Drip irrigation placement for a row of bougainvillea
Louisa
11 months ago
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Has anyone installed soaker hoses?
Comments (38)I have soaker hoses in four separate garden areas, all running off one timer. There are lots of Y connections, which come with 2 valves each. I use sections of garden hose to connect the areas. Where the garden hose needed to cross a lawn, I cut a slot with a straight-edged shovel, pushed the hose to the bottom of the slot, then by stepping on the slot, the grass closed up. I don't have soaker hoses longer than 50 to 60 feet, and I sometimes take the cap off the far end to check that all the water hasn't soaked out before it reaches the end. On one long perennial bed 6 ft wide, I have four soaker hoses in parallel 18" apart. On shorter beds, I wind the soakers back and forth in a serpentine pattern. I try to put the hoses between the flowers, not too close to them. I have a potted plant hanging from a shepherd's crook at the end of one of these beds, so I plugged a drip line into a soaker hose and ran it up the shepherd's crook. It needs a little more pressure to get the water up to the hanging pot, but it works. The pot gets water much longer than it needs, but the extra water just drains out the bottom. Some years I've had the soaker hose on top of the ground, and other years nearly buried in the mulch (barely visible). The water flows faster when above-ground, but when buried, it seems that the flow nearly stops when rain has already soaked the ground. (I have high clay content.) So I don't turn it off when it rains. Squirrels, shipmunks, and winter frost haven't done any harm to the system, but I remove the outdoor timer over winter. I also have a drip system for a potted herb garden, but that's on a separate timer. Jim...See MoreCA gardeners: Recommendations for No/Low summer water roses
Comments (10)Hello, How close to the ocean is your garden? and what is the average day temperature during summer? With no water at all for 3-4 months in summer during our annual California seasonal drought, band sized and many gallon sized plants might die from lack of water if planted right away in your dry garden. Where day temps are more often in the 80's and higher, I would go with Ramblers which the East Bay park department says are drought tolerant in our area, and species and species hybrids. For 20 and more years, in the woodland acreage at the Morcom amphitheatre of roses, in Oaklland , Califorornia grow many R. brunonni outside of the irrigation system, ( many are seedlings from a mother plant) a few R. moschata, and many Banksiae., as well as Alberic Barbier, all do fine with no water at all during our annual summer drought which lasts 3-4 months each year. I volunteered at that park and made a cultiver and rose species database in the late 1900's(crikey that makes me sound old) and early 2000's. Large trees shade these roses for 4-6 hours out of the day, but all but those in the deepest shade bloom normally. My 'Albertine' was lost when moving and found months later crammed between several pots, with no water, and it lived and thrived. Because so many of the Rambler roses are species hybrids, and said to be drought tolerant, here, I would try the re-blooming rose 'Mermaid' in a dry garden after it had grown to be 5-6 feet tall. It reblooms very well and is gorgeous. I imagine a dry hillside planted with Mermaid, with a few Veilchenbleu , Kiftgate, Silver Moon, R. laevigata, Alberic Barbier, Susan Louise and other R. gigantea hybrids. R.californica transplanted after their roots are 3 feet long, or more. . If I never intended to water them. I might plant Califorinia lilac, ceanothus as mounds for the ramblers to ramble over. If I watered deeply once a month as Gregg does, I'd try the same with the largest cultivars of Old Garden Tea roses, and a few Tea-Noisettes. Tea roses seem to be common among the found roses in warm climates, where live and bloom without being watered during summer, in California and the Southern States. I believe that any of the huge roses R. gigantea , for instance, may be drought tolerant to an extent because of the depth to which their roots reach. R. palustris is said to be drought tolerant as well as wet tolerant, and it has a long bloom cycle too. A row of Susan Louise could provide more shade if needed, it is a gorgeous plant, grown on the ground or as a tree shaped rosebush with the lower canes removed. I would add R. californica, I rarely remember to water mine and it is glorious. It grows to be more than 13 feet tall and has a big bloom cycle in June and scattered bloom of c. 15% for 4+ months after wards, I find that the scent of its leaves has an affect of aromatherapy. The eglantine Meg Merrilees has the strongest foliage scent of any of the eglantine hybrids I've smelled, as good as the species. R. primula would be a treat by the edge of a pathway, for its incense scented leaves. Alba Semi Plena is also reported to be drought tolerant where summer temps average in the 70's F. I spoke to a woman at the Old Rose celebration who told me of a large 'Anna Olivier' growing by a highway near Santa Cruz, California. I'd try growing a large plant in a low-water zone. I've documented a 'Grandmothers Hat' and 'Alliance Franco-Russe' both mature plants, in abandoned gardens in Oakland, where they received no water from a hose nor rain for 3-4 months out of the year, for 10 years (g.hat) and 5 years (the Old Garden Tea). the grandmothers hat is a climber of c. 12 feet tall, and growing up a fir tree, the alliance f.russe was c. 8 feet in each direction the last time I visited it. I hope you can use some of this info. Good Luck, Lux...See MoreDrip system for vacation home
Comments (9)OK, so this plan yielded mixed results. After fully ammending soil I planted cape honeysuckle on a sturdy trellis on one wall (faces south), star jasmine on a sturdy trellis on the other wall (faces north) a bottle brush tree, and three Meyer Lemons that I planned to maintain as a hedge. All are doing fine on a drip system with half day sun except the lemons. Within a couple of months of planting three small plants last October there was heavy leaf drop and dried out looking leaves. Increased the water, waited another 2 months but no real improvement. They looked terrible and I removed them. Planted three new lemons in February, larger plants with about a 1.5-2 foot canopy (hoped that they would be more hardy). All on a drip system that runs 3X a week for about an hour and half, with two 1.0 GPH drip emitters over the rootballs. Fertilized with slow release for citrus. Again, the trees look terrible after 4 months. I understand drip is not ideal for citrus, but it seems like the watering should have been fairly on target (not too much or too little). Maybe not enough sun? I'm surprised that though conditions are not ideal that I have had two failures. Any suggestions for other plants that can work as screening plants in a narrow, part sun space? Ideally evergreen, not too messy, at least 7-10 feet tall to obscure a carport structure directly behind the patio. Thanks for any suggestions or comments....See MoreFiguring out drip irrigation layout
Comments (7)Hi, Steve. What drip system were you going to use? The particular item I'd mentioned, Mister Landscaper's Vegetable Garden kit, only comes with drip tubing. I thought that the simplest way to deal with the thirstier crops would be doubling the line. Everything I'm doing would be from a single water source (thus one timer) but it's where I go from there that I'm getting bogged down in details. The company has three water devices: drip tubing, drippers, and microsprays. The drip tubing puts out a fixed 1/2 gph, at 1' intervals. With the drippers, you can choose 1/2, 1, or 2 gph at intervals you choose, Then there are the microsprays, which I think all deliver 10 gph (and a pretty big coverage area, 5-7' minimum). I don't think the microspray is spray is what I need for these raised beds (WHY does my autocorrect insist on turning "microspray" into "micxospray"?). From what I gather, the drippers are sort of aimed at delivering water to a particular plant, and are less useful for watering a ROW of plants. You attach them to one end of a 1/4" (non-drip) line, then attach the other end to the 1/2" main, doing this one at a time. The 1/4" drip line attaches to the 1/2" main and runs along the whole row. The drippers are more flexible in both placement (attach them at whatever intervals you want) and flow (three gph selections), but the drip line covers a row of vegetables much more quickly, if you don't need such control. So if you wanted to water, say, radishes, it's clear that the 1/4 drip line would be best: have the 1/2" line just run n/s along the eastern edges, then tap in to the 1/2" main and just run it down the row. But if you're doing tomatoes... that's where it muddles. Assuming you want more gph, you could run that 1/4" drip line down on one side of the plants, then do a 180 at the end and run it back on the other side. To use drippers, though, you'd have to run the 1/2" line down the whole row (east-west), then run individual 1/4" lines off it to each plant, with 1 gph drippers at each end....See MoreLouisa
11 months agoLouisa
11 months agolast modified: 11 months agodrinkmorewater
11 months agowestes Zone 9b California SF Bay
11 months agowestes Zone 9b California SF Bay
11 months agowestes Zone 9b California SF Bay
11 months agofloral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
11 months agodrinkmorewater
11 months agowestes Zone 9b California SF Bay
11 months agowestes Zone 9b California SF Bay
11 months agolast modified: 11 months agoLouisa
11 months agowestes Zone 9b California SF Bay
11 months agoLouisa
11 months agowestes Zone 9b California SF Bay
11 months agoLouisa
11 months agowestes Zone 9b California SF Bay
11 months agoLouisa
11 months ago
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