How long should I water with a soaker hose?

Question

I have 3 Bradford pear trees that are about 4 years old. I have very dense clay soil and one tree is probably root bound. The other 2 have finally started to grow well. They are planted about 15 feet apart and I have stretched a soaker hose all around the area where they are planted. How long should I water at each time to make sure the water is getting deep enough to keep there roots spreading. I've heard that under watering at each time just fills their root balls up and can keep them from developing good tap roots. So, what I'm looking for is how long should I water them and how long I should wait between watering. It's currently very dry here, but we are not under any water restrictions at this time. Thanks

Answer 1

you can test it.... roll up the hose into a container.... turn it on and let it run a set time.... then measure the ammount of water it let thru......

for smaller trees, a five gallon bucket with holes in the bottom does a fine job of watering slow and deep.... for bigger trees, a few of them around the tree will do the same.... much like the GATOR..... saves you going out there to move the hose all the time, too....

Answer 2

what jason said

Answer 3

I use a tree gator on my trees.  I don't know what equivalent that would be with a soaker hose.  The time you leave the soaker hose on depends on how high you have the water turned up.  If you've got it at a gentle drip I would go for at least an hour.

Answer 4

hour to a hour and a half should be plenty