It has been a hot and dry summer in my neck of the woods. Hot and dry enough that many of us are worried about our trees dying. Even though the heat has more-or-less died off, the drought lingers. So, a few months back I modified some perfectly good 5 Gal buckets to provide some slow flow watering to our most susceptible young trees.
The key to making sure that water is not wasted is to water slowly to prevent run-off. So a small hole is drilled in the bottom. I recommend the hole be made near the outer edge. Odds are you will not be able to set the bucket level, so use this to help make sure all of the water drains out by rotating it so the hole is at the lowest point. (To make this easier, I marked this point on the side of the bucket.) The lid is used to help keep out debris, the hole in the lid makes it easy to quickly refill the bucked with a hose. Detailed instructions and hole measurements are provided in the following 45-second video/slideshow.
Simple and effective. With the small hole I used, the 5-gal bucket will empty in under 1-hour.
