HOZELOCK - Universal Irrigation Kit : Ideal for Watering Borders, Flowerbeds and Vegetable Gardens, Easydrip Universal Drippers/sprinklers, Supplied with 15m of Ø 13mm Hose [7023 0000]

Product Information

Whatever irrigation system you’ve set up for your young or newly planted trees, the Orbit 96781 ‘Buddy HF’ Single-Port Digital Tap Timer allows you to automate the entire watering process. Connect the timer to your outside tap and connect your garden hose to the timer. Being a single-port timer, you can only attach one hose to it, however. The HF in the timer’s name stands for High Flow, in that it delivers 20% more water flow than most other timers. The bag capacity is 75L of water, released slowly over five to seven hours for even and sustained watering of your trees. Programming instructions on the dial are easy to follow for those not used to programming an automatic timer. Usable anywhere in the garden – flowerbeds, vegetable gardens and the greenhouse, just to name a few.

You will need to buy the timer separately to automate this watering system. This is not essential because you can just turn the tap on manually when needed. We’ve made the Brentmoor Slow Release Tree Watering Bags the Runner-up in our review of Watering Kits and Systems for Newly Planted Trees. We like that it’s simple to use and inexpensive, and provides a low-tech solution for those who have just a couple of new trees in their garden. The cleverly engineered Universal Drippers can be easily connected to the Flexi Hose and are designed to deliver water from 0 to 40 litres per hour to the surrounding area Keeping newly planted trees alive and creating the best environment for them to flourish is a complex task. Set aside your worries about how and when to water them by automating the irrigation process. Setting up an irrigation system is the best way to go.

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Gardening experts state that the best watering system for newly planted trees is a soaker hose or a drip irrigation system. We cover both in this review. Two UV-treated PVC watering bags come with two adjustable straps to attach them securely to your trees. Cut the hose to whatever length(s) you want. We recommend using sections not longer than 30m. Your tree may be further into your garden than this, so just hook the soaker hose to your garden hose with a universal connector. This is a good idea anyway because if you connect the soaker hose to your outside tap and then take it over your patio and lawn to your tree, water soaks out everywhere and your patio and lawn will get wet too. And you may not want this. The drippers have been cleverly designed to connect to the flexi hose and can deliver water from 0 to 40 litres per hour. Each dripper is capable of watering up to 100cm in diameter providing extensive coverage. Drip irrigation is a gentle way of watering plants and trees. The trees are vulnerable after being moved to their new location and the last thing they want is a strong blast of water, plus the water runs away from the base of the tree. These Brentmoor bags deliver 75L of water over a period of five to seven hours. The water goes down directly to the tree’s roots, eliminating run-off and evaporation from the surface. This saves you money, in not using water that’s wasted, but also helps out the environment.

Where this really comes into its own is when it’s placed along a new hedge or a long line of freshly planted trees. In this review, we take a look at different watering systems that do the job well, specifically a drip watering system, a soaker hose, and a low-tech bag irrigation system. As none of these are automated when you buy them, we have included a review of an Orbit water timer. The kit comes with 10 drippers, each capable of watering up to 100cm in diameter therefore providing extensive coverage. You connect each bag around the tree trunk using the zipper it has and the separate strap (included). However, if your tree is too large for one bag, just zip two bags together and fill each bag with water (using your garden hose) separately. Just refill the bags when you want to deliver the next dose of water to the trees – once or twice a week is usually enough, depending on the weather. A really useful feature is that you can adjust the flow of water through each dripper separately. If you’re watering two trees with the same hose/kit and they each have different watering requirements, you can make sure that each tree receives the correct amount of water. The end of the hose has a cap to ensure that all the water exits through the drippers. Consider replacing this with a sprinkler for an additional way of irrigating your tree.

Instruction Booklet

The HydroSure Soaker Hose delivers water directly to the base of multiple newly planted trees and is really good if you have a long length of planted trees or hedging, up a long driveway for example – you won’t waste water. You can also cut the porous rubber hose into lengths to surround each tree and deliver it to the roots by connecting the soaker hose to your garden hose. This isn’t an automatic system yet, so you need to buy a water timer to set up scheduled sessions – see the next review for our recommendation for this. The Orbit 96781 ‘Buddy HF’ Single-Port Digital Tap Timer has all the features to help you plan your watering schedule for any newly planted trees. It handles anything from a simple ‘one session a day’ schedule to a complicated timetable of several watering periods a day separated by an interval of time or a few days. The rain delay feature lets you temporarily and automatically cancel watering during a rainy period. Unfortunately, you can only connect one hose to this Orbit timer. If you have a complicated irrigation system, look at other Orbit timers (there’s quite a range) or figure out how to split the one hose into more within the system using multi-connectors. The Brentmoor Slow Release Tree Watering Bags system provides a simple and inexpensive way of caring for newly planted or transplanted trees. It does require some effort on your part to fill and remember to refill the bags with water, but that’s relatively minimal compared to the benefits of the drip irrigation system. For just a few trees, you don’t need to invest in an expensive system and an automated timer.