I don’t consider myself to be a Green 
Thumb, but I am certainly a Green Thumb wanna-be. We moved in to a new house almost a year ago…in September of 2008. Our first issue was Hurricane Ike. We, like complete ninnies, moved in the day OF the hurricane and for all the newly planted trees in our yard, there was never a prayer. Each of our trees fell over…and fell over again. If you can imagine having too much rain at this point, the soil was just too wet and all over town, trees were falling over, without the winds…especially new trees.
Then, this Spring, we had our yard professionally landscaped to get us started. With that, we planted a few more tress. In total, I think our yard has 9 or 10 new trees. In charges summer and the heat that will not leave us. Not only is the heat too much to bear for the plants and trees that don’t have established roots, but we are in such a drought that we are on water restrictions in our town. One tree was completely dead and the others were right behind it. I couldn’t bear to watch my trees all die! The slow drip on the hose was an all day process with 10 new trees and now I am only allowed to water twice a week before 4am. I was devastated about my trees, but not enough to get up every couple hours in the night to rotate the hose…
I jumped on the Internet and did my research…and I found the Tree I.V. The philosophy behind the Tree I.V. sounds right…you place a stake in the ground by the roots of the tree and water the roots directly, instead of letting water run off the top of the soil and spend all day doing it. So, I bought a set of six buckets and stakes. I was desperate. My hubs and my dad were both skeptical, but I was a believer! I had to be! And you should be a believer now, too! They worked! My trees that were on their way to death are perking up, greening up, and livening up. I have never felt more like a “Green Thumb” in all my life. I saved them!As for effort, it requires very little. I very easily hammered a plastic steak in soil at the bottom of my six neediest trees. Once a week (and no more, as you don’t want to drown them, either) I uncap the stake and place the 5 gallon green bucket (with a hole in the bottom) on the stake and fill it with water. Within 30 minutes, the water is gone, the buckets retrieved, caps place back on the stakes (to keep the hole clean) and I. AM. DONE. worrying about my trees for the week. On top of that I have wasted ZERO water in run off, etc.
I have never been more impressed than I am with the Tree I.V.’s. I am actually about to order 4 more stakes to keep in the base of the other new trees and rotate the buckets to those trees, too. It was simple, smart, and by-golly it worked!
If you have any trees that you are concerned about, especially in this awful heat and drought, don’t give up before you try the Tree I.V. Your trees will love you!
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