What's the opinion on drip irrigation? I've set it up this year and just wanted to know what others think about this....Good, Bad, or Opinion...Do i water more or less time? Any tips or opinions would be great
Thanks
Doug

I put in a drip system about 14 years ago, not in the vegetable garden, but the ornamentals front and back. And the citrus. It works well and saves hours of work. It's on a manual setting, though automatic is possible, too. You probably water a longer time since less comes out, though of course no water runs off.

There is some upkeep over the years as the emitters break. But it's worth it.

Oops! I answered this in your compost tea thread.

I have been slowly converting to drip from soaker hoses for 4 years now, and I have found it to be a great time and water saver. I have only had a problem in the beginning when the emitters I got in the cheap kit clogged up, but I have found that the pressure compensating emitters don't have this problem, as not one in a few hundred have clogged. I have them on a timer, and simply open the valves of the ones I want to water at the time, some more often, such as the upside-down tomatoes. I have not had to replace any of the good emitters in 4 years, though the rubber pad inside them must have a limited life. Just don't get the in-line emitters - almost every one clogged eventually, and there was no way to unclog them. http://www.dripworksusa.com/ is a good place for supplies and info.

Dave


Message was edited by: pepperhead212

Another vote for drip. I started with soaker hoses in the garden - too much hassle to store in winter, they clogged easily and wasted water (as compared to drip). I use drip tape now. You can buy it with 4", 6", 12" spacing. It was LOTS cheaper last year but still relatively inexpensive!. Still have to do some testing to check flow rates. I use tubing with drip emitters in shrub / flower beds.

How long should i water? Or maybe i should ask how long do you guys water...

I run my irrigation lines at 1/4 pressure until the soil (not the mulch) is wet at least a 1/2" deep. For the size of my gardens, that is around 3 hours. But I water once every 3 days.

I run my lines with 1/2gal/hr emitters on most plants, 1 gal/hr on larger plants, for about 1 1/2 hrs about every 3-4 days, and 1/2 gal/hr on the 5 gal buckets for 1 1/4 hrs every 2 days (otherwise the tomatoes wilt in those). The t-tape is slower, so I run that last at night, for about 5-6 hrs, every 3-4 days.

Dave