There is a huge rainfall deficit this year and must start watering my citrus plants. How much water must I apply and how far from the trunk? Is night time a good time to water? In the day it is so hot much of the water evaporates before reaching the ground. This is probably the worst drought here in many years! Most years I do not have to water but it is so dry here now. It has been about five weeks since I last watered and usually apply water from a foot past the trunk to the drip line. Do the roots extend beyond the drip line? So far the in ground citrus plants do not seem to suffer drought stress yet but the soil is very very dry.

I use a water hose and nozzle to apply water and probably do not distribute the water efficiently but I try the best I can. There is a large surface area between the trunk and drip line so it takes a lot of time to complete the irrigation.

TRI,

The best thing you can do for yourself and your trees is to put that hose down on the ground and let a slow trickle, or better a soaker hose, put that water where it belongs, deep into the ground, instead of making water vapor and not getting the depth of penetration you need. You may need to put a berm or similar containing structure around the perimeter of the drip line.

Hand watering is generally shallow watering, and, as you guessed, highly inefficient. I water about a foot beyond the drip line to be on the safe side.

Find a nice seat in the shade, and let time do the work. I generally water in the late afternoon/early evening rather than the heat of the day. Everyone says early morning is best, but I am at work at that time, so must do the best I can.

Eric

Ditto. Drip's the way to go. I installed drip irrigation this winter. All I have to do is go out and turn the faucet on and then remember to come back and turn it off (remembering is the hard part). Fruit trees, vegetable garden and flower beds all look nice. Yard looks like dook, but that's normal for Texas in summer, unless you're willing to go the extra mile.

I really wanted to go with the drip but my ground is so sandy that I would only be watering a 10" diameter circle at each drip. I have decided to go with micro sprinklers to insure that the entire root zone is watered.

The roots will grow beyond the drip line.

I've been watering with overhead irrigation so that my vegatable garden and citrus trees both get water BUT the veggies are declining with the heat of Summer except okra and peppers and I now have to get serious with the dedicated micro sprinklers to the citrus. My irrigation bill was $230.00! That was only plant irrigation and not house or sewer. Anybody want to buy a Satsuma fruit for $20.00? I'm also selling tomatos for $3.00 apiece! LOL

Having to pay for water, you must be using municipal water, rather then well water. - Millet (573-)

Drip irrigation is very efficient but in really sandy soil you need at least 2GPH drippers. 4GPH drippers should be more than sufficient even in the most sandy soil. When you water with sprinklers half the water evaporates before reaching the ground!

It's been a few years (10-12) since I put my well in, but that a pretty good price for that well.

Darkman wrote:

Millet wrote: Having to pay for water, you must be using municipal water, rather then well water. - Millet (573-) For now but I have contacted a well driller. Hopefully I'll have one later this year. It is about $2,500.00 for a 4" well at a depth of about 330'. But with my water prices It will pay for itself quickly. Tri wrote: Drip irrigation is very efficient but in really sandy soil you need at least 2GPH drippers. 4GPH drippers should be more than sufficient even in the most sandy soil. When you water with sprinklers half the water evaporates before reaching the ground! When my system is automated it will water in the pre dawn hours and with the sandy soil it will be subsurface prior to evaporation occurring.

Is a 4" well enough? How do you figure these things? Maybe I need a 6"? I don't want to not have enough.

One more thing. I'm on very sandy to almost pure sand in some places.
The vineyard guy I talked with told me to go with the micro sprinklers also. Said the drip would go straight down in a very narrow column.

My plan would be to run them in the predawn time frame to reduce water loss.

Ask the well driller how much water he thinks is available at the depth he thinks he will hit water. 4" wells are much cheaper than 6 " wells but the larger the well the larger the bearings and usually the larger wells have less problems. My 4 " well is about 350 feet deep and I get about 45 gallons per minute . I have a "cycle stop" that keeps the pump from going on and off all the time.

I have a small pressure tank. Unlike the old huge tanks , the smaller tank has only one line going into it. I can not make sense out of why it does not need another line coming out but it does not . It only serves to keep the pressure constant....I think. It's sorta like I can't believe a huge ship made of steel can float on water. I know why but it just doesn't really make sense....my step father in law had a concrete boat...and it had termites in the wooden frame work...

Also you can have several zones which help your well and pump cover more area. Auto timer is definitely the way to go.