Okay, so the other day I decided to finally get around to trying out one of those tree ring watering things. I’d seen them online and at the garden center, and honestly, I was a little skeptical. But my little sapling out back has been looking a bit droopy, so I figured, why not?
Getting Started
First, I grabbed the tree ring from the garage – I think I picked it up on sale last fall. It’s basically just a big, donut-shaped plastic bag with a zipper. Unfolded it and laid it around the base of my tree. It was a little awkward to get it positioned just right, especially with some low-hanging branches in the way, but I managed.
Filling it Up
Next, time to fill this bad boy up. I dragged the hose over, which is always a bit of a pain, and stuck the nozzle into the fill opening of the ring. The opening has a little mesh filter, which I guess is to keep out bugs and debris. Good thinking there.
- Turned on the water.
- Watched as the ring slowly started to inflate. It was kind of mesmerizing, like watching a giant water balloon.
It took a surprisingly long time to fill completely, way longer than I expected. I guess that’s a good thing, means it holds a lot of water! I kept an eye on it, making sure it wasn’t leaking anywhere. Didn’t want to waste water, especially with the water bill being what it is these days.
The Slow Release
Once it was full, I zipped up the fill opening. The whole point of these things is that they slowly release water to the tree’s roots. You can see little holes all along the bottom of the ring. I poked at them a bit, just to make sure they weren’t clogged or anything.
Waiting and Seeing
Now, it’s just a waiting game. I checked on it a few hours later, and it had definitely gone down a bit. It’s supposed to take several hours, even up to a day, for all the water to drain out. That slow drip is supposed to be really good for deep root watering, better than just blasting the tree with a hose for a few minutes. I was trying the method for deep watering.
I’ll have to keep an eye on my little tree over the next few days and see if it perks up. Fingers crossed this tree ring thing actually works! I mean, at that moment, it looked a little bit better.
