Drip emitter newbie

[fflaque]

I'm putting in a drip emitter line that I purchased from home depot and its flow rate is .9 Gph in Florida.    I was planning on running it for 1 hour, but not sure if thats too long or short.  Is it better to space out the lines in concentric circles or just bunch them up?  I used the  rainbird calculator from their site, but not sure if its for palm trees.

[WaianaeCrider]

I would think there are roots out a lot farther than your line judging from the size of the trunk.

 

[quaman58]

Here in southern California I use 2gph with run times from 10-30 minutes depending on zone, size of palms and season. I always felt the lower gph drippers clogged easier.  

[Merlyn]

I have 12 different drip zones in my yard, the vast majority are button drippers (0.5, 1 and 2gph) and a few fan sprayers.  This is because I'm on well water with lots of iron and manganese.  The weeping hose stuff would clog up within weeks and quit working.  Rainbird button emitters and fan sprayers have been reliable, with only a couple of button emitters having infant mortality.  That's probably because I forgot to purge the 1/2" diameter distribution tubing at least a couple of times.  That kinda looks like the base of a Spindle palm, Hyophorbe Verschaffeltii.  In my sandy area I'd probably give that 2 to 4 individual 1gph button emitters, running for about 30-45 minutes.  So calculated out that is 1-3 gallons each cycle.  For most of the summer the irrigation isn't needed, but around now it is hot (90-105F in my yard) and really dry.  Which reminds me that I need to go check my zones and make sure they are all working correctly!

One thing I'd suggest is to cover up those roots, here's a good reference on planting depth.  I'd do that before putting in your irrigation:

http://www.marriedtoplants.com/palms/palm-tree-growing-tips-mounding/

[sonoranfans]

I dont use emitters on larger palms like that in florida.  If your soil drains quickly like mine, a sprayer will cover a much larger root area and the palm will b much happier.  When you have a lot of capillary action pulling the water horizontally rippers are advantageous and appropriate.  The moisture "plume"(volume coverage) in soil looks narrow and deep in a cylinder shape around each dripper in high drainage and flat and shallow in low drainage soil.  In the dry spring season all roots beyond that weeping hose may die back due to lack of water.   In summer when the rains come, you can turn off the irrigation for a few days after each rain.  Last year I had it shut off for more than half the summer.  The dry spring here is the time to water heavily if you have sandy high drainage soil.  Also well water that has a lot of harness will clog that hose eventually an then you might be getting 0.4gph but wont know it.  In arizona, I had hard water.  No dripper under 2gph was useful for me, they clogged so fast and evaporation can be nearly as fast as the emission in the heat.  In florida, I use microsprayers and full popup sprinklers  to water my mature palms.  A large palm will have roots 15-20' from the trunk.  A happy palm the size of the one pictured has roots at least 6-8' from the trunk.  Watering only close to the trunk in high drainage soil is a little like having that palm in a pot, it will be stunted.  In sandy soil, drip emitters aren't worth much, if you go to a drip irrigation website they will tell you to go to microsprayers.  If I run 0.9gpj for 1 hour that isn't even one gallon.  I think most of my palms would be dead if I did that.  It depends on your soil an its drainage what the best approach will be.

[fflaque]

1 hour ago, sonoranfans said:

 

Thank you for the replie everyone.    Sonoranfans with your microsprinklers, what gph and run time are you using for those.  

Edited May 8, 2022 by fflaque

[fflaque]

2 hours ago, Merlyn said:

I have 12 different drip zones in my yard, the vast majority are button drippers (0.5, 1 and 2gph) and a few fan sprayers.  This is because I'm on well water with lots of iron and manganese.  The weeping hose stuff would clog up within weeks and quit working.  Rainbird button emitters and fan sprayers have been reliable, with only a couple of button emitters having infant mortality.  That's probably because I forgot to purge the 1/2" diameter distribution tubing at least a couple of times.  That kinda looks like the base of a Spindle palm, Hyophorbe Verschaffeltii.  In my sandy area I'd probably give that 2 to 4 individual 1gph button emitters, running for about 30-45 minutes.  So calculated out that is 1-3 gallons each cycle.  For most of the summer the irrigation isn't needed, but around now it is hot (90-105F in my yard) and really dry.  Which reminds me that I need to go check my zones and make sure they are all working correctly!

One thing I'd suggest is to cover up those roots, here's a good reference on planting depth.  I'd do that before putting in your irrigation:

http://www.marriedtoplants.com/palms/palm-tree-growing-tips-mounding/

Merlyn thanks for the link, I wasn't sure when landscape company put the palms in that it was done correctly, but they told me it was and I'm not expert so I took their word for it.  The palm in the original pic I assume is a foxtail as thats what the company told me.    Here's another pic and I'm not sure what the palm in the middle is as I found that in the woods behind me and figured might as well try a free palm tree.   

[fflaque]

[sonoranfans]

1 hour ago, fflaque said:

Thank you for the replie everyone.    Sonoranfans with your microsprinklers, what gph and run time are you using for those.  

I have for example 2 microsprayers on a big archie alexander triple.  Each runs 10-14 gph and and I run them for 25 minutes 2-3 times a week.  So yes for a 28-30' tall archie alexander triple I am putting down around 10 gallons of water each time over a large area(10x10).   There are also overlapping zones from other palms that feed that archie triple.  But I have two sprayers that are dedicated amongst them and a couple crotons.  I do have some smaller microsprayers that are 7 gal/hr so they give about 2 gallons in 20 minutes over ~ 3' radius.  I use smaller ones on smaller palms.  My large royals(35-40'+) are getting pop up sprinkler water for 25 minutes over a huge root zone.  A mature royal has a huge root mat, extending more than 15' from the trunk, the only practical way to feed that system is with a sprinkler.  I also sometimes use a carry around sprinkler if I see any signs of individuals that are too dry.  I do have palms like bismarckia that dont want that water more frequently than 2x a week so I sometimes use extra water selectively on wet loving palms.  What you plant nearby in palm groups can impact whether all are going to be happy at the same time.  For example, I wouldn't plant a bismarckia an a satakentia near each other, way different water demands.  IF you have just a few palms, microsprayers are a great way to efficiently get them regular water.  When you have lots of palms(55-60) their roots are all over the place so a sprinkerl makes sense.  The bigger the root zone the more healthy and faster growing the palm.  I try not to allow dry spots anywhere near my palms in the spring dry season here in FL.  Once the rains kick in, its much easier and I check to see how saturated the ground is to determine whether to shut of the automatic irrigation.

[Merlyn]

Yeah the freebie is a queen, and the base of a foxtail looks kinda similar to a spindle.  But those are definitely foxtails.  Low pressure microsprayers like sonoranfans recommends would be a great way to get water to several different palms and other tropicals in that area.  And you can see that they are working correctly and hitting the right spots.  I don't like the weeping hose because you never know if 3 feet of it is clogged and the other 30 feet are ok, or vice-versa.  I've used the button emitters because my system is set up as only supplemental, i.e. just to make sure stuff doesn't suffer around the normal May and October droughts.