Food Plot Irrigation System

bueller

Moderator
I have a food plot in the "front yard" of our trailer. We have electricity on site and water comes from a sand point well that we pounded into the ground with a sledgehammer. We usually only "water" the plot when trying to get late summer/fall plots established in our droughty sand soil.

electric powered shallow well pump, one line for the trailer, one line for the foodplot
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sprinkler timer
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electric solenid valves
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sprinkler heads on tripods, crop circles, clear and evident results
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image.jpg Here is my apple trees watering system looking to upgrade a bit this year.
 
Deer Kar I got several of those, only problem is I can only carry 2 at a time. :(
 
I count on the rain dance gurus.
 
Got this for 100 bucks, works good for my trees.
 
That looks great and is something I was thinking of trying at my place. You have one line going to your trailer, does that provide any water pressure or does the well pump provide all the pressure? Any thoughts on how far and how much lift/rise you could use with your system? I have some apple trees that are several hundred feet and with probably 15 feet of rise away from a low spot that I was thinking of putting a sand-point. Would this work or is the combination of distance and lift limit me?
 
That looks great and is something I was thinking of trying at my place. You have one line going to your trailer, does that provide any water pressure or does the well pump provide all the pressure? Any thoughts on how far and how much lift/rise you could use with your system? I have some apple trees that are several hundred feet and with probably 15 feet of rise away from a low spot that I was thinking of putting a sand-point. Would this work or is the combination of distance and lift limit me?

The well pump provides the water pressure for the trailer, as if the trailer is hooked up to "city" water at a campground. The distance you speak of wouldn't be a problem for watering trees, rotating sprinkler heads is another story. You will lose some pressure and therefore water volume over the length of the run, we use 3/4" hose to combat this. The 15 foot rise I'm not sure about. I think most shallow well pumps are recommended for a lift of 25 feet or less. This refers to the vertical lift (input/suction side of the pump), height of your water table. I think you would be ok because the 15 foot rise your talking about would be on the output side of the pump which is under pressure from the pump output.

What really makes this setup work for us is the sprinkler timer. It gives us the ability to run the "irrigation" at set times each day while we are 200+ miles away.
 
Nice, I have an irrigation system at my home and they are a great tool. You could also run several valves and water different areas. I'm having electric installed at my place this spring and i will try a sandpoint later this summer. Thanks!
 
I wanted to try and rig up some kind of a gravity feed tank with a soaker hose. Park the tank on a high spot for the night or day and see if it empties. anyone try anything like this?
 
Newish, that is what we are doing this year to water apples we planted this winter. We have the tank and most of the plumbing supplies but haven't set it up yet.
 
View attachment 19 Here is my apple trees watering system looking to upgrade a bit this year.
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Picked up this 290 gal container at a auction this spring for $65. Had the old running gear in the weeds. Got my upgrade done just in time for the WETTEST spring/early summer I have ever had. I might use it to float to my trees !!!!!!
 
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Picked up this 290 gal container at a auction this spring for $65. Had the old running gear in the weeds. Got my upgrade done just in time for the WETTEST spring/early summer I have ever had. I might use it to float to my trees !!!!!!

Looks good! I was thinking along these lines as well and maybe adding a 12v pump. The more trees I'm planting the more water I have to carry and 290gal should do it for now.
 
Looks good! I was thinking along these lines as well and maybe adding a 12v pump. The more trees I'm planting the more water I have to carry and 290gal should do it for now.
I was given a 2.5 hsp. Trash pump with 2 25 ft. 2 inch hoses by a friend who I have hunt with me. He will get much better stands this year. ha!!
 
For trees I use a 55 gallon plastic water barrel I got off craiglist. A Honda WX10 water pump.

Works slick as heck. Use the pump to fill the barrel with pond water, then use the pump to water the trees from the barrel.
 
To water my fruit trees I use a 5 gallon bucket with a few small holes around the bottom - I leave these inside the cage and then fill them with my 55 gallon 3 point sprayer. I have found that once a week is plenty enough. The small holes allow a good soaking of the soil and limits what washes elsewhere. Watering a true foodplot simply takes far more effort or water than I care to put into it.
 
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