Tree I-V Story

Necessity is the mother of invention - Plato

It had been a long day. I fell into bed and released a relaxing sigh as the house fell silent. Then I heard it. Water flowing. I had been watering trees that morning... and got distracted.

We were a year into our new house. The bare hillside tract had just been enhanced with six new trees. 

The plan: Spend two hours every Saturday morning slow-soaking each tree for 15-20 minutes. Why slow? The sloped landscape was perfect for surface run-off, but a slow trickle was able to soak nicely into the recently disturbed soil around our trees. So my first attempt yielded one tree getting 15 minutes, the next one got 12 hours, and the remaining four got nothing. 

The rural community where I grew up in the 70's and 80's consisted of mostly full-or part-time farmers. We had neither the internet or much money, so creative problem solving was how we survived. The following Saturday morning as I lay in bed pondering a more efficient system, I had this idea. Attach a deep-feeding tube to a common 5-gallon bucket so the water couldn't run off. If it worked, I could just fill six buckets and be done!

With the energy of a 3-year old on a bag of Skittles, I rose with my vision and headed to the shop. There I found a 12" long stick of 3/4" conduit to use for the feeding tube. By smashing one end, it could be driven into the ground without filling with soil. By drilling a few small cross holes near the bottom, it would allow water flow into the soil. A 3/4" hole in the bottom of an old bucket fit the top of the conduit, and my first prototype was ready to test.

I tapped the tube into the root-well of a tree, then set the bucket on the tube, and went for the hose. After a 30 second fill, I watched in giddy amazement as the entire 5-gallons disappeared into the ground. Total drain time was about 15 minutes, with no run-off. My problem was solved...exceeding my own expectations. A 2-hour process had just been reduced to 5 minutes.

Building a business from this idea took a while to happen, so that story comes later. But let me tell you, solving a problem like MacGyver is a great feeling. I encourage it and wish it on everyone! Thanks for reading.