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Converting to Drip System..?

19 years ago

I spent alot of time fixing the flower bed's spinkler system. It worked ok with an empty bed, but after I planted a few roses and scrubs it is apparaent that it will not work right as the water cannot go to each plant properly.

I'm thinking the only way to get good looking plants would be to go with a drip system, I'm thinking the kind where you lay the black tubes and splice in tees and emitters as needed, instead of the tape type.

I'm not familiar with the conversion I heard you just cap off all the existing risers but one of them?

Also my controller can only do maximum of 99 minutes, is this enough?

Do you recommend I get most of my plants planted before I install the system? As I add plants can I add more emitters easily? Without glue, mess, digging etc like you would with a sprinkler system.

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Comments (3)

The_Mohave__Kid
19 years ago
"I'm thinking the only way to get good looking plants would be to go with a drip system"

Why ???

I'm not clear what system you currently have and why it does not work ??

Drip in general will not make getting water to your plants any easier ... in fact it is often more difficult .. it will simply allow you to apply water at a very slow rate and avoid puddles and run off ... which is useful if you have a heavy clay soil.

"I'm thinking the kind where you lay the black tubes and splice in tees and emitters "

Keep in mind you really do not need ** any ** flexible pipe per say ... emitters are what define a drip system NOT the type of plumbing although many associate drip with flexible black pipe it often leads to poor system design. This type of pipe should be kept to a minamum if used at all.

"As I add plants can I add more emitters easily? "

With a drip "spray" system you will be able to add and remove plants without concern but it will be more work in the beginning since you will need to re route pipes ...

A "drip spray" system is a hybrid of traditional spray systems and drip emitters ... these emitters spray a few feet up to four feet or so and apply water at a very slow rate ... allowing you to irrigate an entire area not simply the root zone of a given plant.

A major benafit is you can add more plants later and not have to adjust the location of your irrigation emiiters with each change to the garden ... very useful if you plan on adding plants to the garden each season .. like flowers ect..

A pressure regulator should be used in this system so you can control the overall distances the emiiters in the system spray and avoid overspray ... in general drip systems require a pressure regulator.

"Also my controller can only do maximum of 99 minutes, is this enough? "

In general it's workable ... you should have more then one start time on your controler .. so you should not be completely limited to one start time .. there are different sized emitters so it depends but I don't see a problem.

Check out Rainbird's Pro catalog .. stay away from the junk at Home Depot ect ... work with a pro irrigation shop.

Good Day ...
dmullen
19 years ago
I have been using the Rain Bird 1/2 " drip tubing with the emitters built in. They are self cleaning. Spacing available is 12", 18" and 24" apart. Works very well.
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BTW I was looking for gardening advice and it appears my personal garden web has switched over to my pro page. I am responding as an amateur urban gardener only. Hope our personal experience can encourage you. I lived on the clay of the Canadian prairies and has a SSW facing side yard that could not grow grass (too hot in summer with reflection off stucco home) so I planted thyme and let it go. The bees came and set up lots of hives underground, so you know it was dry. Best friends a girl gardener could ever have. No gophers, no snakes, no pests. The Burr oak trees thrived. The foundation was just fine. The entire house was on a manual operation system but I had valves installed inside the house. Likely if you have clay without any ancient rock coming up you will be just fine. Go for it. Shut off the water between houses and see what happens. Just mark where you close off lines in case you need to restore the original system. When our house was newer we had some soil settling from the infill for excavation, but that was easily remedied by adding more and resloping. If you have heavy clay you could slope your side to create a simple gutter to drain front and back at the edge of your property line. Ensure your soil slopes away from the houses. You may want to add gravel for a walk way, which ants and trespassers do not like as much as paving blocks. If you are in a suburb with close neighbors you could work on a mutual beneficial no water zone with drainage to front and back. Hope this encourages you. In our new location we have arid steppe again but the soil is sandy and rocky as we sit on an ancient river system. I have done all the line and layout (the fun dirty digging work) but hired a professional to work at the irrigation diverter. I do a lot of math as a K&B designer and felt hiring a pro irrigation brain to calibrate and assemble the additional pressure controls was money well spent.
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chuckr30
18 years ago
I just got an old hose, drilled 1/32" holes in it about every 4". There's my drip system. Now I can hook that up to a regular hose timer.

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