TB-drop: Tree irrigation
From inefficiency to efficiency
Due to the dry climatic conditions of the last few years, many trees are weak in vitality, a ready meal for pests or already dead and transported away in all directions.
Soil moisture
When should watering take place? For this purpose, one can derive a target precipitation amount over the long-term average (e.g. 90 mm/month) and observe the precipitation on site. When the time of the "irrigation rain" seems to have come, one should measure the current soil moisture (interpreted with soil type, nFK, etc.) and then initiate a deep-acting rain shower, e.g. 30 mm/m².
Helpful information is available, for example, from local weather stations, as well as from the following providers:
Here, the measurement is made at a depth of approx. 30-40 cm and with a measuring device that displays Vol-% moisture.
Creating better conditions
It cannot be recommended often enough: Soil loosening with incorporation of soil conditioners and a final mulching of the surface. Wonderful: the drip tube is easy to lay, the retaining brackets are easy to install and the measuring probe does not break off! Other sustainable advantages:
- Better root breathing
- better field capacity of the water balance
- full-surface infiltration
- Future soil improvement through living organisms
- Humus as a water reservoir, no short-acting chemical products (which may bring risks and side effects).
- Evaporation virtually equal to zero
- Tree fertilisation by the Edaphon
