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<pre>I was faced with the same problem when I planted 3000 trees in Adelaide. My
rainfall is 800mm or thereabouts and almost all of it falls in the winter.
I finally settled on running my sprinklers for an hour in the first year i.e.
about 36litres of water every 13 days in the summer. While the ground is wet
in the winter and spring I did not water.
As the trees grow larger to about three years I plan to increase watering to
two hours or 70 litres every two weeks. Of course I also monitor ground
wetness. My sprinklers have a little tab I can break off to increase the
throw of the spray. I will do this when the trees reach 2 metres.
Sprinklers are great if you can be on site as you can tell if they are
working or not. Things that stop them are
dirt in the line
Snails crawling on them
Blades of grass caught in the rotating head
Hares that bite through both small and large hoses
joins pulling apart

You can operate a system remotely by phone. Talk to your local irrigator/
Can't give you contacts in the sheparton region as I am in Adelaide. But
there ought to be some there. Find out other clients and ask them about the
service and prices of selected irrigators.
I don't like drippers as they only deliver about 6 litres an hour and it is
very hard to tell if they are not working without spending a lot of time
checking each tree. With sprinklers you can just drive up and down the rows
and see what is happening.
If you want more contact me off line at drewbrow@...
Best regards

Andrew Brown

zubraaman wrote:

> I wish to plant somewhere between 3000 and 4000 olive trees. Can
> some one tell me where I can get a difinitive answer on exactly how
> much water is needed in the first three years after planting
> (assuming 250 trees to ha). If the rainfall in my area is 400mm pa.
> Where should I go for info on grove design?
> Who can I consult regarding Irrigation systems and their
> installation? Is there such a thing as remote watering (ie from
> Melbourne to Sheparton)?
> Any help would be much appreciated.
> Thanks
>
>
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</pre>
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