Ivan wrote:

It looks like large gravel. There may not be much sun, but my weeds turn into a tangled mess pretty easily.

so before i remodeled i sprayed industrial strength weed killer on the soil then a layer of sand and a layer of mixed 1/4"- 3/8" gravel. but i do have weeds grow on occasion under the stands, i just pretty much stay on top of it and when i see a weed i spray with weed killer and pull from the roots by hand the next day. i try to stay on it as much as possible, so far i have only had to pull like 3-4 weeds on one given day. but i do my own lawn maintenance every Saturday morning and walk around with a bottle of weed killer like ghostbusters lol.

Very nice setup. Do you have enough organics to avoid part of the pot drying completely? That would be my concern with drippers.

As for weeds.. : I planted ferns around one area of trees. The trees standing against my greenhouse have a 10cm thick layer of chopped branches from my annual platanus trimmings.
I find the ferns keep the air moist for longer and cool the graden during the hottest part of the day

leatherback wrote:

Very nice setup. Do you have enough organics to avoid part of the pot drying completely? That would be my concern with drippers.

ah yes, so this year after re potting most my trees i have added more organics to hold moisture. last year i had leaf damage on all my deciduous trees cause i couldn't keep up with watering while i was at work and the intense heat would go to town and dry everything out. i had the same concern with drippers that it would only concentrate watering to one location but during this testing i have kept close eye on that and noticed the water actually gets absorbed throughout the soil in the whole pot itself which surprised me and also added 2 drippers to larger pots. i have one juniper in 100% akadama and every time i move soil around in the outer portion of the pot to see if its getting water evenly it seems the substract is evenly saturated about 1/8" under the top layer. but as stated the system is not meant to be a permanent watering source but only for emergencies on very hot days.

i love your foggers idea. i think im going to have to add some to mine.

realized i never updated the thread in regards to the watering system. so after half a year the system has worked well for its intentions (watering while im at work or wont be home for the summer days/ vacation). i did end up switching out all the drippers from 1GPH discharge to 2GPH as the smaller holes were getting clogged from calcium build up. havent had any clogged drippers since. the wifi watering system/ timer has not failed me yet being able to water literally from anywhere as long as i have service.
OH! and i also finally got around to redoing the fencing around the whole house front and back so now the trees have a nice back drop.

Speaking of garden remodel -

I have all the trees set up facing the back patio, which seems pretty natural, but that means that the trees on one side are facing away from the sun, if I put the front of the tree facing the patio. That seems like what I want to do, since that is where I stand, but it means the heavy sun is on their back. Same thing with the side of the patio, where the heavy sun would come from the side.

Will the sun shining from the back have the wrong influence on growth? Should I face them away from me?

I don't have much of an option without buying another house, which is not practical right now.

3rd generation garden!

crent89 wrote:

realized i never updated the thread in regards to the watering system. so after half a year the system has worked well for its intentions (watering while im at work or wont be home for the summer days/ vacation). i did end up switching out all the drippers from 1GPH discharge to 2GPH as the smaller holes were getting clogged from calcium build up. havent had any clogged drippers since. the wifi watering system/ timer has not failed me yet being able to water literally from anywhere as long as i have service.
OH! and i also finally got around to redoing the fencing around the whole house front and back so now the trees have a nice back drop.

Nice job. I'm pretty much in the same situation: away from home for about 1/3 of the year for business travel and have to rely on automation to keep my plants alive. (Or: I would normally be without COVID around...)

Care to share what you're using for wifi watering system and your experience with it?

Ivan wrote:

Will the sun shining from the back have the wrong influence on growth? Should I face them away from me?

so if you notice before i remodeled the garden i had the trees under the patio and would only get morning sun behind them for about 4-5 hours. Had them sitting like that for 2 year and didn't have much of a problem. i did have a few trees that got more growth on the back but i would simply rotate the trees from time to time, but its not something i did often. just be aware that some trees can indeed be sensitive to that rotating. most trees i had took it well but i had a firethorn that didnt like it much and every time i would rotate, it would drop about a dozen leaves. hope that helps

BofhSkull wrote:

Care to share what you're using for wifi watering system and your experience with it?

so the wifi system i use is Orbit B-Hyve www.orbitonline.com/product/b-hyve-smart...rigation-controller/ and you download the app and control it from the phone anywhere you get service. as for the valve i used orbit inline manifold www.orbitonline.com/product/inline-sprinkler-valve/ which hooks up to the timer system. like i mentioned in my previous post i have yet to have a problem with the timer failing but depending on how hard your water is will probably determine what drippers/ misters you use. its still not something i use as a permanent watering source but only for emergencies for when i wont make it home intime during summer and we are at high temps (110*F/43*C) or if i simply cant find someone to water the trees while on vacation tho i would rather water my trees myself as i really enjoy doing so. during summer i do use it quit often and has worked fine. hope this helps.

Will the wifi system's app tell you if the water is turned on going into it?

Many years ago I left on vacation, leaving a timer to turn the sprinklers on. When we go back, there was a note on the door from the neighbor telling me that somebody had come by and turned the hose on while we were gone. He had thoughtfully turned the water off, saving me some water.

They were all dead.