The question of whether to water your revegetation is an important one, and never more important than in a year like this.
Watering is one activity that is best assessed and carried out by the landholder, who is able to make ongoing assessments of local conditions. Your efforts in watering plants through summer may be critical in the survival of your revegetation, and will go a long way to demonstrating commitment.
A common criticism about watering revegetated seedlings is that it will result in “soft” plants, with poorly developed roots, which are likely to perish during drier spells in the future. This will occur only if plants are given frequent light waterings, which encourages the formation of a shallow root system.
Far more desirable is infrequent deep watering of your new revegetation. This allows water to percolate deep into the soil profile, allowing it to escape evaporation and remain available to the plant. It also encourages the development of deep roots resulting in a healthier plant, able to survive droughts in the future. Even in a very dry year, one or two deep waterings can make a significant difference, but three or four would be better.
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One effective method of transporting water to
revegetation is a water carrying container
mounted on a trailer. Forty four gallon drums
lashed to a trailer or ute is also very effective.
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In order to achieve deep watering the revegetated stems will need to have been planted in a shallow watering bowl (a shallow depression the shape and size of a deep dinner plate). The main advantage of this small excavation is that any summer rainfall will be channelled into the developing root zone of the newly planted stem. The second advantage is that if watering is required, the watering bowl allows a greater volume of water to be delivered to each plant in a shorter time without running away. Most stems planted by contractors are planted in shallow watering bowls.
When assessing the need to water your revegetation, it is important to note that the need is likely to be greater for those plants that have been planted in drier, sandier, or more exposed parts of your revegetation site. Most of the semi aquatic plants planted close to creek water-level will be able to cope with dry periods because of their proximity to groundwater. For this reason most of these are planted without a watering bowl being excavated.
By digging a little way into the soil with a hand trowel, pick, or even a key (if you’re a Tony Greig fan) you can get a feeling about the level of soil moisture. If soil moisture is low, and there is a spell of hot weather on the way you can dramatically increase the chances of successful revegetation by watering.
Ideally, each plant would get five litres or more in a watering event to ensure a deep watering. Options for delivering water to your revegetation include:
- siphoning from a nearby raised dam
- gravity feeding/siphoning from a water container mounted to a vehicle or trailer for transport to the revegetation site. (See inset picture. 44 gallon drums lashed to the back of a ute or trailer work well)
- Watering directly from a nearby bore
- Watering directly from mains water. (In all cases, 19mm black poly-pipe is a cheap, effective means of reticulating water over longer distances.)
Watering should, at most, only ever be required in the first summer of a plant’s life, but with most revegetation sites having at least hundreds of stems planted each year watering can be a serious commitment on behalf of the landholder. However, in a year like we seem set to have the alternative is to watch a significant proportion of new plantings wither. Please monitor the revegetation on your property, and water if necessary; it might make all the difference!
NOTE:
Sourced from Adelaide & Mount Lofty Ranges Natural Resource Management Board