Hey B, Its been a heck of a bad summer hasnt it? When I had my trees in Austin area I had to water a good bit during the summer to get any size going. I think in heat and drought like we deal with some water is needed for the health of the tree. I ran drip to some of my young apple trees this summer and I used the spikes that put out about five little individual streams of water and I used only one spike per tree but the trees are pretty small and next year I may need to add one more per tree. So far the drip system is working great as the trees have grown well in spite of the awful heat. Scape

My backyard has a new 5 valve sprinkler system on a timer. In areas where plants don't like being watered from above, or are big enough to block the sprinklers from covering, and near groupings of potted plants, I have retrofitted Orbit Quad manifold drip heads on top of the risers. I am switching back and forth between sprinklers and drip whenever it suits me. Consider installing sprinklers before planting and adapting it to your changing circumstances later. I am currently swapping in more thoughtfully distributed drip emitters in an effort to lower my water consumption in a mostly tropical garden, by putting the water exactly where I need it. I mostly use the flag emitters and have not yet had any problems with clogging. Last year I removed all the drip in the frontyard borders and re-installed sprinkler heads on the risers for better coverage after removing a lot of cannas. I am slowly switching to Australian and South African natives and will revert back to drip.

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

One suggestion is to find a sprinkler head you don't need (like a popup sprinkler used for shrubs that are mature enough that they no longer need irragation) or you can install a new 1/2" outlet to your existing system. Then all you need to do is attach a drip head conversion kit. It allows you to run up to eight 1/4" microtubes from the single head and you can regulate the flow/pressure to each tube. You can buy the converter at the big box stores. I've used them for years and have had no problems with pressure. I've included a link to the conversion kit sold on the Drip Store. Here is a link that might be useful: Drip Store Head Conversion Kit