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Square Foot Gardening

Drip irrigation questions

17 years ago

So i have installed drip irrigation (laser driller 1/4 inch tube with holes every 6 inches) in my raised beds. Turning them on every other day via the timer seems to keep the area under the drip damp but the rest of the bed is completely dry.

I am growing brocolli, brussel sprouts and cauliflower at this time and also herbs and later will grow flowers.

Does it matter if only the area directly around the plant is wet and the rest of the bed is dry? Short of running many many more feet of drip line I don't know how I would keep it evenly moist. I don't want to use spray emitters as the water here is high in salts and plants burn if they get water on their leaves.

How do others irrigate their plants?

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Comment (1)

justaguy2
17 years ago
How far apart are the hoses? Also, you have to dig your hand into the mix to see if the water is fanning out as it goes down, or if it is mostly dropping straight down.

It is entirely normal for the surface to remain dry except for an inch or so on either side of the hose.

What your mix is comprised of makes a difference as well. If you are using Mel's mix you may need to up the percentage of compost to get the moisture to wick into the drier areas well. The peat, once dry, won't wick the moisture to itself. It has to be at least damp before it will do any wicking.

Using a light mulch also helps as the water will kind of circulate a bit from evaporation under the mulch and provide a more even moisture level.

In any case I don't think you will get away with anything over 12" spacing with those soaker hoses (I have the same soakers). Anything over 6" spacing between the hoses and unless you use a moisture trapping mulch you won't get the entire surface moist, but the water should fan out enough as it drops that 3" down everything is watered. If this isn't the case either move the soakers closer together or increase the amount of compost in the mix.
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