I agree with Nil13, but my contractor insisted on installing Netafim and my husband was convinced to go along. I would rather have the rotors because I have to dig up the Netafim for repairs which is a drag. The above ground system is easier to maintain. OTOH, I might be cursing at them, if I had them because the dogs would be forever snapping them off. I'm not having any trouble maintaining ceanothus, manzanitas, and buckwheats with the Netafim, though.

netafim doesn't have to be installed in the ground. I always specify that they be installed at grade and just covered with mulch. The gophers are less likely to damage them that way. Of course the coyotes are more likely to get the surface installations so there's that.

Unless you HAVE to install drip for a turf rebate or something, use MP rotators whenever possible. Reserve drip tape for small irregularly shaped planting areas. I had a prpject where we had to lay down about a mile of drip tape and it was just dumb. We kept the original system so the owner could switch over to MP rotators when the drip tape needs replacing.

The advice I like to give people when they are planning an irrigation system is, "water the area not the plants."

Thanks so much Nil13 and jxbrown! Of course, I just tore out all of the old galvanized piping for our house's (pretty busted) sprinklers. I was hoping not to have to install a whole new set of hard lines for sprinklers, though I see what you're saying about the MP rotators. Is it possible to achieve a similar result with a combination of drip tape and micro spray? And is there any sense to Las Pilitas' idea that maybe hand-watering natives is a better move, or is that just too crazy?

Thanks!

I always recommend a hardline irrigation system even if you rarely use it.

I have had both types of systems over the last 20+ years here. I have slowly converted all the Sprinklers to Netafim drip over the years, only the lawns are left and I don't plan to change that. I have many natives among my plantings and they have done the same under both systems. The main reason for my change is that plants can block the spray pattern. I agree that sprinklers can be lower maintenance than drip, especially with breakable external drippers. I have never had a gopher or coyote (or dog) damage my surface drip lines - so maybe I'm lucky. I also do not have heavy clay soil. I agree that very large area's are cheaper to irrigate with Sprinklers.

We tore out our irrigation system. We have four 55 gallon rain barrels and get "warm up " water from the shower to do most of our irrigation. Therefore, it has to be by hand. Our garden is pretty small though- about 3000 square feet.

A knowledgeable worker at Rancho Santa Margherita Botanic Gardens explained to me that roots go where the water is and if you do shallow watering the roots stay at the surface and are prone to drying out. If you do deep watering the roots go down and become more drought tolerant. That made sense to my simplistic mind. It would also make sense that if you spread the water out (deeply) the roots will spread.

Only during summer we have to water our vegetable and fruit garden with the hose, about once a week.

I have seen many comments like this, and I find it somewhat amazing. Last summer I reduced my water use in the landscape in some area's to 0, others to 20-30% of normal - nothing died, (the lawn went mostly dormant) but it was far from optimal. Even at this rate I was using 700 gallons per DAY. So if we figure 250 gallons per day for inside use - we are still looking at 500 gallons a day - not enough rain barrels for that. Yes my landscape is around 10000 sqf with 1000 in lawn - but still. An oh yes the bucket in the shower will net 1-2 gallons per day - whoopee

rainwater collection in SoCal is mostly pointless because of the extended dry season. You need a cistern with a capacity of 5-10,000 gallons to make it worthwhile. Greywater is a much better option because it produces water every day during the summer.

My Netafim was installed at grade, but over time it digs itself into the ground and gets covered by mulch and plants.

To the OP: I have a lot of separate circuits. It's more expensive to set up that way, but it allows me a lot of flexibility in my watering. For instance, I water the ground cover in the front 2-3 times per year, as needed, the groundcover in back weekly due to dog urine, and the vegetable bed 2-3 times per week. I spend a lot of time fiddling with the controller, though.

I use the water in my rain tanks for the pond and newly planted things that need additional hand watering.

Good to know jxbrown. I have 3 rain barrels right now, but wasn't really sure how to incorporate them. Just a couple quick questions, what controller are you using? I haven't decided on which one yet. Was actually looking at this Spruce controller, but can't tell if it's actually helpful, or just bells and whistles

http://www.spruceirrigation.com/

Also, what groundcover do you have? We were thinking of doing dymondia, and possibly a couple small spots of native bentgrass sod.

Thanks!!!

I have Dymondia. I live about 2 miles from the beach and I understand that it does less well further inland. Last year I waited until it looked stressed before watering and so I didn't water until August. I can't remember if I watered two or three times. I have no trouble with weeds infiltrating except along the edge with the neighbor's lawn where it gets a little overspray. The first year required a lot of hand weeding

in my backyard, the Dymondia does less well due to the dog urine and needs more water. We have stepping stones there since it doesn't tolerate foot traffic well.

I have two 500 gallon rain tanks sitting on their own concrete pad. That amount of water lasts most of the year. I'd like two more on the other side of the house someday

Right now I have some ordinary kind of controller that the contractor installed to manage eleven circuits. I also have a smart, wifi controller in a box that I'm planning on installing any day now....

I have read some negatives about drip with natives, but if you read closely, part of the problem is the timing of the watering, not the delivery method. Natives don't like summer water, so any automatic sprinkler system should be adjusted seasonally.

I don't believe the rain barrels were pointless. It didn't rain much in So Cal but with the barrels it was like every time it rained, for us it rained twice. We'd follow the weather reports and when rain was forecast we'd empty the barrels. It gave our whole yard a very good deep soaking. I'm still nursing what we got from the last storm and figure it will last another month.

700 gallons a day is insane. That's like almost 14 of our barrels every day! Maybe it's time to rethink that garden. Drought is only going to get worse in the near future, but from what the weather and climate experts say. Everyone should do whatever they can to conserve...

Thanks for all of the feedback! This might be a different post, but given that the problem might be summer watering, like Igteacher mentioned, is it too late already to plant native plants? We're about 6-7 miles from the coast in the Leimert Park part of LA, and I know that closer to the coast the summer doesn't matter as much, but I'm not sure how close to the coast you have to be.

Is it better to wait until next Fall?

Thanks!

How much and what are you going to plant? I plant some filler in the shoulder seasons, but if I were going to put in a lot of stuff (i.e. $$$$), I would wait. Some things are more resilient than others, though.

I bought some mangy looking geranium Rozanne pots for off a sale table last summer, planted them, and forgot to water them. They "died". Recently I looked at the spot where they were planted and can you guess what is growing out of the middle of each "dead" plant?

D Byrne, Since you are in LA you should first read the Houzz article from yesterday or the day before about the Theodore Payne Native Plant Garden Tour. Then do the tour if so inclined. Then visit their nursery in Sunland, just past Burbank. Talk to the folks there. They are very knowledgeable.

The Houzz article is titled "Native plants bring 10 Southern California front yard gardens to life." The tour is this weekend.

Thanks! I'll read through and see if I can go. I went to Theodore Payne last year when we were working on our landscape plan, they're great! Actually, one of the reasons I'm wondering if it's better to wait is that I was just reading through one of the handouts we got there about summer planting, and they say that Ceanothus is especially hard to plant in the summer, and our plan has 12 Ceanothus...

Ceanothus were exactly what I was thinking about. They're hard to get started even when you do everything exactly right.

So, wait until fall?

yes, wait until fall.

Fall.

Fall it is! Thanks everyone!

In my opinion, the best strategy is to drip only 2 to 3 times a weeks to the point that the soil gets entirely saturated. And only try to give the plant additional supplemental water in the Summer season, when it is especially hot and dry.

If used in the proper way, a drip system can help make sure the lower soil levels get saturated, since the water is applied at a very slow rate that gives it time to seep down into the lower soil levels. If you just dry to use the hose, the top soil will get very wet (possibly muddy) but then all the rest of the water will just run off the surface.

you realize we are talking about drought tolerant natives right, parker?

Oops, sorry, I did not realize that. That does make things more complicated.

Maybe the drip needs to be on very low and only used once a week. I think it's ok to make the topsoil wet, as long as it has a chance to dry out later so those roots can go searching for deeper moisture.

every other week or monthly for like an hour or two depending on precip rate is the most I would do.

You have to pay attention to Your reference evaporotranspiration (ET0) amounts. LA in July is somewhere around 6" for the month for turf grass. So that's 100% ET0. 'Very Low' water use is about 10% ET0. So that would be about .6" for the month. If you have a precipitation rate of around .5"/hr then an hour once a month will do the trick, more or less.