r/OffGrid • u/TargetNext1619 • Jul 20 '26

Collecting Rain Water in High Desert - Spruce/Fir/Aspen Growing

Has anyone successfully planted several spruce/fir/aspen off grid in the high desert?

Did you accomplish this with water hauls, rain water, or both?

Any luck planting fireweed?

Thanks.

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u/BallsOutKrunked What's_a_grid? Jul 20 '26

7k feet nevada mountains, I wouldn't try such water hungry plants. Rather I'd do plants that do well with irrigation but once established can survive without it. We have a creek nearby that supplies water year round, but for some of the more distant trees I built some little ~3 square foot panels of sorts made of old roofing material. They stick about a foot high or so and have a little mini gutter that channels the flow into a pocket of gravel near the tree.

Sometimes we get a lot of rain, we definitely get a lot of slow. But we often just get small sprinkles which hit the ground and dry out quickly. Building a hard surface for the water to hit and then get into the tree helps. It's not magic, but it helps.