Drip Irrigation in sand

[empireo22]

Hello all! I want to set up drip irrigation to water my plants. but I worry that in the sand it will just go straight down and wont water most of the root zone, will putting more drippers around fix this problem? please any advice on drip irrigation for palms, and hedges in sand?

thanks

[empireo22]

anyone have any experience with drippers in sand and how many per palm? also frequency of watering and duration?

[spockvr6]

I use drip on sandy soil and it works great.

I know this as I had the drip on, then ended up digging a palm out later that same day. The ground all around the palm was soaked and I only had one single 2 GPH dropper on it. The water definitely diffused around.

[empireo22]

I use drip on sandy soil and it works great.

I know this as I had the drip on, then ended up digging a palm out later that same day. The ground all around the palm was soaked and I only had one single 2 GPH dropper on it. The water definitely diffused around.

Thanks Larry. I will just use 1 dripper per plant then. how often do you run yours?

[Jerry@TreeZoo]

Everybody's sand is different as far as lateral percolation goes. If you put the emitter on the rootball, the potting soil there should saturate before percolating into the sand. Just check it out after you install and see how it works.

[empireo22]

I installed drip irrigation today, but where the 1/4'' barbed connector goes into the main 1/2'' dripper hose has a slow leak on about 70% of them i tried pushing it in deeper but does not help. any suggestions? thanks

[MattyB]

that's normal, it's not a problem because it'll only leak when your sprinklers are on and it doesn't amount to much water lost anyways.

[empireo22]

that's normal, it's not a problem because it'll only leak when your sprinklers are on and it doesn't amount to much water lost anyways.

Thanks Matt I feel better now. im going to fix one that was spraying out and puddling up, i guess i will just plug it and start over.

[spockvr6]

I use drip on sandy soil and it works great.

I know this as I had the drip on, then ended up digging a palm out later that same day. The ground all around the palm was soaked and I only had one single 2 GPH dropper on it. The water definitely diffused around.

Thanks Larry. I will just use 1 dripper per plant then. how often do you run yours?

Mine is feast or famine!

I have the drip on Pine Island and don't live there full time so the drip is only used when I am there. When there, I drench everything heavily. Ill usually run the drip 4-5 hours a day every other or third day. It doesn't seem like a lot of water is coming out those droppers, but it adds up! I've read my meter, then run the system for an hour or so and rechecked it, and I get about 400 gallons an hour through the system.