So what do you worry about once you have planted a thousand saplings?? Well, you worry about being able to water them and to keep them safe from wild animal attack. So we changed our focus to this.
Since we planted in July, our primary source of irrigation would be the rains. And any farmer knows, that nothing compares to rainfall for irrigation, no matter how many tube wells you may have! However, erratic rainfall and changing weather cycles makes it risky to depend on rain.
We had already dug a tube well, and built a tank, but now the challenge was on how to we carry this water through the entire farm. We devised a gravity based water system. Using a 2 inch pvc pipe and periodic couplings and taps, we managed to spread out a network of pipes across the farm.
As long as the tank at the top of the farm has water, one can open the tap anywhere on the farm, and would get a solid flow of water.
The pipes were spread across almost 1000 running feet!
Over time, the pipes have become a permanent feature, and almost disappeared from the surface. Only the taps are visible at various points.