Your videos are so easy to understand, full of tips, and easy explanations. Found your company on RUclips. So glad I did. Highly recommend. These guys are for real. They are out of Oregon. I’m almost done with my system. Low on pressure. Think I got carried away. 😂
What a way to start my Friday down here -- a sincere thank you to you! And we sure are out of beautiful Oregon as well, hopefully that's always the case because it's fantastic :)
I struggle with drip tubing because there always seems to be a plant outside of the range of an emmitter. Now that I previously reviewed your capillary/wicking video I understand the concept much better! Thank you!
Martin, I struggled with that same thing when I installed my first system -- the optics of a small wet spot on top of the soil away from my plant made me think I wasn't getting enough water, so I probably ended up overwatering. I'm truly glad that was helpful, and I can confirm beneath the surface water will travel (and roots will seek it out!) :)
I'm glad it was helpful! And as the person out doing most of the work on these shoots, I'm with you on the sun, I'd prefer it not shining at the camera or me too lol -- we try to schedule filming for partly cloudy days, but it's Oregon so we're never really sure what we're going to get. Checked out a couple of your videos on building microcampers, and wow! Very nice work, I want to try my hand at one of these, amazing channel you have there.
This was excellent! Your invitation for questions was appreciated. One type of irrigation I get stuck on are mature plants in 18-20”+ containers. In smaller ones I use inline emitters pretty confidently but with larger containers I’m not convinced they deliver enough water, and think about switching to sprayers. Do you have a “rule of thumb” aside from the obvious frequently checking the soil with a water meter?
Very good question! My personal general rule of thumb for larger plants is in getting water to all sides of the root zone -- a spray type emitter like you're considering is one option. I use a couple on some very thirsty plants I have. Adding more drippers can also get the job done -- having multiple emitters surround a plant does a pretty good job at getting water to all sides of the root zone. If the soil is particularly loose/fast draining, I tend to lean towards, well not a sprayer, but an area coverage emitter type. The Adjustable Drippers on 6" stake have an umbrella pattern that works well with larger potted plants -- you can orient it so none of the "spokes" in the umbrella are hitting the trunk of the plant. One last option is to use 1/4" drip line or similar, and form it into a ring in the pot around the plant. There's also specialty emitter types made for this exact application, like the Netafim Netbow and Primerus Pot Dripper Ring, if you prefer to stick to a drip rather than area coverage :) Thank you for the great question Kathryn!
Great video thank you! I'm in Indiana we are going to install irrigation (I hope) this spring as our garden & raised beds have grown so much, but have a concern. I normally leave a water hose stretched out and hand water everything in the garden 30-45 min sometimes twice per day however, the water gets "extremely hot" and I have to let it run off to get it cool. How do you do this with any of your systems I've never seen this issue addressed and I'm sure the tubing gets just as hot as our hose.
Apologies for the late reply! I was out over the holidays so couldn't reply -- I'm back in the office and happy to help out :) This is also a great question, as you do have the right of it, the tubing can indeed get quite hot (probably hotter than a hose as well since the tubing is carbon black!). In most cases, the water will drain after system-shut down -- either out of low point emitters if you have any in-ground beds, or via an automatic flush valve (like one of these: www.dripdepot.com/perma-loc-tubing-end-cap-flush-valve ). This (a flush valve or low point emitter drainage) prevents water from sitting in the tubing and getting hot -- when the next watering cycle begins, it will be with cooler water from the well or city water -- poly tubing has reasonably poor thermal conductivity and is inefficient and transferring heat to the water unless the water sits there for long enough. The cool water from the water source typically cools off the tubing pretty quickly too. A couple other options: 1. There is white poly tubing available that doesn't absorb as much heat when exposed to the sun. It's usually used in indoor applications, but it is UV resistant and can safely be used outdoors. 2. The tubing can also be buried, which if you're doing any mowing in the area can be handy -- you could just bury it in places where it will be exposed to full sun too :) Doing watering cycles when temperatures are cooler (early in the a.m. is common) can also help prevent any hot water from getting to your plants. I hope this helps!
@@dripdepot Thank you for this solution, the link kept getting an error code, but problem solved typing in flush valve. One or two should cover my concerns nicely! I greatly appreciate all your videos I've learned a lot and will be contacting the company for an order within a few months I just have some final planning to do.
@@Randy_Indy Aha, I had a parentheses in the link, thank you for catching that, should be fixed now :) And thank you for the kind words! Happy to answer any questions that come up while you're planning.
You bet, is it on the barbed side (the part that goes into the tubing) or on the tape side where you connect the tape to the fitting? If you're using a Loc style fitting, be sure the locking nut is retracted as far as it can go to expose more of the barb -- if you're having any troubles getting the tape on over that barb, dip it into some very hot water (cautiously!) to soften it up some before sliding on over the barb. That same tip works with tubing as well if you're using a Loc style or barbed insert tubing fitting. If it's where you connect the smaller barb into the wall of the tubing, double check your punch size -- for the longest time there was only a 1/4" punch available for the 3.6mm barbed tape fittings, but the hole it punches is pretty small. 0.270 punches are fairly available now and make a slightly larger hole that makes it much easier to push that barb into the wall of the tubing. If it was neither of those, just say the word, more than happy to assist here and lots of experience for almost any situation :)
@dripdepot Thanks buddy, that was very good of you. I live in Northern Thailand, where the sun is incredibly hot, and simply spraying water all over the garden is not an option. Apart from the dam weeds that grow like wildfire, I don't like wasting water.
@@davidhodgson977 You're very welcome! I just took a look at the weather for a few places in northern Thailand and you weren't kidding, those are some pretty high temps! And I fully agree regarding not spraying water all over, in this video it was tough not to show my bias towards drip over spray -- even in situations where spray is more optimal, I like to find ways to use drip. The tech isn't quite there yet, but I'm going to try a sub-surface drip system for my lawn. Keeping it green with no sprinklers will have all my neighbors wondering what I'm doing lol I hope you stay cool out there David!
I have the ones that spray 360 you screw the top to allow more water to spray out. My problem is I have all my plants along the side of the fence. Joe, all the water kind of goes to the first Jets and there's nothing coming out of the other Jets by the end. You think I have too many tubes connected?
It does sound like you've probably overtaxed your water source or your mainline tubing. Happy to explain below :) 1. Water Source -- if your water source flows at 250 GPH (Gallons per Hour) but the flow demand (which is the sum of all emitters operating at once) is 300 GPH, some of them will be starved of water and won't work as they should, or may not work at all. 2. Mainline Tubing -- Movement of water inside a pipe or tube causes friction, and this friction causes a loss of pressure. If you have too much flow (the sum of all emitters operating at once like above) going through a pipe or tube, the pressure lost from friction can get high enough that you experience symptoms like this. The fixes for either one are pretty easy -- if you've overtaxed the water source, you have a few options. You could use lower flow emitters so that the overall flow demand is lower to get it back under the flow rate of the water source. Or, you could split the system up into two or more so that only parts of it operate at once. Usually this just means installing a splitter or two outlet timer on the hose bib so they can run at separate times. If friction loss is the problem, zoning is also one of the solutions to that. Alternatively you could go with larger diameter tubing: larger diameters reduce friction by exponential rates. Out of the two, zoning is probably the most convenient and costs less, but if your mainline is really short and not buried going with a larger diameter could be quick and easy. How many of those sprayers do you have running, and what diameter mainline are you using? You can also test the flow rate of your water source with just a timer and bucket -- time how long it takes to fill the bucket, and then plug the numbers into the flow rate calculator at this link to get a good idea of your water source's flow rate: www.dripdepot.com/irrigation-calculators You can then compare that number to the flow rate of the system -- to determine the flow rate of the system just add up the flow rate of all the emitters operating at once. For example, if you have 10 sprayers and each puts out 9 GPH, the total flow rate would be 90 GPH. The adjustable ones can vary a bit based on operating pressure and adjustment setting, but a good average is around 11 GPH, with the high end at about 19 GPH at 30 PSI and the low end at 4 GPH at 15 PSI.
I'm a fan of the vortex fan sprays as well, both enough coverage and a gentle enough spray for my propagation bed :) Also good for ground cover, the vortex emitters are one of the more versatile.
Ty for sharing different drip irrigation options. Curious: Wouldn't using a drip line only water part of the plant? what happens to the rest of the plant and its roots, how do they survive and get water/nutrients?
Good question! With drip irrigation, most of the action happens underneath the soil -- in common loamy garden soil, water will spread about 12" from the point of drip. This part happens beneath the surface of the soil through the soil's capillary action. Sometimes folks will panic because they see only a small wet spot on top of the soil, but that's actually a feature -- minimal evaporation, with all the watering happening where you want it, right at the roots. In very loose/sandy soils or plants with larger root balls, it can definitely be beneficial to use more emitters -- you can create a ring of drip line to encircle a bigger plant (we do that with fruit trees pretty often) or run a second run of drip line (I do that at home with some raspberry bushes that got large). If any questions come up, don't hesitate to reach out! :)
@@dripdepot That is so educational. I did place an order from drip depot last week. One follow up question. Would you recommend drip line (in circles) in pots as well? I've a dozen pots with dahlia tubers. And how do you think about spot spitter as an alternative?
@@nimageofmine You're already getting good at this whole drip thing, as both options you mentioned (spot spitters and 1/4" drip line rings) are both frequently used in pots and containers :) The spot spitters use a different size tubing (1/8"), so if you already have everything operating off 1/4" and/or have any 1/4" left, it might be easier to go with drip line rings. But if you don't have any 1/4" tubing or fittings left, it'd probably be just as easy (and effective!) to go with spot spitters.
Great video! I was on the fence about whether to get drip or spray and think im gonna go with spray. I have used the lines with the integrated drippers before (different system though) and really disliked it, because the nozzles clogged up after about a year and there is no way to clean them.
With hard water, the inline emitters do indeed get clogged. There's treatments you can run through the lines to break things down, but that can be inconvenient, so your plan is a good one as the larger orifices on sprays are much less prone to that type of clogging. Many of them can also easily be removed for cleaning if build-occurs :)
Great video, new to drip irrigation and this answred so many questions. Around the back of my house, I have 41 feet of garden space to water, working with mostly different varieties of peppers (Bell, Habinero, Jalapeno, Serano, Ghost, Carolina, Hungariun Hot Banana, and Sweet banana
@@dripdepot i am following your examples, and have way too many peppers to eat, so i have been giving them away to neighbors.... but i feel, or they are looking like i am over watering them, for an adult plant, what GPH do you recommend? I have been ising 2 gal, on 1/4 line, and 2 drippers per plant.
@@dirtyd1398 Well it definitely sounds like you're doing something right since you have enough to give away! A poor yield is actually one of the signs of overwatering, so it's a good sign you're getting a good yield :) Many symptoms of overwatering are similar to underwatering which can make it a bit of a challenge to identify what is going on, but look for yellowing leaves and wilting leaves. Both of those are symptoms of overwatering. Specific to overwatering can be a blossom end rot, basically this is dark, sunken spots on the end of the fruit. Pale and uneven coloring can also be a sign of overwatering. If you do have a few of those symptoms, you could try lowering the watering cycle a bit -- 2.0 GPH drippers would be on the higher end of flow rates for button drippers, so, depending on your current cycle, a shorter cycle might help. In addition to that is soil drainage -- if you have thick or clay-like soil that experiences slower drainage, a shorter watering cycle is likely to help as well -- likewise if you have a thick layer of mulch over the top of the soil, the soil moisture retention rate is going to be high (which is a good thing, but could also call for shorter watering cycles). Look to see if you have some of those overwatering symptoms, and if so, shorten the watering cycle. A soil moisture meter can also help determine if the soil moisture is at a good level -- even one of the inexpensive analog types (like this one: www.dripdepot.com/soil-moisture-meter) can accurately measure soil moisture content.
Adam two questions. So far you’ve helped me so much.( I’m brand new at this and have already made many mistakes.) I have plenty 1/4” tubing but have used up all my drip line. What do you recommend for puncturing holes in the 1/4” tubing? My hole puncher from Amazon works fine on the 1/2” though. I’ll try again though when it’s not hot from the mid-day sun. Also do you have a video that helps me learn what to do with all my 1/4” couplers? I picked up a whole tackle box full on Amazon. Trying to have fun with this and not stress too much but I’m going away for a week and don’t want my garden to dry up!
Heya Jennifer! You won't want to punch holes in the 1/4" tubing -- instead of punching holes in 1/4" tubing and inserting an emitter, you can just put the emitter in the end of the 1/4" tubing, near the plant. The 1/4" couplings have two uses, both of which you'll likely be using, so it's good you have them available. The first is to join two sections of 1/4" tubing together -- the second is to connect 1/4" tubing to your 1/2" mainline. Just like you do with an emitter, punch a hole with the 1/4" punch you have, but instead of popping in an emitter, you can pop in the 1/4" coupling and then connect the 1/4" tubing to the other side -- this allows you to create 1/4" tubing runs from a 1/2" or larger mainline and take it over to the plants and pop a button dripper into the end. I do some graphics that show this, I'll fire them off in an email shortly :).
In Nevada in this current season November, we are supposed to water only 1 day a week. I’ve been watering twice daily, 1 day week with no problems. My landscaper recommends to water once a day for two days a week. Do you think he has the right idea in mind? Thanks
The landscaper would likely know this one better than us -- mostly due to local factors, those who work in the area will have a better understanding of local climate conditions that influence watering frequency and duration, particularly if it's for plants that grow in the area. One way to tell if your watering cycle is too long is if water is pooling on the surface or if the wet spot where you're dripping is large. The wet spot on top of the soil should always be pretty small -- if the watering cycle is too long, the water will have trouble penetrating the surface after awhile and the wet spot on top will grow (or possibly even water will pool on the surface). With all that said, I'd take your landscapers advice as a good starting point as they'll have quite a bit of experience growing in the local conditions :)
Drip tape has a demanding filter requirement and 10 psi. A 150 mesh seems to be recommended, but I have been told a 200 mesh is better. My water source is a chocolate milk river. I have heard that micro-irrigation has bigger apertures compared to drip tape. How does it compare in terms of the filters and pressures required?
I think everything you stated is very accurate (particularly for your water source!). I think to some degree it depends on the design of the emitter in the drip tape -- they're designed to be resistant to clogging with an inlet filter at each emitter and a turbulent flow path so debris can be flushed out the end. That does mean very regular flushing to avoid clogging, which can be a pain depending on how many lines of tape are ran. The inlet filters are surprisingly effective when combined with regular flushing. I do tend to prefer 200 mesh whenever possible -- the downside to that of course can mean very frequent cleaning of the filter element, but I find that to be less of an inconvenience than finding and replacing clogged sections of tape. A filter with a larger surface area can help reduce cleaning frequency (though it might still need to be daily, but hopefully not mid-cycle). You've also got it right that some micro-irrigation and drip emitters do have larger orifices which allows them to pass larger debris -- button drippers, sprayers and spray jets often recommend 120 mesh minimum, so a good bit wider than what's seen with drip tape where most of the manufacturers recommend around 155 mesh minimum. In regards to pressure, drip tape is typically used at 10 to 15 PSI, with the 15 PSI being reserved for the thicker walled tapes at 15 Mil. In most cases, you can match up the pressure to the Mil thickness and get good results (10 PSI for 10 Mil, 15 PSI for 15 Mil, etc). Tapes with walls thinner than 10 Mil typically operate at 10 PSI. Thank you for the great question!
When do you use drop or button emitters in the pre drilled tubing versus a soaker tube or just letting the water drip out of all the holes in a perennial bed?
Button drippers and drip line (drip line is the type with pre-made holes that have emitters beneath them) are very similar and can be used in similar applications. For example, our 1/4" drip line drips at 0.5 GPH per hole and the most common button drippers also drip at 0.5 GPH. Depending on the size of the bed, planting density, number of plants, I'd look at it from a labor time perspective. Installing button drippers for a large, densely planted bed is going to be pretty labor intensive, where with drip line you can just lay it out and it's flexible enough to snake through a bed. Essentially, when looking at these options I approach it from a labor time (and difficulty!) angle -- sometimes a little mix of both is a good approach, using drip line to wind through the majority of the bed and then using button drippers to get plants that are fewer in number and separated from the others.
Me again Adam! If I’m starting seeds with direct sow, I really need to use a 360 spray so I can keep the seeds and medium moist since there’s no mulch cover until things mature some, but I need to be able to control how big the circumference is. I see these allow me to control this? What’s this one called exactly ?
You bet, we have a few different ones that you can achieve this with -- they're adjustable, so you can turn them up or down as needed to control throw distance and volume. I'm going to place some links below that go to the common adjustable spray options we see used for this a lot -- most of these will have a photo or short video showing them in action so you can get an idea of the spray pattern. www.dripdepot.com/adjustable-dripper-on-6-inch-stake (this one can be a little on the heavy side for seeds, but good once they've started growing). www.dripdepot.com/adjustable-spray-jet-on-stake (this one covers a pretty large area) www.dripdepot.com/adjustable-vortex-fan-sprayer-on-6-inch-stake (a popular choice) www.dripdepot.com/adjustable-mister-on-10-32-unf-threads (great for seeds and very delicate seedlings) The ones I linked above that come on a stake are also typically available with threads or a barb and no stake if you planned to use them overhead :)
So currently I'm using my residential deep well irrigation system irrigate about 100-200 nursery plants in my backyard. Mostly 7 gallon pots up to 25 gallon palms. I've changed the sprinkler heads countless times and moved them to avoid having overspray on the house or wasted water hitting nothing. I've used rotors and shrub sprinklers. I'm wanting to convert to drip and am currently researching how to attach poly tubing to the pvc and then I'm thinking the best move I could make is lay drip line on top of the containers which would be gathered together in rows. Does that sound like an okay place to start?
Joshua, you're off to a great start, what you're proposing is something we see fairly often -- it's an out of the box way to use drip line, as it wasn't initially used that way but people have gotten creative with it and it's an effective method. It's faster than some of the container specific methods and we even see it done in larger commercial systems now. If you haven't gotten all the details worked out yet, I can also help with connecting poly to PVC -- are you looking to connect it to the end of a PVC pipe run, or into the wall of the PVC pipe, etc? We're leaving for the weekend soon, so if you don't hear back from me right away, I'll be back early on Monday and jump back into comments :)
Hello, I have an sprinkler system and I'm making my flower beds smaller. I live in FL and my sprinkler guy recommends that I put replace the driplines with Fan Jet sprayers. I like the idea of FJ sprayers because I do tend to move/add shrubs and flowers. My system is 8 years old (he did not install it) and he said that he doesn't like driplines because they get clogged. Depending on the cost, I may end up doing this myself since I am handy. I don't mind a little extra labor to do what is best. What do you recommend that I get? Thank in advance!
If the plants are good with having wet foliage, a Fan Jet could definitely work here -- they cover a reasonable area so you can get pretty good coverage with just a few of them. They put out quite a lot of water, so you'll want to make sure to plan for the flow rate of the system (the sum of the flow rate of all fan jets operating at once) versus the flow rate of the water source. If this was previously feeding a sprinkler system, you'll likely have plenty of flow though :) Labor wise, they're pretty equal, with fan jets likely being a little bit less since you need fewer of them -- either way isn't too bad though, except on very large landscapes.
LOL yes! I'm definitely biased towards drip (I live in an area that experiences drought somewhat regularly), but there are some applications where sprayers are fantastic. In addition to drippers and sprayers, there's a lot of "in between" emitters out there now. They cover area like a sprayer, but have heavier droplets less prone to wind and evaporation (but won't be able to cover every application that a spray type emitter is best suited for, but some of them at least) :)
Thank you for your very informative videos and thanks for opening up the floor for questions. Background and question..... last summer we had a company install Rain Bird drip lines with built-in hidden emitters in 5 separate rectangular unplanted garden beds. (Zone 3 of 3) This year we have planted and the built-in emitters, spaced at 2' apart are not in the right locations for our plantings. Can I insert "Tubing Goof Plugs" in some of the existing emitter holes and create properly placed holes with barbed coupling and 1/4" spaghetti tubing where appropriate? Thanking you in advance for your answer and sharing your knowledge. Paul R.
Paul, thank you for the kind words as well! Unfortunately goof plugs won't work for this -- this has actually been something I've been waiting to see for a long time, something able to plug the outlets on drip line. There is a lot of demand for one, and so far nothing. I even had a client, who is an inventor, say he was going to create one, but to no avail. This makes me think there is something particularly difficult about it, as the demand is there and people have tried. With that said, you mentioned this was RainBird drip line, and a year or two back RainBird did announce a product at one of the irrigation trade shows that can do this. The caveat being it only works for the larger sizes of drip line (1/2" +). Is your the 1/2" drip line or the 1/4"? If it's the 1/2", let me know and I'll reach out to RainBird to see if that product actually hit the market after the trade show. Quick Note: How far from the plants are the current emitters? If they're reasonably close, water might reach the roots -- water spreads about 12" from the point of drip in common loamy garden soil.
@@dripdepot Thank you for your prompt response. The line is 1/2" Rainbird line. Some of the emitters are more than the suggested 12" since they are young plants with small roots. Would I cause an imbalance if I installed new additional emitters in the line where I need them and not plug the "wasted" holes. Much appreciated if you were to touch base with Rainbird. Thank you for your time and effort. Paul R.
@@paulr.5704 Awesome on the 1/2"! I'll do some poking around and see if those plugs ever hit market -- at the trade show, they were introduced for exactly this purpose, plugging outlets on RainBird's 1/2" drip line :) If all other variables are accounted for (primarily length of line, flow going through it and available water at the water source) it is perfectly acceptable to add emitters to 1/2" and larger sized drip lines, so that might be a solution to keep in mind too. I'll follow-up with you about the plugs as soon as I hear back!
Can you start with the solid black tubing and add in a circle of the brown tubing with the built in emmiters/holes to go around trees or bushes and then switch back to the solid black tubing to work you way through a planting area? We have an area with a queen palm and a robolini tree. We are adding a bird of paradise plant (15 g) and two small ornamental plants. We are in Central Florida. Right now there are one or two heavier type sprayers that handle that area, but we are reducing the number of plants, and I think drip irrigation may be better. Please advise.
If I'm understanding correctly, I do believe you can do as you described -- you could also run the solid black poly tubing nearby and tap into it at every plant for the drip line that has pre-installed emitters (which is also close to what you described, but you wouldn't have to interrupt the run of black poly, it could just continue to the next plant while you take the portion you tapped into over to the plant to form a ring around the tree or bush) :) You're welcome to ask any follow-up questions, I'll be happy to assist!
Good idea -- we do plan to do more of these emitter comparison videos, we'll absolutely include bubblers and vortex fan sprayers. The goal is to eventually have some "action footage" of every emitter type so folks can see how they work in the field or garden :)
@@Katie-dp3jl Us veterans can benefit too! Seeing all the emitters in action I think has great practical value and I've got a bunch of them added to the list to get action shots of, fully agreed with your suggestion :)
How long should a watering session be for typical garden plants? Pepper plants, lettuces, tomato plants, etc. If the dripper is 1/2 gal per hour, is 1 hour the recommended watering cycle?
Unfortunately there's a large number of variables that go into this for there to be any one right answer (soil type, plant maturity, exposure to sun, temperature, humidity, microclimate conditions, cultivar, etc) -- with that said, 1 hour (or two separate 30 minute cycles) isn't unheard of, particularly during the hotter summer months and when the plants are mature and require the most water. Monitor the health of the plants while you are testing watering cycles, they'll definitely let you know. If it's hot where you're at and the plants get a lot of sunlight, two 30 minute cycles is likely pretty close -- I've had up to two 45 minute cycles before for some plants that were in direct sunlight from almost sun up to sun down in clay'ish soil on a stretch of 100+ days we had when they were mature and fruiting.
I was wondering if I have 20 10 gallon grow bags all about a foot apart from each other and 3 4 by 8 raised beds near my grow bags how much and what should I order from you guys if I want a drip in each grow bag and a bunch in the 3 raised beds? I’d appreciate any suggestions you can give me.
A combination of our container and raised beds kits, or a modified raised bed kit to include more drippers would probably do the trick for you :) Even one of the raised bed kits alone may be able to do the trick with 10 gallon watering bags -- the raised bed kits use 1/4" drip line as the primary watering source, and 1/4" drip line is flexible enough to be formed into a ring, lots of folks form rings of drip line in their containers to go around the plant. It's very similar to using multiple button drippers in a container. I have some images that illustrate what I mentioned above -- the illustrations label everything used so you can get a good idea of how it goes together: This first one goes to images of raised beds: help.dripdepot.com/support/solutions/articles/11000119078-raised-bed-sample-layouts This one goes to containers: help.dripdepot.com/support/solutions/articles/11000119079-container-garden-sample-layouts You'll see they use many of the same parts, so it's very easy to mix and match between them. Please don't hesitate to ask any questions that come up, I'll be happy to help!
Unfortunately no software that's unique to us -- Are you thinking software that helps control irrigation cycles (smart watering)? If so, there's quite a bit out there that works well: Hunter Hydrawise, Hydro-Rain Bhyve, Jain, Toro and even OpenSprinkler make some pretty good software at that end of things. Smart irrigation is definitely gaining traction in the irrigation industry, I'd expect to see a bunch of new solutions come up over the next few years. As the solutions evolve, I wouldn't be surprised to begin seeing them made specific to crop and field types (orchards, nurseries, row crops, etc).
Hi Adam. Remember me? I am researching water pumps so I can utilize my two rain barrels which are side by side at the base of my hill. My garden is uphill, I’m not exactly sure of the distance, best guess 75’, it might be 25’ above. Thoughts?
Jennifer, of course I remember you! We corresponded quite a bit last year setting up your system, I'm glad you're still gardening and using drip out there :) I can definitely help with a pump -- as you might have suspected, there are a few variables to fill in to size a pump, but it's not as daunting as it first seems. I can fire you off an email with the pump sizing worksheet if you don't mind (just let me know here) -- I can also help you fill it out, a lot of the information will come from the system you want it to feed, and the rest will come from what you touched on above (vertical distances).
My apologies for missing this question! I'm not sure how I didn't get the notification, and I hope it's not too late to assist. For hilly terrain the best bet is almost always going to be something pressure compensating -- pressure compensating emitters are great about uniform emission despite higher pressure at low points and less pressure at high points -- they "compensate" for the increased pressure of gravity. In regards to exotic plants, this will definitely depend on which type -- if it's plants that like wet foliage, a pressure compensating microsprinkler or sprayer can get the job done. If it doesn't like we foliage, and pressure compensating button dripper or drip line will work great :)
I had my sprinkler system converted to an irrigation system. I asked the company to install drip but they installed spray instead stating that it was the most requested option for gardeners. I hate the spray and would like to convert it to a drip. Is that possible and where can I get instructions to show me how to do that conversion?
Apologies for the late reply! I was out over the holidays, but I'm back in the office now and will be more than happy to assist if you haven't found the information yet :) You absolutely can convert it over to drip and in most cases it's pretty easy too -- if you hadn't bumped into it yet, here's our video that shows how to convert a sprinkler over to drip -- some of this is likely already done for you since they converted over to spray: ruclips.net/video/l8gzTCgZQLQ/видео.html You're also welcome to reply here with any follow-up questions or if anything you need isn't addressed in the video above -- now that I'm back in the office I can help promptly. Happy New Year to you!
I am setting up drip irrigation for my elevated 2x8 garden bed (I had a soaker hose, but long story short, it didn’t work out.) I’m using Square Foot Gardening, so I have 16 different vegetable sections. I will use droppers on my tomatoes, peppers, etc. that only have one plant/sq.ft, and I’ll probably do the drip line for the squares with many plants, but what do I do about direct-sowing seeds? Would you recommend the drip line, or the adjustable dripper (umbrella pattern)?
That's a great question Katie -- for propagation directly into the soil, the umbrella pattern adjustable ones are more often used. Drippers and Dripline are great when the plants are rooted, as their water tends to immediately drop below the soil line -- this is normally a good thing as it prevents evaporation, but isn't idea for seed sprouting for that reason. The umbrella pattern adjustable is good about covering some surface area for seeds. The other popular options are the adjustable vortex fan sprayer and the adjustable spray jet.
You bet! The 1/4" drip line? If not, just say the word and I'll link you to the correct item :) Here is the link to our 1/4" drip line: www.dripdepot.com/quarter-inch-polyethylene-dripline Happy to answer any questions you have as well!
Good question! Good instinct as well, as hilly areas are often done just a bit differently. In areas with elevation changes, I like to use pressure compensating emitters -- pressure compensating emitters can compensate for higher pressure (such as emitters at low elevation points) and keep them dripper at very close to the same rate as those at higher elevation point. I'd check to see what type of watering method your veggies prefer, mostly in regards to we foliage -- most vegetables don't like wet foliage (can promote rot, fungues, etc) so will be best served by drippers (pressure compensating drippers are readily available and pretty much the same cost as a non-pressure compensating dripper).
I have 14 down one side of my property in one line for black hills spruce. Do you think wide gap would be great for that, and it's about 150 ft long. So we have 50 PSI at the well. Can I run one line all the way down or do I need 2 different for zones.
To determine if you'll need one or two zones, what we want to look at is flow -- specifically, the flow rate provided by the water source versus the flow rate demanded by the irrigation system. As a quick example, let's say you are going to use four 10 GPH bubblers at each of the 14 plants -- 14 10 GPH emitters will be a total system flow rate of 140 GPH. In that example, you would want your water source to provide more than 140 GPH so there would be enough water available to feed all the emitters. Given there are 14, it's highly likely you can accomplish this as one zone, at least unless you were using very high flow emitters. Still, it's best to confirm (measure twice, cut once and all that!). You can test the flow rate of your water source with just a timer and a bucket (3 gallon, 5 gallon, etc). Time how long it takes to fill the bucket with water and then plug the numbers into this flow rate calculator to get a good approximation of its flow rate: www.dripdepot.com/irrigation-calculators Keep that number handy so you can compare it to the flow rate of the irrigation system -- emitters will have their flow rates stated in the Specifications on their item page or in the Specifications PDF on each item page -- just add up their flow rates (or multiply it by the number you'll use) and you have your irrigation system flow rate :)
Do you need a combination of all types to get a full coverage? Seems to me like the drippers only service a tiny area, sprays service a wider area but nothing close to them, and drip line is going to become less efficient as the run gets longer due to falling water pressure along the length.
Great question! You don't necessarily need all types to get full coverage, though it's not uncommon to mix them on a system for different plant needs. Drippers typically serve one dripper per plant (sometimes a couple drippers placed around a plant to get water to all sides of its root zone for a larger plant). Drip line can remain efficient so long as you don't go over maximum recommended run lengths (20' to 30' for 1/4" drip line, around 200' for 1/2" drip line). In common loamy garden soil, water will spread about 12" from the point of drip -- this all happens beneath the surface of the soil, which can make it look like there's not much water being delivered. This means, in many cases, a line of drip line (or a run of tubing with button drippers punched in) can provide pretty thorough coverage right down a row of plants, even if they're densely plants. I limit sprayer/microsrpinkler use to thirstier plants that are ok having we foliage -- in my home garden, I use a spray type nozzle on a bed of ferns at the fence line -- for my veggies and fruit bushes, I make extensive use of 1/4" dripline and 1/4" drip line formed into rings going around a bush and have had good results.
Either one can work well for flower beds! I'm a fan of winding or snaking 1/4" drip line through my flower bed, but my flower bed is fairly small -- for larger beds (and flowers that are ok with wet foliage, which is fairly common in the flower world) having something that can provide area coverage can make it easier. Basically, for small beds, I'm a fan of snaking drip line, for larger beds I find it easier (and just as effective) to go with something that covers some area :)
I have pretty hard water and find that the cheaper drippers get clogged every few months from deposits. Are there high quality drippers that don't get clogged?
Hard water is indeed the bane of many small orifice emitters! With hard water there's typically three options, happy to cover them below, and a tip that can help delay clogging :) 1. BowSmith makes a "Non-Stop" emitter that is very good at resisting clogging -- they're not immune to it, but they're designed to go longer without clogging (and in my experience the design works, though I usually work with water that has algae, etc, instead of heavy mineral): www.dripdepot.com/bowsmith-non-stop-dripper 2. This is probably the best 100% way -- there's a couple types of cleanable drippers out there, that when they get clogged, can be easily disassembled so they can be rinsed of debris (and/or soaked into a solution that breaks it all down so it can be put back into service). Here are the two common cleanable button drippers we have: www.dripdepot.com/ceta-cleanable-pressure-compensating-dripper -- and -- www.dripdepot.com/cleanable-dripper 3. You can inject a solution through the lines to break down mineral build up -- there are solutions that change the pH enough to break down mineral build-up, but still safe for plants. We see this method employed on larger commercial farms pretty often. And a tip (unless you're already doing this part)! No matter what dripper you use, opening the end of the lines and flushing them out regularly will help prevent every type of clog -- poly tubing is designed to make the water in the line turbulent -- when the end is opened and water is allowed to flush out, the turbulence will break up deposits and send it right out the end :)
At my two local stores, Home Depot and Lowes, the spray jets all have the same gph rating - 13 gph. This is for the 90, 180 and 360 patterns. Is this correct? I ask because throwing down 13 gallons of water on a 90 area is four times as much as on a 360 patter area.These are both Dig and Mister brands.
This is a very good question you're asking here, thank you for that. You're also absolutely on the right track, as this is indeed a concern to account for. In the sprinkler world, this is accounted for by what's known as "Matched Precipitation." For example, the 360° will deliver 4 GPM, the 180° 2 GPM and the 90° 1 GPM. Basically, 1 GPM per quarter circle to ensure the area covered receives the same volume of water. If those were adjustable sprayers they may be able to be adjusted to things closer to matched in regards to how much water they're putting out over a given area, a lot of sprayers feature an adjustment knob. Very good question and great catch when you were checking those out at the store!
That's a great question -- whenever I can, I prefer poly to vinyl. Poly is significantly more durable and is going to last longer given equal applications. Vinyl breaks down under UV exposure faster than poly. If you've ever found some old vinyl, you know that brittleness it gets to it? That can happen pretty quickly in direct sunlight. Poly resists UV damage to a much higher degree -- it will eventually break down too, but we're talking years and years, 10+, 15+, I'm not actually 100% sure because, even though I've had my home system for a long time, it hasn't been long enough for any of the poly to become brittle (it has faded a bit, but 0 brittleness). The one application where vinyl can shine is for indoor situations -- I'm not entirely clear on why, but it doesn't break down under grow lights like it does on the sun (perhaps due to the amount of UV, or simply UV). In indoor applications the additional flexibility of vinyl can come in handy due to the tighter space as well. One thing I'll give to vinyl is it's also much easier to get on over the barbed fittings, but due to degradation I'll go with poly any time I can (except some indoor applications). :)
@@dripdepot Thanks for you detailed answer. I was gravitating toward vinyl for its flexibility, but I'll go with poly to avoid issues after a couple Phoenix summers. Thanks.
@@poolmonkey You're very welcome! And yep, I'd expect poly to stand up much better in the AZ sun than vinyl -- best to keep the poly out of too much direct exposure as well, but more for the heat than the UV when it comes to poly (the lines can get pretty hot!).
The last dripper that you showed was the pre-punched quarter inch brown tubing that is laid across the soil, dripping like a button at each hole. Does that ever get clogged? Are there any downsides to it? I was thinking of installing a bunch of lines of that in my garden beds. Thank you for the helpful information.
Clogging can definitely happen, but it is very rare in filtered municipal water. The most common cause of clogging in 1/4" dripline comes from back-siphoning through the actual emitters (at shut-down, low point emitters will drain and any higher may pull in air to replace the draining water, which can bring dirt with it). Making sure the emitters are facing up can alleviate this risk. Fi 1/4" dripline is probably my personal favorite emitter type, I use it extensively in my home garden, exactly as you described, running down my garden beds. I also snake it through a flower bed. Not insert too much of my personal bias, but I find it so versatile -- it can be made into a ring to go around trees, shrubs, etc, or used straight down garden beds.
Using 1/2” main drip tubing, is there a maximum number of emitters you can use on a 150’ run? I only have about 40-50 emitters, but at the end of the line I can remove the clean out cap and no water reaches the end of the line. PS- it feeds off a 1/2” hose bib, 8 1/4gpm, 75 psi with a 30psi pressure reducer inline.
What is the flow rate of those emitters? The maximum will depend on how much total flow is going through the line -- after about 200 GPH, the friction loss curve gets pretty steep in 1/2" tubing. If they're 0.5 GPH button drippers, I'd expect them to work at the end of the line (if they are, I'll be happy to assist troubleshoot). If they're 40 10.0 GPH sprayers, the pressure lost from friction may be too much at about 26 PSI lost in 150' of 1/2" tubing flowing at 400 GPH. There is also flow rate to account for -- your 8 1/4 GPM is pretty healthy, but if you're using sprayers or higher flow emitters it could be worth looking into more. As an example, if you have 50 15 GPH sprayers, they will have a flow demand of 750 GPH -- if the water source flows at 650 GPH, some would be starved of water. If one of those is the culprit, it's fortunately a pretty easy fix in zoning the system :)
@@dripdepot but without any emoters installed, and trying to blow out the clean out on tube end, the pressure barely trickled out. I assumed a kink and walked entire line, no kink or pinch
@@troutnut01 Definitely strange! A leak in the line could definitely cause this same problem -- is the line above the surface? If so, would you be able to run some water through it and check it for leaking water? Even a small leak could cause a severe loss of pressure (air and/or water). With 1/2 GPH drippers and a 150' run of 1/2" tubing, I can confirm you're well into the green in regards to specifications, which means something else is definitely at play. If there is no leaking, let me know, I'll have you send over some photos and see if I can spot anything in the setup.
Ginger is one of those plants that can go either way depending on your climate. Ginger initially was grown in tropical regions, so that means lots of rain and humidity, but it also doesn't like water logged soil once it's established. Irrigating ginger root with drip irrigation is great for controlling the moisture level of the soil to keep it moist but not soggy, but overhead can help provide the humidity that it loves. From what I've read, if you're in a dry climate, you'll need to mist the leaves, which is something that overhead watering can emulate with a mister or a sprayer. If you're in a humid environment, the leaves will be relatively moist already and soil moisture can be provided by drip irrigation without water logging them. Ginger is one of those plants that can really go either way depending on the conditions in which it's being grown :)
At 3:34, I think over time the irrigation pipe will crack and break. There's gotta be a better way to restrict water flow without having to bend and damage the water line.
The tubing Antelco uses there is a very soft, so it is able to bend without much compromise of structural integrity -- however, there is an option if you don't like the crimp option (and I'll admit, crimping goes against my instincts as well, at least long term) -- a barbed coupling valve could be used to have on/off without any crimping of the tubing. Added benefit would be having some control over the spray if you wanted to reduce it without reducing the rest of the system pressure :)
I think any of the solutions could work, but personally I'd be inclined to running some 1/4" tubing through the bucket, assuming it's a large enough bucket (and it likely is with tomatoes). The reason is keeping foliage dry -- the drip line is going to drip directly into the soil, leaving the stalk and foliage nice and dry (which reduces the chances for fungus/rot, etc to get a foothold). A spray or an adjustable emitter could technically be placed in a way where it wouldn't hit the foliage, but it would take quite a bit of adjusting throughout the season to make sure it stayed that way -- with drip line, it would be near impossible for it to end up dripping in a way that got the foliage wet :) Note: with mature plants wet foliage is less of an issue, they develop defenses as they mature -- but still, the odds are always best with dry foliage, even if it's by a small degree when mature.
@@dripdepot to focus in...for tomatoes in a 5 gallon bucket would I do drip line in a ring on top of the soil and cover with mulch? (like in the tree ring video you guys do? or bury deeper or set up in a different configuration?
@@Ryan-nj5ue Surprisingly, any of the methods you mentioned are likely to work (and work well!), but I typically do the ring on top of the soil and then cover with mulch. This allows the vast majority of the moisture to remain trapped, practically eliminating evaporation of the irrigation water. Covering with mulch or soil does slightly increase the risk of clogging (typically over time, not immediate), so if you wanted to place it on top of the mulch this is also more than acceptable. There will be a little evaporation, but even then it will be minimal since the vast majority of the water will penetrate and spread out beneath the soil.
a rule of thumb is... the slower the water the more effective it will be, if you have a river within 100 yards of where you are planting and you carve it so that it branches off and seeps into the soil, you would be able to dig with a trowel into the soil for about a hand, then make a fist and punch your entire arm into the soil to show how soaked it is. That is how farmlands use to be, slow down the water and it will have time to soak into the soil and the top layer of soil will keep it from being baked off. So yes drop systems would be best because it's slow water that isn't being baked off, remember the square law with this, over less area the effect would branch out below the soil but if you use more water above the soil over a large area it will be evaporated more.
Good advice, and accurate! We call this soil infiltration rate, and you have it right, you don't want to exceed the soil infiltration rate or it starts accumulating on the surface where it can become susceptible to run-off and evaporation as you noted. The one exception to this is sandy soils -- while you won't need the flow rate of the nile, a faster flow rate emitter is usually the go-to for loose soil types :)
With a gravity setup, you'll typically want to use drippers over spray -- this is because spray emitters typically either require higher pressure, or put out significantly more flow (or both!). With that said, much of this depends on how much elevation you're able to achieve with your gravity water source. If it's elevated quite a bit (40' to 60'), you'll have enough pressure to operate spray type emitters. If there's no hillside, this kind of elevation will not always be possible, in which case pressure would be low enough it would be best to opt for drip type emitters so that each emitter doesn't use up too much of the available pressure and flow :)
Everything we use in our videos is available on our website here: www.dripdepot.com/ There are also links to all the parts we used in this video in the video description. If there's something specific you're looking for, I'm more than happy to link you directly to it as well :)
Thank you for reaching out! Everything used in the video is linked above in the description (including a couple things not used in the video). If you're looking for something that's not linked or something specific, just let me know, happy to link you directly :)
Do you mean puncturing a hole in the tubing and using that to release water? What happens in that case is that the amount of water that comes out of even a small hole is very high in volume. Even a 0.160" hole punched into 1/2" tubing operating at 25 PSI would put out around 140 gallons per hour(!!) if my napkin math is holding up. Button drippers have turbulent passages, very small orifices and sometimes internal diaphragms that help control the volume of water coming out to get down to 0.5 to 2.0 gallons per hour on most common button drippers. In addition to that, a punctured hole allowing the free flow of water uses up a lot of the water's energy, so holes beyond the first one or two put out progressively less water so there's no uniform irrigation. Thank you for asking this question by the way! It's one we get by email pretty often so I thank you sincerely for the opportunity to have the information always available here for folks who might not email us to ask :)
@@dripdepot Thank you so much for your thorough and prompt response. I'm impressed and also educated now ! Can one translate psi into vertical measurements of a column of water like a rain tank ?
@@carolinekloppert5177 Thank you for the kind words! And it's definitely ok to ask here, happy to save you some time sifting through google results. You can indeed translate the water level in a rain tank into PSI -- water pressure is generated at a rate of 0.433 PSI for every foot of elevation. So, if your rain tank is 3 feet high, you'd have about 1.3 PSI. If that's not what you meant, just say the word, more than happy to revise :)
I'd ask the nursery as well just to make sure since needs can vary by location, but from what I understand of Robin Hollies and trees in that family, you should get better results from drip. Drip will help keep the foliage and bark of the tree dry, which Robin Hollies prefer. They're on the medium to low (depending on maturity) side of watering needs, and like similar trees, like a deep watering at least once per week (more during prolonged hot and dry times), or when the top few inches of soil is drying out. A "tree ring" setup could work well here, particularly if they're young trees -- they are most susceptible to disease and other issues when they're young, and a tree ring will ensure both the bark and foliage stays dry through irrigation cycles. As they grow, you can increase the circumference of the "tree ring" easily, by simply cutting into the 1/4" dripline and splicing in a new length. Depending on your location and precipitation, you may need very little supplemental watering after they mature. Tree rings are just 1/4" drip line formed into a ring that goes around the tree -- this gets water to all sides of the root ball, and as mentioned above, delivers it directly to the soil instead of on sensitive leaves. Happy to answer any questions you have on this -- if you haven't bumped into tree rings yet, here is a video we did that goes over a tree ring system we did for some fruit trees in Oregon: ruclips.net/video/NkGTXrGkcRM/видео.html
This is a no brainer. Unless it's a big area, i.e. grass, drip is by far the best. It's more accurate, uses less water, has less disease, delivers to precisely where needed, is far less expensive and far easier to maintain. Also, it can be opened and closed by the homeowner unlike large irrigation systems.
I'm in full agreement, but I'll admit to my drip bias here :) At least, other than a few exceptions (mist loving plants, those that need a lot of water in a short time frame), I use drip for everything that I can. Sub-surface drip for lawns is still, comparatively, in its infancy, but I'm looking forward to its growth. All the water savings spread across the many lawn and turf areas would be a lot of water saved (not to mention less fertilizers on the surface of the lawn, safer for pets and children).
If you have to have a million drippers to saturate the soil dripping is not the way. Micro sprays are far better if the water is going to evaporate faster than it sinks into the soil......dripping is a joke for my beds
@@rootelation486 You are correct that you don't want the application rate to exceed the soil infiltration rate, as you'd then end up with pooling which can lead to unwanted evaporation just like you noted. In most cases drippers are the best way to achieve that, as they have a much lower application rate (though there are some high flow drippers out there). If you don't need the surface of the soil moist, the surface of the soil should remain mostly dry other than a small wet spot where the dripper is dripping. Beneath the soil, the water will spread out to reach the plants' roots through the soil's capillary action. When you need to wet the entire surface of the soil (propagation/seedlings and some shallow-rooted plants) spray is often the go to, as installing a large number of drippers to moisten a large surface area would definitely be a lot of labor time, and in the case of propagation, may not provide enough surface moisture :)
Thank you! If you ever have any questions, don't hesitate for a second -- likewise, looking at your fantastic channel, I might have questions for you! :)
Awesome! And I think your comment highlights how versatile drip irrigation (and sprays that full under the umbrella) really is, there's not really a wrong way if you're getting good results.
Your videos are so easy to understand, full of tips, and easy explanations. Found your company on RUclips. So glad I did. Highly recommend. These guys are for real. They are out of Oregon. I’m almost done with my system. Low on pressure. Think I got carried away. 😂
What a way to start my Friday down here -- a sincere thank you to you! And we sure are out of beautiful Oregon as well, hopefully that's always the case because it's fantastic :)
I struggle with drip tubing because there always seems to be a plant outside of the range of an emmitter. Now that I previously reviewed your capillary/wicking video I understand the concept much better! Thank you!
Martin, I struggled with that same thing when I installed my first system -- the optics of a small wet spot on top of the soil away from my plant made me think I wasn't getting enough water, so I probably ended up overwatering. I'm truly glad that was helpful, and I can confirm beneath the surface water will travel (and roots will seek it out!) :)
I like it better when the sun is not shine into the camera, this is the info I was looking for on watering
I'm glad it was helpful!
And as the person out doing most of the work on these shoots, I'm with you on the sun, I'd prefer it not shining at the camera or me too lol -- we try to schedule filming for partly cloudy days, but it's Oregon so we're never really sure what we're going to get.
Checked out a couple of your videos on building microcampers, and wow! Very nice work, I want to try my hand at one of these, amazing channel you have there.
Thanks Adam, great information.
This was excellent! Your invitation for questions was appreciated.
One type of irrigation I get stuck on are mature plants in 18-20”+ containers. In smaller ones I use inline emitters pretty confidently but with larger containers I’m not convinced they deliver enough water, and think about switching to sprayers. Do you have a “rule of thumb” aside from the obvious frequently checking the soil with a water meter?
Very good question! My personal general rule of thumb for larger plants is in getting water to all sides of the root zone -- a spray type emitter like you're considering is one option. I use a couple on some very thirsty plants I have. Adding more drippers can also get the job done -- having multiple emitters surround a plant does a pretty good job at getting water to all sides of the root zone.
If the soil is particularly loose/fast draining, I tend to lean towards, well not a sprayer, but an area coverage emitter type. The Adjustable Drippers on 6" stake have an umbrella pattern that works well with larger potted plants -- you can orient it so none of the "spokes" in the umbrella are hitting the trunk of the plant.
One last option is to use 1/4" drip line or similar, and form it into a ring in the pot around the plant. There's also specialty emitter types made for this exact application, like the Netafim Netbow and Primerus Pot Dripper Ring, if you prefer to stick to a drip rather than area coverage :)
Thank you for the great question Kathryn!
Great video thank you! I'm in Indiana we are going to install irrigation (I hope) this spring as our garden & raised beds have grown so much, but have a concern.
I normally leave a water hose stretched out and hand water everything in the garden 30-45 min sometimes twice per day however, the water gets "extremely hot" and I have to let it run off to get it cool. How do you do this with any of your systems I've never seen this issue addressed and I'm sure the tubing gets just as hot as our hose.
Apologies for the late reply! I was out over the holidays so couldn't reply -- I'm back in the office and happy to help out :)
This is also a great question, as you do have the right of it, the tubing can indeed get quite hot (probably hotter than a hose as well since the tubing is carbon black!).
In most cases, the water will drain after system-shut down -- either out of low point emitters if you have any in-ground beds, or via an automatic flush valve (like one of these: www.dripdepot.com/perma-loc-tubing-end-cap-flush-valve ).
This (a flush valve or low point emitter drainage) prevents water from sitting in the tubing and getting hot -- when the next watering cycle begins, it will be with cooler water from the well or city water -- poly tubing has reasonably poor thermal conductivity and is inefficient and transferring heat to the water unless the water sits there for long enough. The cool water from the water source typically cools off the tubing pretty quickly too.
A couple other options:
1. There is white poly tubing available that doesn't absorb as much heat when exposed to the sun. It's usually used in indoor applications, but it is UV resistant and can safely be used outdoors.
2. The tubing can also be buried, which if you're doing any mowing in the area can be handy -- you could just bury it in places where it will be exposed to full sun too :)
Doing watering cycles when temperatures are cooler (early in the a.m. is common) can also help prevent any hot water from getting to your plants.
I hope this helps!
@@dripdepot Thank you for this solution, the link kept getting an error code, but problem solved typing in flush valve.
One or two should cover my concerns nicely! I greatly appreciate all your videos I've learned a lot and will be contacting the company for an order within a few months I just have some final planning to do.
@@Randy_Indy Aha, I had a parentheses in the link, thank you for catching that, should be fixed now :)
And thank you for the kind words! Happy to answer any questions that come up while you're planning.
Thanks, this was a very interesting video.
I am having trouble joining my drip tape to the hosepipe.
Any advice on this matter would be so helpful.
You bet, is it on the barbed side (the part that goes into the tubing) or on the tape side where you connect the tape to the fitting?
If you're using a Loc style fitting, be sure the locking nut is retracted as far as it can go to expose more of the barb -- if you're having any troubles getting the tape on over that barb, dip it into some very hot water (cautiously!) to soften it up some before sliding on over the barb. That same tip works with tubing as well if you're using a Loc style or barbed insert tubing fitting.
If it's where you connect the smaller barb into the wall of the tubing, double check your punch size -- for the longest time there was only a 1/4" punch available for the 3.6mm barbed tape fittings, but the hole it punches is pretty small. 0.270 punches are fairly available now and make a slightly larger hole that makes it much easier to push that barb into the wall of the tubing.
If it was neither of those, just say the word, more than happy to assist here and lots of experience for almost any situation :)
@dripdepot Thanks buddy, that was very good of you.
I live in Northern Thailand, where the sun is incredibly hot, and simply spraying water all over the garden is not an option.
Apart from the dam weeds that grow like wildfire, I don't like wasting water.
@@davidhodgson977 You're very welcome! I just took a look at the weather for a few places in northern Thailand and you weren't kidding, those are some pretty high temps!
And I fully agree regarding not spraying water all over, in this video it was tough not to show my bias towards drip over spray -- even in situations where spray is more optimal, I like to find ways to use drip. The tech isn't quite there yet, but I'm going to try a sub-surface drip system for my lawn. Keeping it green with no sprinklers will have all my neighbors wondering what I'm doing lol
I hope you stay cool out there David!
I have the ones that spray 360 you screw the top to allow more water to spray out. My problem is I have all my plants along the side of the fence. Joe, all the water kind of goes to the first Jets and there's nothing coming out of the other Jets by the end. You think I have too many tubes connected?
It does sound like you've probably overtaxed your water source or your mainline tubing. Happy to explain below :)
1. Water Source -- if your water source flows at 250 GPH (Gallons per Hour) but the flow demand (which is the sum of all emitters operating at once) is 300 GPH, some of them will be starved of water and won't work as they should, or may not work at all.
2. Mainline Tubing -- Movement of water inside a pipe or tube causes friction, and this friction causes a loss of pressure. If you have too much flow (the sum of all emitters operating at once like above) going through a pipe or tube, the pressure lost from friction can get high enough that you experience symptoms like this.
The fixes for either one are pretty easy -- if you've overtaxed the water source, you have a few options. You could use lower flow emitters so that the overall flow demand is lower to get it back under the flow rate of the water source. Or, you could split the system up into two or more so that only parts of it operate at once. Usually this just means installing a splitter or two outlet timer on the hose bib so they can run at separate times.
If friction loss is the problem, zoning is also one of the solutions to that. Alternatively you could go with larger diameter tubing: larger diameters reduce friction by exponential rates. Out of the two, zoning is probably the most convenient and costs less, but if your mainline is really short and not buried going with a larger diameter could be quick and easy.
How many of those sprayers do you have running, and what diameter mainline are you using?
You can also test the flow rate of your water source with just a timer and bucket -- time how long it takes to fill the bucket, and then plug the numbers into the flow rate calculator at this link to get a good idea of your water source's flow rate: www.dripdepot.com/irrigation-calculators
You can then compare that number to the flow rate of the system -- to determine the flow rate of the system just add up the flow rate of all the emitters operating at once. For example, if you have 10 sprayers and each puts out 9 GPH, the total flow rate would be 90 GPH. The adjustable ones can vary a bit based on operating pressure and adjustment setting, but a good average is around 11 GPH, with the high end at about 19 GPH at 30 PSI and the low end at 4 GPH at 15 PSI.
Vortex. I run 1/4 line up a 6’ stakes and use just the vortex sprayer, minus the little stake. A big spread for my 4’ wide beds
I'm a fan of the vortex fan sprays as well, both enough coverage and a gentle enough spray for my propagation bed :)
Also good for ground cover, the vortex emitters are one of the more versatile.
Ty for sharing different drip irrigation options. Curious: Wouldn't using a drip line only water part of the plant? what happens to the rest of the plant and its roots, how do they survive and get water/nutrients?
Good question!
With drip irrigation, most of the action happens underneath the soil -- in common loamy garden soil, water will spread about 12" from the point of drip. This part happens beneath the surface of the soil through the soil's capillary action. Sometimes folks will panic because they see only a small wet spot on top of the soil, but that's actually a feature -- minimal evaporation, with all the watering happening where you want it, right at the roots.
In very loose/sandy soils or plants with larger root balls, it can definitely be beneficial to use more emitters -- you can create a ring of drip line to encircle a bigger plant (we do that with fruit trees pretty often) or run a second run of drip line (I do that at home with some raspberry bushes that got large).
If any questions come up, don't hesitate to reach out! :)
@@dripdepot That is so educational. I did place an order from drip depot last week.
One follow up question. Would you recommend drip line (in circles) in pots as well? I've a dozen pots with dahlia tubers. And how do you think about spot spitter as an alternative?
@@nimageofmine You're already getting good at this whole drip thing, as both options you mentioned (spot spitters and 1/4" drip line rings) are both frequently used in pots and containers :)
The spot spitters use a different size tubing (1/8"), so if you already have everything operating off 1/4" and/or have any 1/4" left, it might be easier to go with drip line rings. But if you don't have any 1/4" tubing or fittings left, it'd probably be just as easy (and effective!) to go with spot spitters.
@@dripdepot Thank you for your quick responses 🙂. It is so good to get advice from expert on youtube (convenient).
Great video! I was on the fence about whether to get drip or spray and think im gonna go with spray. I have used the lines with the integrated drippers before (different system though) and really disliked it, because the nozzles clogged up after about a year and there is no way to clean them.
With hard water, the inline emitters do indeed get clogged. There's treatments you can run through the lines to break things down, but that can be inconvenient, so your plan is a good one as the larger orifices on sprays are much less prone to that type of clogging. Many of them can also easily be removed for cleaning if build-occurs :)
Great video, new to drip irrigation and this answred so many questions. Around the back of my house, I have 41 feet of garden space to water, working with mostly different varieties of peppers (Bell, Habinero, Jalapeno, Serano, Ghost, Carolina, Hungariun Hot Banana, and Sweet banana
Awesome choice in peppers! As a fellow pepper fan, I grow mine with drippers (1/4" drip line to be specific) rather than spray :)
@@dripdepot i am following your examples, and have way too many peppers to eat, so i have been giving them away to neighbors.... but i feel, or they are looking like i am over watering them, for an adult plant, what GPH do you recommend? I have been ising 2 gal, on 1/4 line, and 2 drippers per plant.
@@dirtyd1398 Well it definitely sounds like you're doing something right since you have enough to give away! A poor yield is actually one of the signs of overwatering, so it's a good sign you're getting a good yield :)
Many symptoms of overwatering are similar to underwatering which can make it a bit of a challenge to identify what is going on, but look for yellowing leaves and wilting leaves. Both of those are symptoms of overwatering.
Specific to overwatering can be a blossom end rot, basically this is dark, sunken spots on the end of the fruit. Pale and uneven coloring can also be a sign of overwatering.
If you do have a few of those symptoms, you could try lowering the watering cycle a bit -- 2.0 GPH drippers would be on the higher end of flow rates for button drippers, so, depending on your current cycle, a shorter cycle might help.
In addition to that is soil drainage -- if you have thick or clay-like soil that experiences slower drainage, a shorter watering cycle is likely to help as well -- likewise if you have a thick layer of mulch over the top of the soil, the soil moisture retention rate is going to be high (which is a good thing, but could also call for shorter watering cycles).
Look to see if you have some of those overwatering symptoms, and if so, shorten the watering cycle. A soil moisture meter can also help determine if the soil moisture is at a good level -- even one of the inexpensive analog types (like this one: www.dripdepot.com/soil-moisture-meter) can accurately measure soil moisture content.
Adam two questions. So far you’ve helped me so much.( I’m brand new at this and have already made many mistakes.) I have plenty 1/4” tubing but have used up all my drip line. What do you recommend for puncturing holes in the 1/4” tubing? My hole puncher from Amazon works fine on the 1/2” though. I’ll try again though when it’s not hot from the mid-day sun. Also do you have a video that helps me learn what to do with all my 1/4” couplers? I picked up a whole tackle box full on Amazon. Trying to have fun with this and not stress too much but I’m going away for a week and don’t want my garden to dry up!
Heya Jennifer!
You won't want to punch holes in the 1/4" tubing -- instead of punching holes in 1/4" tubing and inserting an emitter, you can just put the emitter in the end of the 1/4" tubing, near the plant.
The 1/4" couplings have two uses, both of which you'll likely be using, so it's good you have them available. The first is to join two sections of 1/4" tubing together -- the second is to connect 1/4" tubing to your 1/2" mainline. Just like you do with an emitter, punch a hole with the 1/4" punch you have, but instead of popping in an emitter, you can pop in the 1/4" coupling and then connect the 1/4" tubing to the other side -- this allows you to create 1/4" tubing runs from a 1/2" or larger mainline and take it over to the plants and pop a button dripper into the end.
I do some graphics that show this, I'll fire them off in an email shortly :).
@@dripdepot ahhh. Makes total sense. Will be diving into this some more this afternoon!
awesome content brother!
Thank you for watching! :)
In Nevada in this current season November, we are supposed to water only 1 day a week. I’ve been watering twice daily, 1 day week with no problems. My landscaper recommends to water once a day for two days a week. Do you think he has the right idea in mind? Thanks
The landscaper would likely know this one better than us -- mostly due to local factors, those who work in the area will have a better understanding of local climate conditions that influence watering frequency and duration, particularly if it's for plants that grow in the area.
One way to tell if your watering cycle is too long is if water is pooling on the surface or if the wet spot where you're dripping is large. The wet spot on top of the soil should always be pretty small -- if the watering cycle is too long, the water will have trouble penetrating the surface after awhile and the wet spot on top will grow (or possibly even water will pool on the surface).
With all that said, I'd take your landscapers advice as a good starting point as they'll have quite a bit of experience growing in the local conditions :)
Drip tape has a demanding filter requirement and 10 psi. A 150 mesh seems to be recommended, but I have been told a 200 mesh is better. My water source is a chocolate milk river. I have heard that micro-irrigation has bigger apertures compared to drip tape. How does it compare in terms of the filters and pressures required?
I think everything you stated is very accurate (particularly for your water source!).
I think to some degree it depends on the design of the emitter in the drip tape -- they're designed to be resistant to clogging with an inlet filter at each emitter and a turbulent flow path so debris can be flushed out the end. That does mean very regular flushing to avoid clogging, which can be a pain depending on how many lines of tape are ran. The inlet filters are surprisingly effective when combined with regular flushing.
I do tend to prefer 200 mesh whenever possible -- the downside to that of course can mean very frequent cleaning of the filter element, but I find that to be less of an inconvenience than finding and replacing clogged sections of tape. A filter with a larger surface area can help reduce cleaning frequency (though it might still need to be daily, but hopefully not mid-cycle).
You've also got it right that some micro-irrigation and drip emitters do have larger orifices which allows them to pass larger debris -- button drippers, sprayers and spray jets often recommend 120 mesh minimum, so a good bit wider than what's seen with drip tape where most of the manufacturers recommend around 155 mesh minimum.
In regards to pressure, drip tape is typically used at 10 to 15 PSI, with the 15 PSI being reserved for the thicker walled tapes at 15 Mil. In most cases, you can match up the pressure to the Mil thickness and get good results (10 PSI for 10 Mil, 15 PSI for 15 Mil, etc). Tapes with walls thinner than 10 Mil typically operate at 10 PSI.
Thank you for the great question!
When do you use drop or button emitters in the pre drilled tubing versus a soaker tube or just letting the water drip out of all the holes in a perennial bed?
Button drippers and drip line (drip line is the type with pre-made holes that have emitters beneath them) are very similar and can be used in similar applications. For example, our 1/4" drip line drips at 0.5 GPH per hole and the most common button drippers also drip at 0.5 GPH. Depending on the size of the bed, planting density, number of plants, I'd look at it from a labor time perspective. Installing button drippers for a large, densely planted bed is going to be pretty labor intensive, where with drip line you can just lay it out and it's flexible enough to snake through a bed.
Essentially, when looking at these options I approach it from a labor time (and difficulty!) angle -- sometimes a little mix of both is a good approach, using drip line to wind through the majority of the bed and then using button drippers to get plants that are fewer in number and separated from the others.
Me again Adam! If I’m starting seeds with direct sow, I really need to use a 360 spray so I can keep the seeds and medium moist since there’s no mulch cover until things mature some, but I need to be able to control how big the circumference is. I see these allow me to control this? What’s this one called exactly ?
You bet, we have a few different ones that you can achieve this with -- they're adjustable, so you can turn them up or down as needed to control throw distance and volume.
I'm going to place some links below that go to the common adjustable spray options we see used for this a lot -- most of these will have a photo or short video showing them in action so you can get an idea of the spray pattern.
www.dripdepot.com/adjustable-dripper-on-6-inch-stake (this one can be a little on the heavy side for seeds, but good once they've started growing).
www.dripdepot.com/adjustable-spray-jet-on-stake (this one covers a pretty large area)
www.dripdepot.com/adjustable-vortex-fan-sprayer-on-6-inch-stake (a popular choice)
www.dripdepot.com/adjustable-mister-on-10-32-unf-threads (great for seeds and very delicate seedlings)
The ones I linked above that come on a stake are also typically available with threads or a barb and no stake if you planned to use them overhead :)
@@dripdepot excellent!
So currently I'm using my residential deep well irrigation system irrigate about 100-200 nursery plants in my backyard. Mostly 7 gallon pots up to 25 gallon palms. I've changed the sprinkler heads countless times and moved them to avoid having overspray on the house or wasted water hitting nothing. I've used rotors and shrub sprinklers.
I'm wanting to convert to drip and am currently researching how to attach poly tubing to the pvc and then I'm thinking the best move I could make is lay drip line on top of the containers which would be gathered together in rows. Does that sound like an okay place to start?
Joshua, you're off to a great start, what you're proposing is something we see fairly often -- it's an out of the box way to use drip line, as it wasn't initially used that way but people have gotten creative with it and it's an effective method. It's faster than some of the container specific methods and we even see it done in larger commercial systems now.
If you haven't gotten all the details worked out yet, I can also help with connecting poly to PVC -- are you looking to connect it to the end of a PVC pipe run, or into the wall of the PVC pipe, etc?
We're leaving for the weekend soon, so if you don't hear back from me right away, I'll be back early on Monday and jump back into comments :)
Hello, I have an sprinkler system and I'm making my flower beds smaller. I live in FL and my sprinkler guy recommends that I put replace the driplines with Fan Jet sprayers. I like the idea of FJ sprayers because I do tend to move/add shrubs and flowers. My system is 8 years old (he did not install it) and he said that he doesn't like driplines because they get clogged. Depending on the cost, I may end up doing this myself since I am handy. I don't mind a little extra labor to do what is best. What do you recommend that I get? Thank in advance!
If the plants are good with having wet foliage, a Fan Jet could definitely work here -- they cover a reasonable area so you can get pretty good coverage with just a few of them. They put out quite a lot of water, so you'll want to make sure to plan for the flow rate of the system (the sum of the flow rate of all fan jets operating at once) versus the flow rate of the water source. If this was previously feeding a sprinkler system, you'll likely have plenty of flow though :)
Labor wise, they're pretty equal, with fan jets likely being a little bit less since you need fewer of them -- either way isn't too bad though, except on very large landscapes.
@@dripdepot thank you for your advice ! I really appreciate it!
@@KevinB_123 Any time Kevin! If any questions come up along the way, don't hesitate to drop a line, happy to help :)
Here I was sure a channel called “Drip Depot” would be more obviously biased toward drip systems. Good info!
LOL yes! I'm definitely biased towards drip (I live in an area that experiences drought somewhat regularly), but there are some applications where sprayers are fantastic. In addition to drippers and sprayers, there's a lot of "in between" emitters out there now. They cover area like a sprayer, but have heavier droplets less prone to wind and evaporation (but won't be able to cover every application that a spray type emitter is best suited for, but some of them at least) :)
Thank you for your very informative videos and thanks for opening up the floor for questions.
Background and question..... last summer we had a company install Rain Bird drip lines with built-in hidden emitters in 5 separate rectangular unplanted garden beds. (Zone 3 of 3)
This year we have planted and the built-in emitters, spaced at 2' apart are not in the right locations for our plantings. Can I insert "Tubing Goof Plugs" in some of the existing emitter holes and create properly placed holes with barbed coupling and 1/4" spaghetti tubing where appropriate? Thanking you in advance for your answer and sharing your knowledge. Paul R.
Paul, thank you for the kind words as well!
Unfortunately goof plugs won't work for this -- this has actually been something I've been waiting to see for a long time, something able to plug the outlets on drip line. There is a lot of demand for one, and so far nothing. I even had a client, who is an inventor, say he was going to create one, but to no avail. This makes me think there is something particularly difficult about it, as the demand is there and people have tried.
With that said, you mentioned this was RainBird drip line, and a year or two back RainBird did announce a product at one of the irrigation trade shows that can do this. The caveat being it only works for the larger sizes of drip line (1/2" +). Is your the 1/2" drip line or the 1/4"?
If it's the 1/2", let me know and I'll reach out to RainBird to see if that product actually hit the market after the trade show.
Quick Note: How far from the plants are the current emitters? If they're reasonably close, water might reach the roots -- water spreads about 12" from the point of drip in common loamy garden soil.
@@dripdepot Thank you for your prompt response.
The line is 1/2" Rainbird line. Some of the emitters are more than the suggested 12" since they are young plants with small roots. Would I cause an imbalance if I installed new additional emitters in the line where I need them and not plug the "wasted" holes.
Much appreciated if you were to touch base with Rainbird. Thank you for your time and effort. Paul R.
@@paulr.5704 Awesome on the 1/2"! I'll do some poking around and see if those plugs ever hit market -- at the trade show, they were introduced for exactly this purpose, plugging outlets on RainBird's 1/2" drip line :)
If all other variables are accounted for (primarily length of line, flow going through it and available water at the water source) it is perfectly acceptable to add emitters to 1/2" and larger sized drip lines, so that might be a solution to keep in mind too.
I'll follow-up with you about the plugs as soon as I hear back!
@@dripdepot Thank you. I'll be here watching some more of your vids. Paul
Very good presentation. Thank you.
Thank you as well!
Can you start with the solid black tubing and add in a circle of the brown tubing with the built in emmiters/holes to go around trees or bushes and then switch back to the solid black tubing to work you way through a planting area? We have an area with a queen palm and a robolini tree. We are adding a bird of paradise plant (15 g) and two small ornamental plants. We are in Central Florida. Right now there are one or two heavier type sprayers that handle that area, but we are reducing the number of plants, and I think drip irrigation may be better. Please advise.
If I'm understanding correctly, I do believe you can do as you described -- you could also run the solid black poly tubing nearby and tap into it at every plant for the drip line that has pre-installed emitters (which is also close to what you described, but you wouldn't have to interrupt the run of black poly, it could just continue to the next plant while you take the portion you tapped into over to the plant to form a ring around the tree or bush) :)
You're welcome to ask any follow-up questions, I'll be happy to assist!
Great video! Now how about bubblers?
Good idea -- we do plan to do more of these emitter comparison videos, we'll absolutely include bubblers and vortex fan sprayers. The goal is to eventually have some "action footage" of every emitter type so folks can see how they work in the field or garden :)
@@dripdepot Those would be great to see on the website for each emitter for us newbies.
@@Katie-dp3jl Us veterans can benefit too! Seeing all the emitters in action I think has great practical value and I've got a bunch of them added to the list to get action shots of, fully agreed with your suggestion :)
How long should a watering session be for typical garden plants? Pepper plants, lettuces, tomato plants, etc. If the dripper is 1/2 gal per hour, is 1 hour the recommended watering cycle?
Unfortunately there's a large number of variables that go into this for there to be any one right answer (soil type, plant maturity, exposure to sun, temperature, humidity, microclimate conditions, cultivar, etc) -- with that said, 1 hour (or two separate 30 minute cycles) isn't unheard of, particularly during the hotter summer months and when the plants are mature and require the most water.
Monitor the health of the plants while you are testing watering cycles, they'll definitely let you know. If it's hot where you're at and the plants get a lot of sunlight, two 30 minute cycles is likely pretty close -- I've had up to two 45 minute cycles before for some plants that were in direct sunlight from almost sun up to sun down in clay'ish soil on a stretch of 100+ days we had when they were mature and fruiting.
Thank you!
I was wondering if I have 20 10 gallon grow bags all about a foot apart from each other and 3 4 by 8 raised beds near my grow bags how much and what should I order from you guys if I want a drip in each grow bag and a bunch in the 3 raised beds? I’d appreciate any suggestions you can give me.
A combination of our container and raised beds kits, or a modified raised bed kit to include more drippers would probably do the trick for you :)
Even one of the raised bed kits alone may be able to do the trick with 10 gallon watering bags -- the raised bed kits use 1/4" drip line as the primary watering source, and 1/4" drip line is flexible enough to be formed into a ring, lots of folks form rings of drip line in their containers to go around the plant. It's very similar to using multiple button drippers in a container.
I have some images that illustrate what I mentioned above -- the illustrations label everything used so you can get a good idea of how it goes together:
This first one goes to images of raised beds: help.dripdepot.com/support/solutions/articles/11000119078-raised-bed-sample-layouts
This one goes to containers: help.dripdepot.com/support/solutions/articles/11000119079-container-garden-sample-layouts
You'll see they use many of the same parts, so it's very easy to mix and match between them.
Please don't hesitate to ask any questions that come up, I'll be happy to help!
Excellent video. lot to learn. Do you have any software for orchard Management for irrigation
Unfortunately no software that's unique to us -- Are you thinking software that helps control irrigation cycles (smart watering)? If so, there's quite a bit out there that works well: Hunter Hydrawise, Hydro-Rain Bhyve, Jain, Toro and even OpenSprinkler make some pretty good software at that end of things.
Smart irrigation is definitely gaining traction in the irrigation industry, I'd expect to see a bunch of new solutions come up over the next few years. As the solutions evolve, I wouldn't be surprised to begin seeing them made specific to crop and field types (orchards, nurseries, row crops, etc).
This was excellent!
Hi Adam. Remember me? I am researching water pumps so I can utilize my two rain barrels which are side by side at the base of my hill. My garden is uphill, I’m not exactly sure of the distance, best guess 75’, it might be 25’ above. Thoughts?
Jennifer, of course I remember you! We corresponded quite a bit last year setting up your system, I'm glad you're still gardening and using drip out there :)
I can definitely help with a pump -- as you might have suspected, there are a few variables to fill in to size a pump, but it's not as daunting as it first seems. I can fire you off an email with the pump sizing worksheet if you don't mind (just let me know here) -- I can also help you fill it out, a lot of the information will come from the system you want it to feed, and the rest will come from what you touched on above (vertical distances).
what will be the best irrigation option in hilly terrain for vegetable and exotic crops?
My apologies for missing this question! I'm not sure how I didn't get the notification, and I hope it's not too late to assist.
For hilly terrain the best bet is almost always going to be something pressure compensating -- pressure compensating emitters are great about uniform emission despite higher pressure at low points and less pressure at high points -- they "compensate" for the increased pressure of gravity.
In regards to exotic plants, this will definitely depend on which type -- if it's plants that like wet foliage, a pressure compensating microsprinkler or sprayer can get the job done. If it doesn't like we foliage, and pressure compensating button dripper or drip line will work great :)
I had my sprinkler system converted to an irrigation system. I asked the company to install drip but they installed spray instead stating that it was the most requested option for gardeners. I hate the spray and would like to convert it to a drip. Is that possible and where can I get instructions to show me how to do that conversion?
Apologies for the late reply! I was out over the holidays, but I'm back in the office now and will be more than happy to assist if you haven't found the information yet :)
You absolutely can convert it over to drip and in most cases it's pretty easy too -- if you hadn't bumped into it yet, here's our video that shows how to convert a sprinkler over to drip -- some of this is likely already done for you since they converted over to spray: ruclips.net/video/l8gzTCgZQLQ/видео.html
You're also welcome to reply here with any follow-up questions or if anything you need isn't addressed in the video above -- now that I'm back in the office I can help promptly.
Happy New Year to you!
I am setting up drip irrigation for my elevated 2x8 garden bed (I had a soaker hose, but long story short, it didn’t work out.) I’m using Square Foot Gardening, so I have 16 different vegetable sections. I will use droppers on my tomatoes, peppers, etc. that only have one plant/sq.ft, and I’ll probably do the drip line for the squares with many plants, but what do I do about direct-sowing seeds? Would you recommend the drip line, or the adjustable dripper (umbrella pattern)?
That's a great question Katie -- for propagation directly into the soil, the umbrella pattern adjustable ones are more often used. Drippers and Dripline are great when the plants are rooted, as their water tends to immediately drop below the soil line -- this is normally a good thing as it prevents evaporation, but isn't idea for seed sprouting for that reason.
The umbrella pattern adjustable is good about covering some surface area for seeds. The other popular options are the adjustable vortex fan sprayer and the adjustable spray jet.
Can you send me the link to order the last item you talk about the drip line dripper?
You bet! The 1/4" drip line? If not, just say the word and I'll link you to the correct item :)
Here is the link to our 1/4" drip line: www.dripdepot.com/quarter-inch-polyethylene-dripline
Happy to answer any questions you have as well!
what will be the best irrigation system in hilly areas ? ( Exotic veggies, vegetables)
Good question! Good instinct as well, as hilly areas are often done just a bit differently.
In areas with elevation changes, I like to use pressure compensating emitters -- pressure compensating emitters can compensate for higher pressure (such as emitters at low elevation points) and keep them dripper at very close to the same rate as those at higher elevation point.
I'd check to see what type of watering method your veggies prefer, mostly in regards to we foliage -- most vegetables don't like wet foliage (can promote rot, fungues, etc) so will be best served by drippers (pressure compensating drippers are readily available and pretty much the same cost as a non-pressure compensating dripper).
I have 14 down one side of my property in one line for black hills spruce. Do you think wide gap would be great for that, and it's about 150 ft long. So we have 50 PSI at the well. Can I run one line all the way down or do I need 2 different for zones.
They are 3 ft in diameter each and spread 10 ft apart, they are 4 ft tall to start with (each)
To determine if you'll need one or two zones, what we want to look at is flow -- specifically, the flow rate provided by the water source versus the flow rate demanded by the irrigation system.
As a quick example, let's say you are going to use four 10 GPH bubblers at each of the 14 plants -- 14 10 GPH emitters will be a total system flow rate of 140 GPH. In that example, you would want your water source to provide more than 140 GPH so there would be enough water available to feed all the emitters.
Given there are 14, it's highly likely you can accomplish this as one zone, at least unless you were using very high flow emitters.
Still, it's best to confirm (measure twice, cut once and all that!).
You can test the flow rate of your water source with just a timer and a bucket (3 gallon, 5 gallon, etc). Time how long it takes to fill the bucket with water and then plug the numbers into this flow rate calculator to get a good approximation of its flow rate: www.dripdepot.com/irrigation-calculators
Keep that number handy so you can compare it to the flow rate of the irrigation system -- emitters will have their flow rates stated in the Specifications on their item page or in the Specifications PDF on each item page -- just add up their flow rates (or multiply it by the number you'll use) and you have your irrigation system flow rate :)
Do you need a combination of all types to get a full coverage? Seems to me like the drippers only service a tiny area, sprays service a wider area but nothing close to them, and drip line is going to become less efficient as the run gets longer due to falling water pressure along the length.
Great question! You don't necessarily need all types to get full coverage, though it's not uncommon to mix them on a system for different plant needs. Drippers typically serve one dripper per plant (sometimes a couple drippers placed around a plant to get water to all sides of its root zone for a larger plant). Drip line can remain efficient so long as you don't go over maximum recommended run lengths (20' to 30' for 1/4" drip line, around 200' for 1/2" drip line).
In common loamy garden soil, water will spread about 12" from the point of drip -- this all happens beneath the surface of the soil, which can make it look like there's not much water being delivered. This means, in many cases, a line of drip line (or a run of tubing with button drippers punched in) can provide pretty thorough coverage right down a row of plants, even if they're densely plants.
I limit sprayer/microsrpinkler use to thirstier plants that are ok having we foliage -- in my home garden, I use a spray type nozzle on a bed of ferns at the fence line -- for my veggies and fruit bushes, I make extensive use of 1/4" dripline and 1/4" drip line formed into rings going around a bush and have had good results.
Which system would be good for normal flowerbeds. 😊
Either one can work well for flower beds! I'm a fan of winding or snaking 1/4" drip line through my flower bed, but my flower bed is fairly small -- for larger beds (and flowers that are ok with wet foliage, which is fairly common in the flower world) having something that can provide area coverage can make it easier.
Basically, for small beds, I'm a fan of snaking drip line, for larger beds I find it easier (and just as effective) to go with something that covers some area :)
I have pretty hard water and find that the cheaper drippers get clogged every few months from deposits. Are there high quality drippers that don't get clogged?
Hard water is indeed the bane of many small orifice emitters!
With hard water there's typically three options, happy to cover them below, and a tip that can help delay clogging :)
1. BowSmith makes a "Non-Stop" emitter that is very good at resisting clogging -- they're not immune to it, but they're designed to go longer without clogging (and in my experience the design works, though I usually work with water that has algae, etc, instead of heavy mineral): www.dripdepot.com/bowsmith-non-stop-dripper
2. This is probably the best 100% way -- there's a couple types of cleanable drippers out there, that when they get clogged, can be easily disassembled so they can be rinsed of debris (and/or soaked into a solution that breaks it all down so it can be put back into service). Here are the two common cleanable button drippers we have: www.dripdepot.com/ceta-cleanable-pressure-compensating-dripper -- and -- www.dripdepot.com/cleanable-dripper
3. You can inject a solution through the lines to break down mineral build up -- there are solutions that change the pH enough to break down mineral build-up, but still safe for plants. We see this method employed on larger commercial farms pretty often.
And a tip (unless you're already doing this part)! No matter what dripper you use, opening the end of the lines and flushing them out regularly will help prevent every type of clog -- poly tubing is designed to make the water in the line turbulent -- when the end is opened and water is allowed to flush out, the turbulence will break up deposits and send it right out the end :)
At my two local stores, Home Depot and Lowes, the spray jets all have the same gph rating - 13 gph. This is for the 90, 180 and 360 patterns. Is this correct? I ask because throwing down 13 gallons of water on a 90 area is four times as much as on a 360 patter area.These are both Dig and Mister brands.
This is a very good question you're asking here, thank you for that. You're also absolutely on the right track, as this is indeed a concern to account for. In the sprinkler world, this is accounted for by what's known as "Matched Precipitation." For example, the 360° will deliver 4 GPM, the 180° 2 GPM and the 90° 1 GPM. Basically, 1 GPM per quarter circle to ensure the area covered receives the same volume of water.
If those were adjustable sprayers they may be able to be adjusted to things closer to matched in regards to how much water they're putting out over a given area, a lot of sprayers feature an adjustment knob.
Very good question and great catch when you were checking those out at the store!
Do you prefer poly tubing or the softer vinyl tubing (1/4" drip tubing)?
That's a great question -- whenever I can, I prefer poly to vinyl. Poly is significantly more durable and is going to last longer given equal applications. Vinyl breaks down under UV exposure faster than poly. If you've ever found some old vinyl, you know that brittleness it gets to it? That can happen pretty quickly in direct sunlight. Poly resists UV damage to a much higher degree -- it will eventually break down too, but we're talking years and years, 10+, 15+, I'm not actually 100% sure because, even though I've had my home system for a long time, it hasn't been long enough for any of the poly to become brittle (it has faded a bit, but 0 brittleness).
The one application where vinyl can shine is for indoor situations -- I'm not entirely clear on why, but it doesn't break down under grow lights like it does on the sun (perhaps due to the amount of UV, or simply UV). In indoor applications the additional flexibility of vinyl can come in handy due to the tighter space as well.
One thing I'll give to vinyl is it's also much easier to get on over the barbed fittings, but due to degradation I'll go with poly any time I can (except some indoor applications). :)
@@dripdepot Thanks for you detailed answer. I was gravitating toward vinyl for its flexibility, but I'll go with poly to avoid issues after a couple Phoenix summers. Thanks.
@@poolmonkey You're very welcome! And yep, I'd expect poly to stand up much better in the AZ sun than vinyl -- best to keep the poly out of too much direct exposure as well, but more for the heat than the UV when it comes to poly (the lines can get pretty hot!).
The last dripper that you showed was the pre-punched quarter inch brown tubing that is laid across the soil, dripping like a button at each hole. Does that ever get clogged? Are there any downsides to it? I was thinking of installing a bunch of lines of that in my garden beds. Thank you for the helpful information.
Clogging can definitely happen, but it is very rare in filtered municipal water. The most common cause of clogging in 1/4" dripline comes from back-siphoning through the actual emitters (at shut-down, low point emitters will drain and any higher may pull in air to replace the draining water, which can bring dirt with it). Making sure the emitters are facing up can alleviate this risk. Fi
1/4" dripline is probably my personal favorite emitter type, I use it extensively in my home garden, exactly as you described, running down my garden beds. I also snake it through a flower bed. Not insert too much of my personal bias, but I find it so versatile -- it can be made into a ring to go around trees, shrubs, etc, or used straight down garden beds.
Using 1/2” main drip tubing, is there a maximum number of emitters you can use on a 150’ run? I only have about 40-50 emitters, but at the end of the line I can remove the clean out cap and no water reaches the end of the line. PS- it feeds off a 1/2” hose bib, 8 1/4gpm, 75 psi with a 30psi pressure reducer inline.
What is the flow rate of those emitters?
The maximum will depend on how much total flow is going through the line -- after about 200 GPH, the friction loss curve gets pretty steep in 1/2" tubing. If they're 0.5 GPH button drippers, I'd expect them to work at the end of the line (if they are, I'll be happy to assist troubleshoot). If they're 40 10.0 GPH sprayers, the pressure lost from friction may be too much at about 26 PSI lost in 150' of 1/2" tubing flowing at 400 GPH.
There is also flow rate to account for -- your 8 1/4 GPM is pretty healthy, but if you're using sprayers or higher flow emitters it could be worth looking into more. As an example, if you have 50 15 GPH sprayers, they will have a flow demand of 750 GPH -- if the water source flows at 650 GPH, some would be starved of water.
If one of those is the culprit, it's fortunately a pretty easy fix in zoning the system :)
@@dripdepot 1/2 gph
@@dripdepot but without any emoters installed, and trying to blow out the clean out on tube end, the pressure barely trickled out. I assumed a kink and walked entire line, no kink or pinch
@@troutnut01 Definitely strange! A leak in the line could definitely cause this same problem -- is the line above the surface? If so, would you be able to run some water through it and check it for leaking water? Even a small leak could cause a severe loss of pressure (air and/or water).
With 1/2 GPH drippers and a 150' run of 1/2" tubing, I can confirm you're well into the green in regards to specifications, which means something else is definitely at play.
If there is no leaking, let me know, I'll have you send over some photos and see if I can spot anything in the setup.
So helpful! Thank you!
which is better for ginger farming sprinkler system or drip system
Ginger is one of those plants that can go either way depending on your climate. Ginger initially was grown in tropical regions, so that means lots of rain and humidity, but it also doesn't like water logged soil once it's established. Irrigating ginger root with drip irrigation is great for controlling the moisture level of the soil to keep it moist but not soggy, but overhead can help provide the humidity that it loves.
From what I've read, if you're in a dry climate, you'll need to mist the leaves, which is something that overhead watering can emulate with a mister or a sprayer. If you're in a humid environment, the leaves will be relatively moist already and soil moisture can be provided by drip irrigation without water logging them.
Ginger is one of those plants that can really go either way depending on the conditions in which it's being grown :)
@@dripdepot thank you sir
@@yashwanthyashwanth6886 Any time, thank you for reaching out as well!
Thankyou ! perfect
At 3:34, I think over time the irrigation pipe will crack and break. There's gotta be a better way to restrict water flow without having to bend and damage the water line.
The tubing Antelco uses there is a very soft, so it is able to bend without much compromise of structural integrity -- however, there is an option if you don't like the crimp option (and I'll admit, crimping goes against my instincts as well, at least long term) -- a barbed coupling valve could be used to have on/off without any crimping of the tubing. Added benefit would be having some control over the spray if you wanted to reduce it without reducing the rest of the system pressure :)
What is best for tomato plants in buckets?
I think any of the solutions could work, but personally I'd be inclined to running some 1/4" tubing through the bucket, assuming it's a large enough bucket (and it likely is with tomatoes).
The reason is keeping foliage dry -- the drip line is going to drip directly into the soil, leaving the stalk and foliage nice and dry (which reduces the chances for fungus/rot, etc to get a foothold). A spray or an adjustable emitter could technically be placed in a way where it wouldn't hit the foliage, but it would take quite a bit of adjusting throughout the season to make sure it stayed that way -- with drip line, it would be near impossible for it to end up dripping in a way that got the foliage wet :)
Note: with mature plants wet foliage is less of an issue, they develop defenses as they mature -- but still, the odds are always best with dry foliage, even if it's by a small degree when mature.
@@dripdepot to focus in...for tomatoes in a 5 gallon bucket would I do drip line in a ring on top of the soil and cover with mulch? (like in the tree ring video you guys do? or bury deeper or set up in a different configuration?
@@Ryan-nj5ue Surprisingly, any of the methods you mentioned are likely to work (and work well!), but I typically do the ring on top of the soil and then cover with mulch. This allows the vast majority of the moisture to remain trapped, practically eliminating evaporation of the irrigation water.
Covering with mulch or soil does slightly increase the risk of clogging (typically over time, not immediate), so if you wanted to place it on top of the mulch this is also more than acceptable. There will be a little evaporation, but even then it will be minimal since the vast majority of the water will penetrate and spread out beneath the soil.
@@dripdepot this helps alot!!
a rule of thumb is... the slower the water the more effective it will be, if you have a river within 100 yards of where you are planting and you carve it so that it branches off and seeps into the soil, you would be able to dig with a trowel into the soil for about a hand, then make a fist and punch your entire arm into the soil to show how soaked it is.
That is how farmlands use to be, slow down the water and it will have time to soak into the soil and the top layer of soil will keep it from being baked off.
So yes drop systems would be best because it's slow water that isn't being baked off, remember the square law with this, over less area the effect would branch out below the soil but if you use more water above the soil over a large area it will be evaporated more.
Good advice, and accurate! We call this soil infiltration rate, and you have it right, you don't want to exceed the soil infiltration rate or it starts accumulating on the surface where it can become susceptible to run-off and evaporation as you noted.
The one exception to this is sandy soils -- while you won't need the flow rate of the nile, a faster flow rate emitter is usually the go-to for loose soil types :)
We only have gravity feed. I'm lost at where to start.
With a gravity setup, you'll typically want to use drippers over spray -- this is because spray emitters typically either require higher pressure, or put out significantly more flow (or both!).
With that said, much of this depends on how much elevation you're able to achieve with your gravity water source. If it's elevated quite a bit (40' to 60'), you'll have enough pressure to operate spray type emitters. If there's no hillside, this kind of elevation will not always be possible, in which case pressure would be low enough it would be best to opt for drip type emitters so that each emitter doesn't use up too much of the available pressure and flow :)
@@dripdepot Thank you.
Good where cani getit
Everything we use in our videos is available on our website here: www.dripdepot.com/
There are also links to all the parts we used in this video in the video description.
If there's something specific you're looking for, I'm more than happy to link you directly to it as well :)
How we purchase it
Thank you for reaching out!
Everything used in the video is linked above in the description (including a couple things not used in the video). If you're looking for something that's not linked or something specific, just let me know, happy to link you directly :)
very useful... why not just puncture holes in line instead of usinbg buttons ?
Do you mean puncturing a hole in the tubing and using that to release water? What happens in that case is that the amount of water that comes out of even a small hole is very high in volume. Even a 0.160" hole punched into 1/2" tubing operating at 25 PSI would put out around 140 gallons per hour(!!) if my napkin math is holding up. Button drippers have turbulent passages, very small orifices and sometimes internal diaphragms that help control the volume of water coming out to get down to 0.5 to 2.0 gallons per hour on most common button drippers.
In addition to that, a punctured hole allowing the free flow of water uses up a lot of the water's energy, so holes beyond the first one or two put out progressively less water so there's no uniform irrigation.
Thank you for asking this question by the way! It's one we get by email pretty often so I thank you sincerely for the opportunity to have the information always available here for folks who might not email us to ask :)
@@dripdepot Thank you so much for your thorough and prompt response. I'm impressed and also educated now ! Can one translate psi into vertical measurements of a column of water like a rain tank ?
I guess I could google that. Just being lazy
@@carolinekloppert5177 Thank you for the kind words! And it's definitely ok to ask here, happy to save you some time sifting through google results.
You can indeed translate the water level in a rain tank into PSI -- water pressure is generated at a rate of 0.433 PSI for every foot of elevation. So, if your rain tank is 3 feet high, you'd have about 1.3 PSI.
If that's not what you meant, just say the word, more than happy to revise :)
Drip line become a mess the next season when the plant arrangement shifts
Excellent point
@@manuelesoto23bs point
Why? I’m trying to decide what to do for my wife’s garden.
I have 14 - 7 ft tall/5 feet wide Robin Hollies that were just installed about 6 weeks ago. Should I use a spray or drip.
I'd ask the nursery as well just to make sure since needs can vary by location, but from what I understand of Robin Hollies and trees in that family, you should get better results from drip. Drip will help keep the foliage and bark of the tree dry, which Robin Hollies prefer. They're on the medium to low (depending on maturity) side of watering needs, and like similar trees, like a deep watering at least once per week (more during prolonged hot and dry times), or when the top few inches of soil is drying out.
A "tree ring" setup could work well here, particularly if they're young trees -- they are most susceptible to disease and other issues when they're young, and a tree ring will ensure both the bark and foliage stays dry through irrigation cycles. As they grow, you can increase the circumference of the "tree ring" easily, by simply cutting into the 1/4" dripline and splicing in a new length. Depending on your location and precipitation, you may need very little supplemental watering after they mature.
Tree rings are just 1/4" drip line formed into a ring that goes around the tree -- this gets water to all sides of the root ball, and as mentioned above, delivers it directly to the soil instead of on sensitive leaves.
Happy to answer any questions you have on this -- if you haven't bumped into tree rings yet, here is a video we did that goes over a tree ring system we did for some fruit trees in Oregon: ruclips.net/video/NkGTXrGkcRM/видео.html
This is a no brainer. Unless it's a big area, i.e. grass, drip is by far the best. It's more accurate, uses less water, has less disease, delivers to precisely where needed, is far less expensive and far easier to maintain. Also, it can be opened and closed by the homeowner unlike large irrigation systems.
I'm in full agreement, but I'll admit to my drip bias here :) At least, other than a few exceptions (mist loving plants, those that need a lot of water in a short time frame), I use drip for everything that I can.
Sub-surface drip for lawns is still, comparatively, in its infancy, but I'm looking forward to its growth. All the water savings spread across the many lawn and turf areas would be a lot of water saved (not to mention less fertilizers on the surface of the lawn, safer for pets and children).
If you have to have a million drippers to saturate the soil dripping is not the way. Micro sprays are far better if the water is going to evaporate faster than it sinks into the soil......dripping is a joke for my beds
@@rootelation486 You are correct that you don't want the application rate to exceed the soil infiltration rate, as you'd then end up with pooling which can lead to unwanted evaporation just like you noted. In most cases drippers are the best way to achieve that, as they have a much lower application rate (though there are some high flow drippers out there). If you don't need the surface of the soil moist, the surface of the soil should remain mostly dry other than a small wet spot where the dripper is dripping.
Beneath the soil, the water will spread out to reach the plants' roots through the soil's capillary action. When you need to wet the entire surface of the soil (propagation/seedlings and some shallow-rooted plants) spray is often the go to, as installing a large number of drippers to moisten a large surface area would definitely be a lot of labor time, and in the case of propagation, may not provide enough surface moisture :)
Nice, new subbie here!
Thank you! If you ever have any questions, don't hesitate for a second -- likewise, looking at your fantastic channel, I might have questions for you! :)
hi, thanks for your support, more power to your channel
Nice
Thank you!
A snotty nose child with a dripping nose is always better than a child that blows snott, boogers and mucus all over everything and you 🤓
LOL yes! A missed opportunity to include that simile in the video for sure! Thank you for the laugh to start my morning off over here :)
I use drip for bushes and trees and micro sprays for everything else.
Awesome! And I think your comment highlights how versatile drip irrigation (and sprays that full under the umbrella) really is, there's not really a wrong way if you're getting good results.