We installed drip irrigation in the flowerbed that runs across the front of our house (30' wide by 15' deep) It has half (?) inch black pipe that serves as the 'mains' and small blue lines that run to each plant, flower, etc. All of it runs on the surface and is held down by metal U-shaped wire pins.
The problems we've had are:
1. The black pipe near a bird feeder was chewed by squirrels (sp?) and I had to fix it with black electrical tape. It's not a big deal that the fix isn't water proof. Just as long as it wasn't spouting a geyser.
2. Since it's on the surface it has to be covered by mulch.
3. If you want to change where plants are, you need to add a blue feeder line or even move the black pipe.
4. It is not permanently connected to a water source so we have to hook a hose up to it when we want to use it.
The people who installed the landscaping were the ones who installed the system. So, we go back to them to get repair/replacement parts. All in all, it works well, is better than a sprinkler and uses less water.
Another possibility is to use the soaker hoses. We use them in our vegetable garden and they are quite effective. The determining factor in my mind is your application. Soaker hoses will allow the water to slowly enter the soil and provide an even distribution of water covering an area about 6 inches on either side of the hose. If you let the water run for an hour, the amount of water dispersed is close to an inch of rain.
A drip system can be a little more effective if properly installed as you put water exactly where it is desired. You can buy different emitters which allow for different water patterns and the amount of water dispersed.
As far as critter damage, that's a chance you have to take. In most cases the piping and emitters are easy to replace.
So, you just need to decide which system works best for you and then install it. We have been using the soaker hoses for several years - during drought conditions we have used them with confidence since the water is placed where we want it to control our wells usage. To date, no problems with the well. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
Thanks guys! I have soaker hoses for some of my row crops and right along a flower border, but was interested in the type for individual plants. How many heads can you put on a line? I guess it depends how much water you can suppply, huh?
We had thirteen trees on drip emitters. Each tree had three emitters and all of them were fed from a single hose to three header pipes.
With soaker hoses, you can run 650' of 5/8" soaker hose from one 1/2" poly head pipe.
There are different sized emitters which as you can imagine allow for differing amounts of water to be dispersed. So you would need to find a supplier and get the information on the emitters, the header pipe sizes, etc.
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