Automating watering can be very simple, or extremely complex. Pretty much all the systems are the same as you would setup for automatic sprinklers - only the terminal delivery is drippers/micro sprayers. On the simple end, you can have a battery operated timer valve hooked up to a hose faucet, a pressure reducer, then a hose to go to your plants, an adapter from the hose to drip irrigation hose, and then a series of drippers/sprayers to each container. The one I used for a while worked just fine. But you must check frequently and replace run down batteries. A more standard automated system is to attach the drip line to a irrigation valve, and a irrigation timer, just as would be done with a sprinkler system. Some manufactures make valves specifically for drip, and they quickly assemble with a pressure reducer often needed for a drip/micro spray system. Typical household or irrigation supply pressure is higher than you want for drip. Fertigation is definitely a possibility. And there are systems for both the simple hose bib attachment above, or complex systems. Aside from a venturi valve injector, most systems are rather spendy. Venturi valves cost less, but require more custom parts and titration work. The simpler pressurized systems (EZflow, etc) do have drawbacks in that they solution does not remain constant over time. Mid-line systems (dosamatic, dosatron about $350 or so) are nice options if one can afford it. Plants can wait for a dose of fertilizer. They can't wait for a water when dry. You can always add in a fertilizer injector later on if you so desire. But I'd definitely recommend going with auto watering if the hosing running from pot to pot and the requisite budget fit your situation. This post was edited by charina on Fri, Mar 28, 14 at 12:36

Thanks for the reply. I think I may have found a way to solve the problem, but I'm not exactly sure why it works. What I have to do is make sure the main sprinkler water shutoff valve is on, then run the zone that has the filler for the waterfall on it. That seems to stop the leak, if there was one to begin with. I'm guessing that there may be some slight amount of suction created by the waterfall pump on the valve and that when there is no initial pressure on the other side of the valve (when the main sprinkler water valve is shut off) it is enough to create a leak. But when the sprinkler main water valve is on and the zone is activated and then turned off, it comes to some type of equilibrium which closes the valve tight enough to prevent a leak. I'm testing it all out right now, but would love to hear from those more knowledgeable on the subject (just about everyone) as to wether my idea makes any sense. Thanks.

Jeremy, Hopefully, the guys who installed the sprinkler system for you, put in a quick and easy to access, method to turn off the main to the system, and then to drain out the water that's stored between there and the sprinkler valves, and in the backflow device. Assuming that's true, then you should be good to turn it on FOR A FEW HOURS ONLY, any time now. BUT... You MUST drain the water back out of the backflow valve etc. immediately after you finish watering. If you don't do it right after the sprinklers finish, every time, then you will forget about it, and a couple days later you will wake up in the morning to the sound of running water. Like me, you will wonder who woke up early enough to already be in the shower. Then later when you wake again, you'll realize the water is still running. Then you'll lay there and wonder...just where is that water running? Sooner or later you'll discover you have a new 10 foot fountain in your front yard. And it has a great big pool underneath it. If you're particularly unlucky, the back flow device is right near the basement window well, and your basement is flooding. Then, once you get the water turned off, you'll find out those 2 or 3 cute little plastic parts in that backflow device cost about 100 bucks if you buy and install them yourself, or I imagine twice that if you have someone else install them. Actually, it was my buddy whose basement flooded, and had the fountain. My backflow is pretty far from the house, and both times I messed up and forgot to drain it, it didn't actually do a fountain it just leaked out enough water to make the yard really muddy for a few days. Depending on weather and snow fall, I usually turn mine on, and water, and then drain it again several times each spring. I never turn it on and leave it on until Mother's Day, and even then, I keep a sharp eye on the weather, and I go cover up the back flow device with some thick blankets if we get a frost warning. Denver last frost is about the same as Fort Collins, so Mothers Day is probably a sensible date for you to go by also. Bruce

If your emitters are failing: 1. Keep your drip heads above your mulch to keep the dirt out. 2. If it is a new system, flush the lines before installing the dripper heads. I have installed about 1000' of 1/2" tubing and another 1500' of 1/4" tubing to my approximately 800 dripper heads. A rather large system on four zones. Three years ago (first year), I had two dozen or so failures, but I didn't keep the heads off the ground. Now I do, and failures do not occur. Then again, I also switched manufacturers for the replacements, but the original ones not replaced are still doing fine. I use 1/2, 1, and 2 gph drippers, they all work equally well. I also had used a soaker hose, the 1/4" kind with a hole every foot or so. NOT!!! The holes clog and was totally ineffectual. I pulled almost all of it out, I have a few sections that are still working, but they are only watering very xeric plants that get enough water if even 2/3 of the holes were clogged. My system uses cistern water (10,000 gal tank buried in the front yard, water pulled out with a shallow-well pump), so hardness isn't a problem. The pump puts out 30-60 psi, I do not reduce it, and the only time an emitter has blown off it has been because of operator error. If you are using well water, then you may be getting sand and junk inside your lines clogging your emitters. Install a filter and you should be in business. Incidentally, I live at 7000' just east of Albuquerque, and the area around my house looks like a dense jungle of nothing but native plants with penstemons (at least 8 varieties), coneflower, chocolate flower, hyssops, yarrow, yucca, golden currant, sand cherry, salvias, thymes (non-native, but I wanted the groundcover), sumacs, and at least 20 other native species, all irrigated by emitters. Wouldn't do it any other way! Scott