Path: wingnut!microsoft!uunet!gatech!howland.reston.ans.net!usc!nic-nac.CSU.net!ctp.org!not-for-mail From: bmoon@eis.calstate.edu (Bruce A. Moon) Newsgroups: rec.gardens,soc.talk,rec..gardens,soc.talk2 Subject: Re: Drip system vs Soaker pipe Date: 26 Sep 1994 23:08:48 -0700 Organization: California Technology Project of The Calif State Univ Lines: 41 Message-ID: <368ctg$drm@eis.calstate.edu> References: NNTP-Posting-Host: eis.calstate.edu vm@c-cube.com (Vijay Maheshwari) writes: > We are finally putting a lawn in our > backyard, which was bare for 4 years. > There will be a (concrete) brick edging > about 2-3ft around the fence for plants, > flowers etc. The total edging length > is about 250ft. > > Questions: > > 1) Should I put a drip system around the > fence or put a soaker hose. While I have about 400 ft. of soaker hose and 1200 ft. of drip, I'd advise that you use 1/2 inch drip feeder hose with emitters and microsprinklers. Soaker hose runs are not very good when over about 50 ft. There is a tendency for one end to get under-watered and the other end to flood. 250 ft. is close to the maximum length of runs for drip too. After two years of soaker hose, mine are starting to plug up. A filter would have slowed this down, but it would still have meant that when the hose plugged up the whole thing would be worthless. Emitters may plug up on 1/2 inch, but it will be a long time before the line with filters plugs up entirely. I have strted using cheap 0-jet microsprinklers. With a radius of 3-5 ft. , they do a good job of covering th area around the base of a plant. This makes them especially good for ground covers. You might want to put them on spikes. > > 2) I am thinking of putting two pipes > one from the right side and other left side > to cover the area for watering - each > about 125ft. The full 125 ft will > get equal amount of water. This is not a bad idea. If you have changes in elevation, it might be a must, although pressure compensating drippers may make that less necessary. I do have a couple of runs that are a couple of hundred feedt long and so far they seem to work ok, but you can miss a malfuncioning dripper and lose a plant if you don't check regularly. -- Bruce Moon Rio Linda, CA .