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Nashville, TN

OK - this tree hugging, water conservationalist, mother Earth news subscriber... Finally gave in to the fact I'd have to start watering all the GPs.... I did a 'test dig' on several areas of the garden to check my underground soil moisture levels. Bad news - with the exception of one corner - It's bone dry all the way down to 18"!!! Guess I've been lucky that the garden's doing as well as it has??

I talked with the resident Agricultural Engineer (hubby..) about the problem (he likes to build/design things...) After he walked around the garden, looking at the vines, then made some calls to homedepot... Since we don't have much extra income (3 kids, horses, and being state employees........) and the plants were already so large.. This is what he decided we should do for 'emergency drought watering' for this summer:

Dig a hole the width and depth of a standard 5 gallon bucket - within 8-12" of the base of each GP... This will get the water down 16".. And is the 'cheapest solution'.. I've already dug these and filled them - looks like they are draining at a rate of 3" per hour..

Now I need to know from more experienced GP growers - since each plant is getting exactly 5 gallons per watering.. How often shoud I fill the 'water holes'? Every 24 hours?? Every 48 hours??

ps.. Hubby has already designed an 'underground watering system' for next year... Since we'll be using raised beds - he wants to install the system and then backfill with barnwaste.... We'll avoid this problem in the future years!

7/9/2005 2:47:03 PM

600 gallons of water on 1000 square feet is about equal to an inch of rainfall. maybe you can use that ratio to figure out how much water to use. for normal gardens they say an inch of water a week, but some people say 2" a week. if it's really hot down there, i'd go with the 2" a week. of course that amount varies depending on your soil and stuff too. clay/sand, etc.

7/9/2005 3:10:07 PM

p.s. I wouldnt' be digging a hole the size of a 5 gallon bucket that close to the stump of each plant, but it sounds as if that has already been done.

7/9/2005 3:11:52 PM

Indiana

why not use a sprinkler and hose?

7/9/2005 3:20:47 PM

Usa,pa,westsunbury

i have two three hundred gallon tank on a trailer and i fill them at the bridge buy my house and the i pump the water into another tank on my water tower and then that gives me enough presure to fill the drip tape but luckily we've had rain most of the season. so if you dont have any tanks i dont know what to tell you .good luck

7/9/2005 4:39:44 PM

Mocksville, NC

Water for a few day's because you have Hurricane David is supposed to make it to TN. And just miss us here in NC. We got tropical storm Cindy. You folks in TN. Can have David.
Watch the weather, and time it just right. Water on the way.

7/9/2005 9:59:37 PM

San Diego

I am at a loss as to why you need to dig holes to water, all you will do is hurt your root system. Just put a sprinkler on the patch for awhile for a few days. Hot climates demand a lot, and I mean a lot of water for these ag's. here in southern california we water all the time! Don't be afraid to water from a hose everyday if you need to. Jimmy

7/10/2005 12:45:13 AM

Nashville, TN

We thought about the hose - but since one of the 'test holes' was dug in the watermelon batch (been watering every 5 days via 'surface hose watering') it became obvious that the silt soil had gotten so tight do to the heat - that the water was not penetrating deeply... Even though we watered until the watermelon soil appeared to be surface mud.. It would be dust again the following day...

We needed deep penetration of the water.. Thus the 14-16" deep holes.. We also needed exact measure of water for the records...

RESULTS:
Yesterday all GPs had their holes filled with water at midday. Most plants at that time were showing typical symptoms of major 'heat stress' - all leaves wilted... Within 30 minutes of water holes filled - leaves were fully turgid.. So the stress was just as much due to lack of water as to the heat...

I did a couple of 'test digs' from a couple of the drained water holes this morning. Results show that the water has moved through the soil an average distance of 5' and an average depth of 26" from the water holes..

Hubby (Ag engineer) feels that this will save us the problems of fungi/mold growth, save us money on pesticide (since we won't be washing it off by watering), save water (it goes right where it's needed), and heavy storm rains won't be wasted by running off the surface of the soil - it'll fill the holes...

I'll be out digging holes in the watermelon patch this afternoon.. don't want to waste the rain coming in from Dennis!! Wish it would hang around for many days!!

Danny's already got several designs for harnessing storm water coming off the barn roof, underground pipe water systems, laying out the raised beds for maximum storm water retention, etc, etc... for next year... He'll be out there when Dennis comes in - studying the drain-off routes..

7/10/2005 9:24:59 AM

Okla

Sounds like if this is the way your climate is every year that next year you need to have a plan to use drip lines or soaker hoses and that will be a way to slow water your soil and get the water down deeper. They KEY is slow watering not just a fast fix like over head watering will help with. Just my thoughts about it.

7/10/2005 3:18:32 PM