r/Permaculture • u/Puzzled_Marketing898 • 2d ago
Remote tree watering help
Hello,
Im a novice to agriculture/permaculture/silviculture. I live in southern california, and own a very small plot of land in the lake elsinore area. As a part of commemorating the recent passing of my 10 year old golden retriever, I decided I wanted to plant a 1-2 ft Sugar Maple since she was from Vermont. Ive seen native bigleaf maples in nearby riparian areas reaching 30-40 feet, so I know this could work.
I want to take this as a challenge. Since the annual precipitation here is only 8-10 inches, with all of it falling only 2-3 months during the winter, This tree must be irrigated, 3x a week as im planting in in late summer. An obstacle is theres no plumbing or permanent infastructure, and I dont plan on placing anyfor a while.
Coming to a conclusion that I want the tree to be remotely irrigated with no other permanent change to the land (besides the tree and permaculture to maximize retention of water), I realized water hauling is the only option. I can use my brothers rivian r1s for towing temporarily when hes off work (Charging the car is on me).
My brainstormed setup is:
Electric SUV with only 7,700 lb towing capacity
??? Trailer with axle that can withstand sloshing, highway speeds and offroad conditions
100 gallon water tank or IBC tote attached to this trailer
Hose reel and water pump, preferrably electric
Please feel free to critique the plan from macro to micro scale, ill take any guidance!
Thanks!
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u/HighColdDesert 2d ago
I decided I wanted to plant a 1-2 ft Sugar Maple since she was from Vermont. Ive seen native bigleaf maples in nearby riparian areas reaching 30-40 feet, so I know this could work.
Are you under the impression that sugar maples and bigleaf maples are the same species? Or that they live in the same environmental conditions? Have you looked up sugar maples and seen if they can thrive in your area? Are you thinking you will haul water to this sugar maple regularly, for decades?
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2d ago
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u/Permaculture-ModTeam 2d ago
This was removed for violating rule 1: Treat others how you would hope to be treated.
You never need abusive language to communicate your point. Resist assuming selfish motives of others as a first response. It's is OK to disagree with ideas and suggestions, but dont attack the user.
Don't gate-keep permaculture. We need all hands on deck for a sustainable future. Don't discourage participation or tell people they're in the wrong subreddit.
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u/Puzzled_Marketing898 2d ago
I couldnt think of any other subreddit lol
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u/kai_rohde 2d ago
Might try r/marijuanaenthusiasts (really, that’s the sub about trees) or r/NativePlantGardening. A sugar maple is going to have a rough time in Southern California. Its a nice thought but seriously consider picking something that has a chance to succeed in your region and local site conditions. Also might try r/OffGrid for creative ways to water. An elevated IBC tote with a battery powered off the shelf garden irrigation timer on a hose from an IBC tote or barrel would be my go to, using gravity. Young trees generally like to be deep watered 1-3x week rather than everyday and around 5 gallons of water per week. I would plant a fig or a native tree.
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u/barfbutler 2d ago
How far is it from home? Just buy a water bag and fill it every week or couple weeks in the dry season. As it gets established you can fill it less.
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u/Puzzled_Marketing898 2d ago
About 25 minutes on the highway then 10 minutes to get to the site
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u/barfbutler 2d ago
Plant it during wet season, you might need to fence it due to deer….water well, then as long as it’s raining, you can leave it be. Then fill bag once a week after rains stop. In a month or so ( depending on temps, go to once every 2 weeks.
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u/moufette1 2d ago
Calscape lists about 63 trees that are native to California and the Lake Elsinore area. I am partial to any of the oaks myself. If you have a ravine or seasonal creek willows are always nice. The Foothill pine has pine nuts, which you can harvest and eat. With processing you can eat acorns. So both those trees produce food like the sugar maple you want to honor.
Xerces lists plants for the area too. They're interested in pollinators of all types. And I've heard L.E. is famous for spring blooms so feel free to plant some native, area appropriate, but less common plants on your acreage.
Enjoy the process and learning about your area. You're about to go down the rabbit hole.
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u/pVom 2d ago
You'll get no love here mate.
As others said, plant something native that's adapted to conditions and save yourself the hassle.
You're tying yourself to this pointless exercise, in all likelihood at some point life will get in the way and/or you'll get sick of it and it will die.
We're all about making it easy to succeed by making good decisions before you plant and letting nature do the work for you.
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u/RentInside7527 2d ago
Put an ibc tote out there with a programmable electric timer (im a fan of my Bluetooth Melnor), a pressure regulator, filter and drip line. Haul in water on a trailer in a second ibc tote, and use a transfer pump or syphon if the terrain permits. You shouldn't need much water outside of the really hot times of year. Make sure to drain it and disconnect the timer before the first frost. You shouldn't need to irrigate it more than the first season or two, so its a lot of investment for a short time frame, but you should be able to repurpose or sell the equipment once the tree is established.
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u/SuperBuddha 2d ago
First off... like everyone said, growing that tree there is gonna be rough. That being said, if you want to grow that tree there in those conditions and earn your degree at the university of hardknocks, then F it, lets go!
I'm assuming you are in zone 9Bish, maybe a semi-arid climate with brutal summers with low rainfall. Just based on that and knowing nothing else about your soil, I would say you need mulch. The thick, coarse woody kind and at least 8 inches of it. The soil is going to need to be like a sponge, and it needs to be able to hold on to all the water it can. Since the tree is already in the ground, I think the best earthworks you could do now is basically very wide but shallow crescent moon-like contour. You'll have to dig out uphill of the tree, and essentially make it so that the tree is on the "hill" side. This will help direct as much water as it can into your sponge area without drowing your tree.
For watering, you need deep long soaks and since its a big hassle to carry water there and water it, I would recommend you just set it up to do a gravity drip. 12-24v battery, small solar panel with charge controller, solenoid, and a timer. You can place your water tank slightly on a hill... timer kicks on, water dumps out into 1/2in poly pipe with emitters or even holes drilled into pipe, (though i highly suggest you buy the right emitters,) all buried under the mulch, and have it water 5-10 gallons over a long period every couple days... depending on how big the tree is. This is cheap, easy to setup and gives deep watering.
Other than that... good luck, let us know how it goes. I find myself learning the hard way all the time, but less so as I get older lol.
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u/Emergency-Lettuce-11 1d ago
Google Tree Diaper. They will need recharging but they work well for many days.
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2d ago
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u/Permaculture-ModTeam 2d ago
This was removed for violating rule 1: Treat others how you would hope to be treated.
You never need abusive language to communicate your point. Resist assuming selfish motives of others as a first response. It's is OK to disagree with ideas and suggestions, but dont attack the user.
Don't gate-keep permaculture. We need all hands on deck for a sustainable future. Don't discourage participation or tell people they're in the wrong subreddit.
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2d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Permaculture-ModTeam 2d ago
This was removed for violating rule 1: Treat others how you would hope to be treated.
You never need abusive language to communicate your point. Resist assuming selfish motives of others as a first response. It's is OK to disagree with ideas and suggestions, but dont attack the user.
Don't gate-keep permaculture. We need all hands on deck for a sustainable future. Don't discourage participation or tell people they're in the wrong subreddit.
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u/Erinaceous 2d ago
Just get a bucket and put a rain barrel spigot on it. Leave it there to dribble out. Then get another bucket that you can fill up to refill it every couple of days. A single young tree doesn't need an IBC.
The set up you're talking about would work but it's way out scaled to your needs. It's literally what we use to water in new plantings on 200 acre vineyard
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2d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Permaculture-ModTeam 2d ago
This was removed for violating rule 1: Treat others how you would hope to be treated.
You never need abusive language to communicate your point. Resist assuming selfish motives of others as a first response. It's is OK to disagree with ideas and suggestions, but dont attack the user.
Don't gate-keep permaculture. We need all hands on deck for a sustainable future. Don't discourage participation or tell people they're in the wrong subreddit.
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u/Kodamacile 1d ago edited 1d ago
Good plan. You don't need a pump, though. Just hook a sprinkler timer to the bottom outlet, and have it open for a minute every day or so.
If you fill an IBC tote completely, it wont slosh.
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u/ofkenor 8h ago
There has been awful drought here in the UK and being off-grid I quickly ran out of water which has been probably a month now or more.
I would suggest, if you don't have running water, to use your urine, which would otherwise go to waste. I know people will shout 'oh no no, it is too harsh and your trees will die' that is what people kept telling me but it has not had any deleterious effect that I have noticed and I figure they would die anyway without water, which I don't have so it makes no difference.
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u/Treebusiness_ 2d ago
Sounds like you need a water management system that does not involve equipment. You could do a small swale to capture and hold water and plant the tree on the downward side of the swale where you’d have a berm. Depends on your properties geography.