The longer Ron has lived in the country, the more he has come to enjoy his garden. But when he spends time on the road, sometimes several days can go by without his plants getting any water.
Also, like in most gardens, Ron's plants have a variety of different watering needs. He has container plants, foundation plants, hanging plants and flowering plants. All with different timing needs.
Ron's solution was to install an automatic drip irrigation system that would water his plants even when he was not at home, while also taking care of each plant's individual watering requirements. |
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NOTE: As much as two thirds of the water used in the average home is used outside, to irrigate the yard and plants. Drip irrigation can save as much as 70 percent over other methods of watering. Further, studies have also shown that plant material grows as much as 50 percent faster, using drip irrigation.
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| Every drip irrigation system begins at the hose bib or faucet. The first thing to do is screw on a check valve, which is designed to keep the irrigation water outside from flowing inside the house and contaminating the household water supply. Tightening the set screw on the valve will help prevent the value from becoming loosened either by vibration or from kids playing with the valve. |
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| The next step is to convert your single faucet into four. You can do this by using what's called a hose bib manifold. |
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| In a lot of homes, water pressure can run 60, 80 and sometimes even over a hundred pounds per square inch. That's far too much pressure for a drip irrigation system. A pressure reducer will drop the pressure down from household pressure to something in the 20 to 25 pound range. Simply screw a pressure reducer onto each faucet.
Divide your garden up into three separate areas or zones, each one to be served by a different outlet. The fourth faucet should be reserved for the garden hose. |
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| Next, simply screw on the automatic valves, which operate using very low voltage and are designed to turn the water on or off for each zone just when you program them to do so. |
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| The brain of the automatic drip irrigation system is called the timer or controller. It's completely weather proof and battery operated. |
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| Each of the automatic valves plugs into the bottom of the timer unit, which then mounts onto the front of one of the valves. |
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| Once mounted, the controller can be programmed to tell each separate valve which day of the week to go on, what time of the day to go on, and how long to run.
Once you have finished installing the system at the water source, you will then need to set up the distribution system to get the water from the valves to where it is needed. Half inch polyethylene tubing is used to transport the water from the valves to the various garden zones.
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| It is a good idea to put the tubing out in the sun for a couple of hours before starting work. That will warm the polyethylene and make it more pliable. Secondly, it is a great idea to invest in a pair of cutters, which will make the job easier. |
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| Connect one end of the tubing to the automatic valves. If you have deep mulch in your garden area, you can simply lay the tubing on top of the ground.
Just rake a path to lay the tubing and then use tubing stakes to anchor it in place. |
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| When you reach the end of a run of tubing, you will need to close or cap it off. There are a couple of ways to do that. One choice is to take a figure eight clip, slip it over the tubing, bend the tubing and then slide the clip back up to hold the crimp in position. |
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| Another way to end a run of tubing is with a cap designed for that purpose. When winter weather comes, you can unscrew the cover and drain the lines.
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| Half inch polyethylene tubing brings water into the general area and then smaller, quarter-inch tubing delivers water to individual plants or groups of plants. To attach the smaller tubing to the large, first use a special punch to make a small hole. Then snap a connector in place and slip on a piece of quarter-inch tubing, cut to length. Finally, add the appropriate emitter to the end of each run of quarter-inch tubing.
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| An emitter is a small nozzle that comes in many different styles -- each emitting anywhere from one to four gallons per hour in a variety of patterns. Drip emitters are extremely efficient for delivering water directly to the base of the plant.
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| Misters, sprays and sprinklers are often mounted on higher stakes and distribute water in quarter circle, half circle, full circle, and even rectangular patterns. Just one of these types can water several plants at once.
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