Much happiness and love to you and yours.
And thank you very much for acknowledging my comments.
You can also put an inline fertilizer injector , homemade from PVC. Then you can utilize it for bud growth in spring and for root growth in fall. We are currently doing the same with our plantation now.
You also were wondering if they would grow faster, they will grow way faster, vs no irrigation. They will be able to better withstand insect attacks. We found with our black hills spruce that we were able to get a second flush out of alot of them and some even a third flush . Which is three times the growth in one growing season. This shorting number of years to marketable size
Our best results came from 3-0 plugs, we use an auger bit in Milwaukee 18volt fuel drill . We had a huge improvement over bare root .We now grow our own plugs from our own seed source.
I did a conservation planting of trees and hauled water all summer so I think the drip system is a good idea.
Guess I would have put that pipe between the 3 point arms then put your roll on the pipe between the arms and pulled.
thats a great idea and put a pair of vise clamps on the pipe to keep everything together. Thats why youtube is great we can put our minds together and come up with great ideas.
WOW, you guys did good! Getting all that hose hooked up to the trees was incredible!
Thankyou! It took a good week and very sore les from all those squats, lol!
Good idea on the drip system.
Most of our Christmas tree farms here in Ga. are drip irrigated as well as most all of our pecan and peach orchards. It just doesn't rain when you need it anymore. If you get it set up right you can also inject fertilizer into the system. Make sure you have a GOOD filtering system so your emitters won't get plugged. Filters are your friends. Also you need to have your water sampled for anything that may hurt the trees. One last thing make sure your residential well can handle the added water needs. Most orchards around run a 6 inch well but they are big orchards.
Thanks for sharing this video. It went way better than I expected. I always like 👍 when you post. Happy subscriber 😊!
Thanks Chris!
Smart move installing the irrigation. Lotta work, but you guys got it done. I liked Eric's invention and his mom joke comment. Cracked me up. Those trees should grow faster and more consistently with the irrigation.
We were wondering if they'd grow faster too ;D
Great idea installing the drip system. You'll be able to reuse that system for years to come.
Definitely for sure! And we can always pull it up and move it if need be ;D
WOW! I know THAT was a lot more work than what you showed us, but it will def pay off in the long run! Pretty envious of your green pastures....Ours are hurting atm. Fun vid, Suzanne! Good luck with the trees!!! A+++
Thankyou Dr. Lee :) Things are certainly crispy, but not nearly as crispy as yours I'm sure! I can't remember, do you ever put round bales out for your deer? I know some guys do that in winter out here . . . I tried that once during a winter and didn't see any deer nibble at it, lol. But I'm sure in your area hay costs an arm, a leg AND a tail!
@@This1LifeWeLive I've only had hay out one year and it wasn't touched...Even on bad drought years, there's enough grass to keep the wildlife fed...especially with 3 corn feeders going and range cubes added...
@@OutontheRanchwithDrLee-xb4lo 😆 yeah I wouldn't touch the hay either with that buffet spread!
Great work Suzanne, Earen and Erik, no job is ever simple, but that should be a huge help, Happy 4th of July👌👍🙏😎
Thankyou! Happy 4th , hope it was a good one!
Great video Suzanne. Happy 4th of July. Wishing y'all the best of luck with the trees. The irrigation system is a good thing to have. Take care and have a blessed day and I'll see you on your next video.
Thanks Billy!
I would make up a plug for the end of each line that you can attach a compressor onto so you can blow the water out of those lines every winter.
great idea!
Really happy to see you putting in a drip system. That will make a big difference. Just make sure you run it long enough to get a good deep soaking.
We run each set for one full hour - our drippers are set for 1 gallon per hour, so each tree will get 1 gallon :)
Susan a week or so back we were talking about urea. Many yrs ago I put urea on brome. If I did not get a rain in a couple of days, the urea went into the air .
Yes, it does. That's why it;s not the first choice for many farmers. I try to get it before rains hit, but we know how that can be :P. I guess you can get it treated too, but of course that costs extra $$$
Suzanne since you are on a well you do not want to take too much water out of your well. You could collapse it. Plus with black pipe it help when it is warmed by the sun. A torch works well for the connectors.
We are only watering once a week and we have a 25psi regulator on the line.
I don't imagine it would be much worse than running the sprinkler o the garden overnight . . . but it would be nice to have a separate well ;D
Looks good to me , I think you're right track in good hands with the association and your channel.
That will make watering a breeze, Happy Independence day!
Sooooo much easier, hahaha!
I think your right about not having to irrigate the trees once they are established have have deeper roots. Hopefully the irrigation costs don't eat into your cost per tree too much. So far so good!!
It will eat a bit into it, but the system should last many years. It cost a bit over $1,000. Our previous waterting methods didn't put down enough water per tree .Our New Holland eats fuel at roughly 6 gallons per hour, and if it takes a total of 6 hours a week to fully water the lot of trees, that's 36 gallons of fuel, or $208 per week (plus the lost time). Had we managed to install the system right after we finished planting, we might have only lost a handful of trees (of the bareroots).
Salut from one hatched in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada in 1952
Maybe a Rain bird water controller. Set for different times and forget it.
we did install one but we can only water 4-5 lines at a time so we just set the timer for 1hr and then on to the next bunch for 1hr. at least if we forget to turn off the rain bird timer does it for us.
best get the small feeder line to put on drippers as main line will move as it gets hot and relocate the drippers.
yes we found this out. So I think the best way is to run the lines turn on the water so the lines get to operating temp then push in the drippers.
hahaha, oh yes, that was such a surprise tryign to figure out how all the drippers ended up in the wrong spots!
Your irrigation system is looking good! As others have said, definitely make sure you get the water out of the lines before winter. I wouldn't bother with air, that many holes, it would be really hard to get the water out. My parents' sprinkler system takes a really big compressor just to blow out 4 heads at a time. I would just undo the clamp at the end of the runs and lift the lines like draining a garden hose. If you want to make your system a bit more efficient next year, you could add a sprinkler timer and electric valves, then you can water all the lines of trees on a schedule.
we did install a rainbird single line timer. that way we set it for 1hr and it shuts itself off and trees dont get over watered if we forget to shut it off.
We did put a timer on it, certanly helps since I always forget to turn stuff off, lol!
Maybe add a sediment filter before you pump water into those lines, the low flow rate will allow even microscopic particles to settle out and clog your drips
It’s been dry here in mid Michigan too . My soil is light and Sandy and dries out fast
Gosh I bet!
Viewed 7-4-22 from Illinois Hey Sue Suggestion : (1) Consider pinning the lines down at maybe every other tree. This will assure the lines stay in place.
(2) Since you are feeding the drip lines via a manifold from only one end........check the water flow volume at the far end of the drip line. Volume will be greatest at head end and less at the far end, because of pressure drop. To balance for uniform flow you'll need to feed from both ends. (3) What is you input water pressure ?? Bye Bye :))))
we just ordered a box of 500 6in 9 gauge round end galvanized stakes. We got them from amazon. www.amazon.com/Sandbaggy-Galvanized-Landscape-Staples-Garden/dp/B077PPGWVD/ref=sr_1_38?keywords=drip%2Birrigation%2Bstakes&qid=1656001455&sr=8-38&th=1
I think Erik said the water pressure regulator puts it at 25 psi, but the tap is at 60psi? We set the number of lines we water at a time based on how easily the water reaches the end taps of each line. That way, the last trees get as much water as the first trees. And the taps themselves cannot put out extra water, only less. They are regulated too, only 1 gallon per hour.
And yes, we are defiinitely going to pin down thos lines ;D
You guys did a hell of a job I couldn't do that as well as used didI was thinking maybe you should weave one-on-one side and one on the other every other one so the line stays close to the tree and it won't move from the tree you can just pick up the two and place it on the other side of the tree every other one just a thought love watching your shows
I did think about doing that but as the tree grows it will keep making the line tighter and tighter.
Uffda that had to be a good one Suz lol 🤣🤣💨💨💩💩 did you have enough time to go "Farting" around at Menards to pickup those hoses, those trees are looking pretty good, just keep plugging away, so anyways I love your channel like I love country music 🎶, that's a new song by Kane Brown, have you ever heard of Shane Holst channel? It's a good one too, it's my birthday today, have a good 4th of July Suzanne 👍🎆
Well Happy Birthday Matt! I hope you had some cake! You get fireworks on your birthday too :D
Interesting video!
Thankyou!
Imagine a computer controlled colored Solar powered light on over 500 trees! Well, it's nice to dream lol.
I'm sure China is already doing that, lol!
Have you ever considered growing hay and/or alfalfa for export to other states? In Montana our crops saved our ranch because of the drought in Texas and the southeast. We grew the crops mostly to feed our own cattle, and the extra we sold locally. But when the drought hit the south our crops were sold out in almost two weeks and for four to five times the usual price. We didn't raise the price, wholesale buyers would just offer to buy huge amounts (what seemed to us) of hay and alfalfa. Everything is speculation though, and our family was very fortunate to have excess crops at the time. By 1978 we had sold off the cattle simply because it was too expensive to raise them than what the selling price was.
I have advertised for it, and contacted a few places, but most want it delivered, and the cost of a delivery serivce was too high for them. We almost trucked some to Mackinaw Island last year, but she decided it was too expensive :)
@@This1LifeWeLive Also a lot of red tape when you sell across state lines...
That's pretty fascinating, definitely labor intensive, but what isn't with trees?, I think you've all done a helluva job setting that system up, at first my concern was what happens when you mow, but the way you've laid them out should be safe, hope everything works, sure looks it will, thanks for sharing this idea, Suzanne and Erik
I just did some mowing yesterday I put the deck at 3 3/4in and was fine. I would like to put some tubing stakes in.
I like the grass at 4" anyway (it's not lawn grass, so it needs to be taller to thrive), Erik keeps trying to sneak the deck lower, lol!
As long as it works
it would be great to get like 100 bare root trees and put them in pots somewhere you could water them then you could have some replacements when some die
we are thinking about trying to root some clippings we kept all the 500 plastic gallon pots from spring planting.
Agreed!
Next time you need irrigation parts check out tickleeze irrigation supply in st. Joseph Mi. They are a wholesale supplier.
thanks good to know Im sure we will need more lines.
Wow….that’s quite the project. But it will be worth the time and investment!
Yup, I agree!
Fingers crossed 🤞 for your trees 🌲
And we STILL have to make it through winter too!
@@This1LifeWeLive They’re evergreens they laugh at winter 🥶
Watch your ph levels. 5.0-5.5 is the best. You don’t want your well water to behind pH and turn around and try to lower it with chemicals in the ground. You may have to treat your water in a big tank first and then use it as irrigation. Trust me. I learned the hard way
Our ground is at 5.4 pH right now (all of our ground is somewhat close to that actually), but our water is slightly basic, so I'm curious as to how long it takes to see a difference in the pH with the water?
Keep plugging along, it will take work : D
Enjoyed
"She of the woods" had a great video on collecting Pine cone pollen for tincture, tea, breakfast cereal topping, etc.. Easily collected and used for those guys and gals that are low on testosterone/energy. It's natural organic supplement and verified by her own and others experience. Fertilize those trees through the water drip lines too? Don't forget the occasional Aria.
I have heard a LOT of stuff on pine trimmings too, using the soft new growth and CANNING it, lol! I guess it's pretty tasty, people even make jam from it! I think once they get larger, I might be willing to sacrifice some growth to food :D
Gonna make cutting grass interesting with all them lines on top of ground .
that was certainly a concern. Fortunately they are run right up next to the trees where the mower cannot get to, and only sit an inch on the ground -- as long as the mower deck is high and stuff is staked in place it shouldn't catch anything.
Good luck with that
Moving to Michigan, looks warm. LOL
How do you plan on mowing a bad area with this new irrigation system seems to me you should find a way to bury it and yet I have a still be functional
I DO need to go through and stake it down . . . but it's only an inch tall and we mow at 4" so it should be ok ;) We did run lines to my fruit trees and ended up burying that with a metal pipe over it to help protect it when it ran across the driveway :)
Irrigation was a good idea, long term it will pay off, watering now and next several years.
I think so too :D
When your trees are looking yellow I need some magnesium and you can use epsom salts on them yellowing trees which will help them
Magnesium tested well in the soil, but potassium is lacking ;)
Suzanne, I wish you luck but this looks like it might be getting expensive
about $1/tree but now we will save on diesel fuel and time it took to hand water. when we hand watered with the tractor it took 5hrs to water 100 trees. Now we just turn a few valves on.
You didn't show your FILTER between your well and your DRIP LINES. Most wells pump some sand (it's called watersand). Without filters your emitters WILL clog after time. Systems on large cotton fields here in the South, have HUGE filter systems.
Congratulations on installing DRIP. I told you in the comments, in the beginning that you would probably have to do this. I think you realize that MOST of the "bare-root" trees would've probably made it with water. I farm in an ARID PLACE. SW US. The FIRST thing we worry about is water! Having it ready. Having a plan. Just tryin' to be helpful. Just want you to succeed. FILTERS!😀
Thankyou! Our well does already have a filter on it and it SHOULD be good since it's only 8 years old, lol, but it might be wise to help keep the pH neutral as it does tend to run basic, and someone else commented that high pH water can raise soil Ph over time ;) Filter might help with both issues ;D
Should have brought in semi truck loads of sand to spred and then cultivate into the soil. Pine trees like sandy soil.
These firs actually like clay soil. they were specifically grown to thrive in clay :) They don't like sand. Erik's boss planted 5,000 in his sandy soil. All died this year.
Question, is it possible to incorporate liquid fertilizer in those lines? I would think that could save you a lot of work and time if you could.
Yes you can we just have to find the right mix for conifers.
That'
s something we are looking into as well!
Not imagined in your profit projections, was it... The incredible amount of work is just beginning... just to keep from going bust.
Most places don't irrigate. I think a nice cover crop of radishes the fall before we would have done wonders. But we sort of jumped in on this with not much thought. With that said, there are certainly ways to cut back on the work involved, but any farm crop has some degree of work ;)
I'm Deaf and sign language my own fast two hands. Good afternoon hello 👋🏾 how you doing your still working on your best way pine trees and I said that understand right now . I pray for you and will support you and come 🌧️🙏🏾🔜👍🏾 landscaping farmer home and applauses and hopefully you 🤳🏾🆗
Hummmmmmmm 👍👍👍👍😊🌎🌞🌦🌧
Hi Evan!
@@This1LifeWeLive good evening Suzanne !!! Hope your week has been better than mine !!! 😊😊😊😊😊🌎🌞👍👍👍🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲
❤👍🏻👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
I wouldn't have even fertilized the first year. Milorganite would probably be alright seeing it isn't a chemical fertilizer that can be used all summer without burning. It's slow release. Also did you get your water pH tested? I never understood why nothing thrived around here with my well water. It turns out that the pH is 8.1. In a drought, it's better than nothing, but I've been adding a pH
down acid to my water for my vegetables now. I have a meter to determine the water is closer to 6.5. Also, whenever we planted bare root trees for the apples the feeder roots always got trimmed. I do the same with White Pines. You don't want to cram the roots into the hole. They need to spread out.
we did trim so they wouldnt j root and we did slow release fertilizer tabs we got from the tree farm.
@@ruralridez6165 I've got a half a box full of the slow release tabs left that you bury a little bit from the roots. I bought mine from Forester Supplies over the internet. I also use Terra-Sorb when I plant trees and bushes to help hold moisture in my sand.
@@ruralridez6165 you might consider planting evergreen trees after labor day. It gives them more time to get acclimated before the dry summer season.
@@robertkent2466 Thanks for the tip we are very new at the tree market. Do you plant potted or bare root trees?
@@ruralridez6165 I normally plant bare root White Pine trees that I purchase from the Newaygo County Conservation tree nursery near me. On the home farm, we always planted bare root apple trees. The apple tree are always planted dorment in the spring.
This kind of dripping system is expensive (thickness) and needs painstakingly works. The newer system already have holes on the tube and you just need tape the unnecessary one. Distributing the even pressure is very important otherwise some too much water 💦 some less water💧 . Probably plastics mulching the trees above the tubes you can save more water and prevent the competition from the surrounding grasses for nutrients. Pumping some liquids fertilizer in the tubes after you test the soil. Just my 2 cents ! 👍🤔
This taps regulate the pressure, so each line gets the same amount of water :) They are calibrated to 1 gallon per hour. But we are going to research on liquid additives. Right now they have fertilizer tablets, but I'm not sure the chemical make-up of those :)
First on my bday 💁🏻♂️🎂
It's my birthday today too happy birthday 🎉🎈🎇🎂😋
@@mattutke4704 👊🏻💪🏻🎂
WGASWGAF
Happy birthday guys what a kewl day to have your birthday on.
@@ruralridez6165 thanks buddy 👍
Good job on fabricating the rotating spool contraption, I cringe when I see people trying to spiral pipe/wire off a stationary spool because they are creating a world of pain for themselves
Horse fencing. The stories I couold tell ya! We once rigged a system into our side by side that held the spinning jenny for the fencing lines. Much easier for a one person job ;D
@@This1LifeWeLive oh yes, trying to do fencing on your own is a hundred times harder :o
I think the cutting tool is not very useful. With large systems with many branches you do not need a pressure reducer unless you have crazy high pressure. When putting in "tees" - hot water or doing it in the sun works the best. To water more trees per line - use 1/2 gph emitter. I would skip the valves. Good job on The rainbird self tapping emitters. they are the best and easiest to install. When putting in the emitter squeeze the tube it makes it easier and makes it impossible to push the emitter through. Keep and eye on the lines while watering for the first dozen or so waterings. Most problems happen them. It would have been cheaper to use drip tape that could have been installed when you installed when you planted the trees. That is a tip is for next year.
we water 4 lines 58 trees in a line 1gph emitters using 25psi regulator. We did test without the regulator and were able to do 6-7 lines.
@@ruralridez6165 Sounds good, Erik. With the 1/2 gallon emitters you could have run it all, all at once - and run it for twice as long. As is, you could run two 3/4 hoses from your hydrant with a 3/4" "Y" and create two zones and have two feeder lines. Also those valves do not winter well, just as an FYI. The rest of it will winter pretty well., and is pretty UV resistant. Also after the first winter the tubing will settle down and make it easier to mow around (over). As an FYI a weeder can go through the tubing. If you plant trees next year, drip tape will make you life easier. Trees look good. Provided that they do not get a diseases or a pest - trees are a cash cow - for those that are patient. If you are not going to do "u-pick" - find a buyer the year before they are ready. Good luck.
If you watch the begining of this video you will see that you are driving your watering machine way too fast. You need the valves to be opened and closed at each tree which you could do with a 2 row watering setup and 3 people.
That is an insane amount of work to put all those drips in. Mount the new hose on a turntable to unroll. This info is way too late of course.
We did do a system of watering one by one with the hose on the tractor, but I didn't have good video of it :) And it took a long time too. This IS time consuming, but it's one and done, no more labor :)
The ones in back are doing so well too because of the grass shading them and modulating the soil temp.
If I remember correctly sun scald on the trunks can damage the trees as well.
I know you do a lot of research but don’t forget the ag. colleges and USDA, they both do a lot of research and their help is usually free.
Looking good and I think you are keeping ahead of any problems that could pop up.
There is always more to learn besides the small bit of research we are able to do ;D Michigan State College is our big ag school :D
Ohh Boy 😂 !!
Irrigation systems...
You might want to think about digging out a watershed or your going to drain your well dry...
108 degrees in Oklahoma we didn't make it home for the 4th.. But we ate good 🐗 oink oink...
Don't run over that hose with the mower , personally I would just get a sprinkler system but that's just me...
This is a bit cheaper than a sprinkler, 500 feet for $45! I was more concerned about wearing out the pump and such much faster (we are the only one in the area with a well at 150ft so I don't think it will dry up - most run to 45 or 80 feet). But I am thinking long-term that perhaps a dug pond with solar pump might be in order ;) Hope your piggie was tasty!
They all taste like BBQ Hun... lol
We never had a drip system growing up on the tobacco field's but if you do see one where I live it's running to either a moonshine still or a marijuana field 😂🤣😂🤣
Maybe keep watering the “dead” trees, I’ve seen dry brown sticks come back to life
For sure! It's easier anyway since any replacements would need water anywa y ;D
Have you ever tested your soil?
ph Soil Tester
yes its perfect for trees.
@@ruralridez6165
That’s reassuring.
Makes the drought most logical.
@@Torsee I dont remember the exact numbers but it was between 5-6 ph
Your going to see that this crop will be your most exhausting thing you have on the farm. I am planting 1 acre a year for the next 8 years. This is my second season and I am exhausted 😅
Do you plan to keep replanting after 8 years?
It is alot of work I really enjoy walking the trees and seeing there progress. We have 6-8 inches of new growth so far this year.
@@ruralridez6165 yes
What did you grow before christmas trees? I feel like trees are similar to gardening, or fruit farming. Fruit farmers ahve it much worse. Heat, bugs, critters, everything wants to ruin your crop. So far our only issue is rain ;D
Looks like you eating up a lot of your future profit.
or saving alot of profit. It took 5 hrs to hand water 1100 trees now it takes minutes. Its pretty easy to install.
The lines ran us $1,000, future profit (if all 600 trees survive) will be over $60,000. Now you bring up an interesting look at costs vs profits, our bareroot trees cost us $1,000 (a friend bought 5,000 and got a deal), but death rate is higher for bares. Our potted trees cost us $5 each and we bought 500. So, that's $600 vs. $5,000 out of our profits. But bareroot trees are VERY hard to find, hence the potted ones we bought.
And trying to find a FEW replacement trees for any that die that are the SAME AGE is going to be TOUGH if not impossible. So, spending a mere $1,000 on waterlines is going to save headaches down the road. As far as my electric bill, well we shall see ;)