I was using a combination of the soaker hoses and 1/4" drip that had small holes. I had hoped that the vacuum on top would draw air bubbles up. When I tried to put holes in the bottles, they drained way too fast. It worked a little better with a rigid bottle. But there were still problems with controlling flow. I also tried having just a normal bottle with a couple pinholes in the bottom and trying to control flow by loosening the cap. I either got no flow once the bottle collapsed, or emptying a 2 liter bottle in a couple hours, when I was aiming for a couple days. If I tried this again, I would try using one large container, then find a better way to put a hose into it, and use a water timer. Then have all the individual containers fed by a single source. Probably a lot closer to Nancey's. But I'm thinking self-watering containers will be my plan for the future. I'll have to drag tons of water to the balcony anyways, but not having to figure out watering evenly will help.

I would first recommend use of a filter, I prefer a disk filter as they are easilly cleaned, in spite of the fact that several manufacturers indicate that the emitters are *clog free* it has been my experience that this is not necessarilly true. You indicate that this is an "automated" system, are you utilizing a clock and electric valve(s)? I ask this simply for the purpose of valve functionality, if you are simply attaching this to an existing faucet (as your picture seems to indicate) you should have no problems, if you are planning to use an electric valve you may have issues with the valve actuating at such low flow. Good luck, it looks like you have a handle on it.

J-H, You might not want to worry about calculating the amount of water but watch what is happening to the soil around your trees as you apply the water. Ask at the fruit tree(papaya?) forum and find out what they think your trees need in the way of water. Maybe start with about a 0.5 gal/2 days per plant and when it gets hot go up to 1.0 g/ 2 days per plant. The main thing is to watch how the water spreads into the soil and if the trees looked stressed from too little water or too much. Newly transplanted trees need to be kept moist but not soaked every day for a couple of weeks. JMHO Aloha

Hi Teeka: I just recently installed a drip/micro system and still have some of the receipts. Our home came with an inground sprinkler system but in the interest of saving water and selectively watering flowers, I just installed the drip system. Initially I bought 1/2" poly with in line drippers. However, it's stiffer and I found I had gaps because the "bends" had to be large to make turns, etc. But, all is not lost. I've since bought regular 1/2" poly and drippers and misters to use with it. Where there's a gap that I want to remedy in the in-line dripper system, I've just added misters or extra in-line drippers and am happy. I'm using components of the "Mister Landscaper" system available at Lowes because there is a Lowe's very near me and, as expected, I've had to run back there for "more" of various parts. Ignoring the poly with inline drippers, let's say I started with just regular 1/2" poly (which is what I did convert to). I ran this from my water source around my house just laying it on top of the ground (my beds are along the house). I didn't want to blow out the drippers because of high pressure and wanted to keep the line clean so the drippers wouldn't clog, so at the head of the line I installed a filter (about $10) and a 25 PSI pressure regulator ($7.56). Whereever I wanted to water a plant I either installed an inline dripper ($7.56 for a package of 10) or a stake assembly ($3.13) with a small full circle spinning mister ($3.77 for 5). The stake assemblies are above ground and come with a small amount of 1/4" poly so you can attach them to the 1/2" poly feeder line. There were places where I needed more 1/4" poly line than was provided on the stake assembly so I bought a small roll of 1/4" vinyl tubing (? price) and connectors (again, receipt gone) to extend the secondary line and place the stake where it was needed. The stake assemblies do not come with any type of mister so you must buy these separately. There are various types (depending on the spray pattern you wish). The one thing I did which I would advise against was being too quick to mulch so as to "finish" the job. It's easy to see where the elevated misters are watering because the mulch is wet. But the inline drippers and their wet area are covered by mulch so I've had to probe through the mulch to find the drippers and see where it's wet. I should have waited on the mulch, run the system and evaluated the water pattern, corrected whatever needed correcting, and then mulched. I did not attach a timer to the system, thinking I would just turn it on when the plants needed it. However, now that I'm going to be away for several days I'm sorry. I'll revert to the regular in ground system to keep my garden alive. When I return from my trip, I think adding a timer will be in the cards. Home Depot also has these type systems from DIG corporation. Their web site is http://www.digcorp.com I also read that irrigation supply stores have components for drip systems. I didn't do comparison shopping. I hope that the gas money I saved by only having to go to the nearer store, compensated for whatever I may have saved elsewhere. June Here is a link that might be useful: Mister Landscaper