FAQ: Willows for Municipalities Program for Effluent Irrigation
Question: Interested in this opportunity as we have recently completed a new lagoon project. What is the recommended maintenance for these willows once planted?
Answer: The willow is far less drought resistant than the hybrid poplar varieties for example.
How you would maintain depends on whether you are thinking of using the willow for an effluent irrigation project as a means of consuming post treated nutrient effluent waters or whether you are installing the trees only for salinity control around the lagoon.
Either way I would suggest installing the trees in lower maintenance system with the entire area pre-worked....deep fine tilled to five inch depth and then the trees machine planted (one tree every two to three seconds) then three mil plastic mulch film installed over the trees and shallow rooted turf grass planted in between the plastic mulched tree rows and for three meters outside the entire perameter of tree installations and three meters on the inside perameter of the entire planting as well.
Once planted/mulched/grass seeded, the weeds that come between the tree rows would need to be mowed for the first year till the grass forms a solid sod after which most annual and perennial weeds of concern would no longer grow.
You would also want to have someone walk the rows in late May and then late June to pull any small weeds that come through the tree holes of the plastic mulch so they don't become big weeds as they can become super big weeds as they are protected by the plastic mulch in the same ways the trees are. If the weeds become big do NOT pull them out because they will form a giant root ball that will make big holes in the plastic when pulled out so if big simply snip them off at ground level or leave them for that year to stop snow as these big weeds are all annuals that die on their own in the fall.
If using effluent irrigation you might wish to use simply a good long filter on the water intake for the pump you are using to pump water to the trees. There's different watering systems you can employ depending upon the lay of the land of your tree lot ie: whether the lot is on level land, low lying or on rolling land. You can install drip irrigation above the plastic or you can install drip or simply perforated 1/2 or 3/4 inch line underneath or on top the plastic mulch film.
You can have your own works department do this work from planting, mulching, grassing to installing irrigation. HELP also does this work at contractor rates...we can give a quote if you request. For effluent irrigation there is a requirement for you to do an environmental assessment that determines well depths in the area, potential run off, and you would have to install if I recall about one pizometer per each two acres of wood lot to monitor sub-surface water depth to ensure you are not effluent irrigating too much that is bringing the water table up in which case you would reduce the amount of effluent irrigation applied per month for example.
Question: Interested in this opportunity as we have recently completed a new lagoon project. What is the recommended maintenance for these willows once planted?
Answer: The willow is far less drought resistant than the hybrid poplar varieties for example.
How you would maintain depends on whether you are thinking of using the willow for an effluent irrigation project as a means of consuming post treated nutrient effluent waters or whether you are installing the trees only for salinity control around the lagoon.
Either way I would suggest installing the trees in lower maintenance system with the entire area pre-worked....deep fine tilled to five inch depth and then the trees machine planted (one tree every two to three seconds) then three mil plastic mulch film installed over the trees and shallow rooted turf grass planted in between the plastic mulched tree rows and for three meters outside the entire perameter of tree installations and three meters on the inside perameter of the entire planting as well.
Once planted/mulched/grass seeded, the weeds that come between the tree rows would need to be mowed for the first year till the grass forms a solid sod after which most annual and perennial weeds of concern would no longer grow.
You would also want to have someone walk the rows in late May and then late June to pull any small weeds that come through the tree holes of the plastic mulch so they don't become big weeds as they can become super big weeds as they are protected by the plastic mulch in the same ways the trees are. If the weeds become big do NOT pull them out because they will form a giant root ball that will make big holes in the plastic when pulled out so if big simply snip them off at ground level or leave them for that year to stop snow as these big weeds are all annuals that die on their own in the fall.
If using effluent irrigation you might wish to use simply a good long filter on the water intake for the pump you are using to pump water to the trees. There's different watering systems you can employ depending upon the lay of the land of your tree lot ie: whether the lot is on level land, low lying or on rolling land. You can install drip irrigation above the plastic or you can install drip or simply perforated 1/2 or 3/4 inch line underneath or on top the plastic mulch film.
You can have your own works department do this work from planting, mulching, grassing to installing irrigation. HELP also does this work at contractor rates...we can give a quote if you request. For effluent irrigation there is a requirement for you to do an environmental assessment that determines well depths in the area, potential run off, and you would have to install if I recall about one pizometer per each two acres of wood lot to monitor sub-surface water depth to ensure you are not effluent irrigating too much that is bringing the water table up in which case you would reduce the amount of effluent irrigation applied per month for example.