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Saturday, November 5, 2011

Drip Irrigation...Take 2

Not that the first stuff I put in needs to be changed, mind you, I'm actually continuing the retrofit to another section.



This is a new kind (or different, I should say, hell if I know if it's "new" or not) of drip irrigation from what I previously posted.  Up to now, I had been laying flexible tubing and then attaching smaller flex tubing along with an emitter at the end.  This particular item has an emitter, or hole, already in the tube every 12 inches (too much math to figure out what that is in metric).  So, all I have to do is lay it near the plant and make sure a hole is somewhere in the vicinity.  It took about one third the time the other tubing did.  Me like.


However, since I am the brilliant gardener that I am, when I capped the sprinkler heads already in this area months ago, I did not mark where the heads had been.  Thus, a wild goose chase began to find them.  After digging several holes, and then realizing the pipe was buried 1.7 miles below the surface, I decided just to cut into an area and put in what I needed.  Above is what I needed.  And, since it was such a chore to do, and I highly recommend when you're already there to add in a few more.


I ended up putting in three risers, although I'm only using one for now.  That should leave me enough to finish off the bed once the rest of the plants get in.

The beauty of this is once the tubing is laid moving it is quite simple, just pick it up and put it down where you want it.  Also, with a 50 cent adaptor I can add to the tubing at a later date to continue the run.  After 100 feet, however, it's best to start a new line as you will lose too much water pressure to maintain the proper drip.

In the meantime, I will be setting my clock's back an hour tonight and you should do the same should you be so required.  Spurs vs. Fulham tomorrow at 8 am PST, and if you forget you won't tune in until halftime!  We'll be up by 7 by then!!!  HA!!

2 comments:

  1. Man you have a pretty well organised system!!

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  2. Well look at you, all organized and everything. I hate losing irrigation lines below the surface...sooo been there! Nice job adding the extra risers now, so you don't have to go spelunking later. The mini-inline emitters are nice, especially if you have more than one circuit. I use them a lot in beds where I want plants to naturally spread, especially from seed. You just have to keep track of total GPH on the line so you don't ding the water pressure. You'll be fine though...you've got two whole extra circuits to use! Maybe you need a greenhouse for one them? ;)

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