questions regarding micro-spray, misters, drip lines ....

[KennyRE317]

as you guys know i'm in the middle of doing the irrigation to my yard and was wondering how much water a palm really needs when using any the smaller irrigation lines. my irrigation is separated by 6 zones: 2 in the front (1 dedicated to micro spray/drip), 2 for the side, and 2 for the back. one of my concerns is that if I will be putting grass in the yard then I wouldn't be able to dedicate any of the zones in the side or the back for a drip line but I was thinking about converting one head for microsprays. if I converted just one head would running it 20minutes twice a week be sufficient for a palm? a work around I've thought about is putting multiple heads right around the palm so there's more volume of water.

another option would be to run the front dedicated drip/micro spray line all the way around the entire property (not a huge property) but is there a maximum amount of length I can run a 1/4" line? it would be a pretty decent length to run it all the way to the back and around the palms.

any advice?

[MattyB]

You don't want to run the 1/4" line any more than 5' or so and you don't want to put more than 1 or 2 emitters on it.

Of course different palms vary, but 20 minutes, twice a week, will work fine, you just have to make sure you have 2 or more 4+ gph emitters per palm. Less time watering = use higher gph emitters. Or you can run it for 5 minutes and put an adjustable bubbler on it that delivers a lot of water. As long as you have free draining soil and can mitigate runoff

[KennyRE317]

what about 1/2" flexible line? I've seen some people run that stuff all across their front lawns for bedding, that's the only issue with using only the front for a drip ... I would need a pretty long run. if I go with no grass in the majority of the backyard (just mulch) then i'll have plenty of sprinkler heads that I can convert or even dedicated another zone on the side. i'm just trying to plan and figure things out

[MattyB]

Read the literature that the drip irrigation manufacturer provides, but here's what I remember: If you're using 1/2" flexible line a single run can accomodate 220 gph. If you're using 3/4" a single zone can accomodate up to 540 gph. So, to solve your problem, use 3/4" PVC as a header to provide ample volume and use a "T" to pop-up and convert to 1/2" flex lines at a few different areas. Make sense?

Here's a sketch of one of my stations. You can water a hell of a lot of plants on one station.

[Hammer]

This is the kind of real world, actionable thread that is invaluable. Thanks for asking the question Kenny and thanks for the insight Matty B.

[KennyRE317]

Read the literature that the drip irrigation manufacturer provides, but here's what I remember: If you're using 1/2" flexible line a single run can accomodate 220 gph. If you're using 3/4" a single zone can accomodate up to 540 gph. So, to solve your problem, use 3/4" PVC as a header to provide ample volume and use a "T" to pop-up and convert to 1/2" flex lines at a few different areas. Make sense?

Here's a sketch of one of my stations. You can water a hell of a lot of plants on one station.

awesome info! looks like I have 3/4" pvc for each zone. how back to my main question ... I see In your diagram you have PVC ran all the way through your yard and just used "T" popups to convert the flex lines what if you only used 1 "T" popup, say the one closest to the valve, and you ran the 1/2" polyline everywhere instead of using multiple "T" popups? how long of a run can I do with the 1/2" polyline?

I ask this because that's essentially how I would like to do it so I have a dedicated zone just for the polylines. in a worse case scenario I could just mix match a certain zone to accommodate but ideally on a dedicated zone with it's own watering schedule would be perfect. where my "T" popups are would I need a water pressure regulator or would that just be if I used 1/4" microsprays/misters?

[MattyB]

OK, I think I see where you might be getting confused.

Although I have PVC ran all over the place, all of my zones are low pressure, ie drip irrigation. In my opinion, mixing and matching full pressure, like traditional spray heads and low pressure, like drip or micro, is not recommended due to the widely varying flow rates of the individual sprinklers and emitters.. Your entire station should be one or the other.

To answer your questions:

Q: "How long of a run can I do with the 1/2" polyline?"

A: 400'+ if using pressure compensating emitters, and 220 gph is going to be your flow limit.

Q: "Do I need a water pressure regulator?"

A: Yes, and a filter too

http://www.digcorp.com/DIY/208-Drip_Irrigation_design_and_Installation_Guide/pages/4

[KennyRE317]

OK, I think I see where you might be getting confused.

Although I have PVC ran all over the place, all of my zones are low pressure, ie drip irrigation. In my opinion, mixing and matching full pressure, like traditional spray heads and low pressure, like drip or micro, is not recommended due to the widely varying flow rates of the individual sprinklers and emitters.. Your entire station should be one or the other.

To answer your questions:

Q: "How long of a run can I do with the 1/2" polyline?"

A: 400'+ if using pressure compensating emitters, and 220 gph is going to be your flow limit.

Q: "Do I need a water pressure regulator?"

A: Yes, and a filter too

http://www.digcorp.com/DIY/208-Drip_Irrigation_design_and_Installation_Guide/pages/4

yea, that was the main question that brought out this thread. obviously with sprinklers I wouldn't be watering for an hour but I was going to try and compensate that with extra microsprays/emitters around each tree to help give it more water if I was only going to run it 15minutes or so.

I may just dedicate the front zone to just trees and 400' maybe enough to wrap around what I need without using more than 220gph. I maybe adding a 3rd zone to the side, by redoing the manifold and dedicating it to the mini green houses/stands (hot house for seedlings/seeds) and shade house for all the stuff that are staying in pots til they're mature but that i'll probably run that zone once or twice a day for about 5 -10 minutes depending on the weather. the 3rd zone that's added won't be on enough to give the palms a deep watering.

thanks again for all the answers, although my yard isn't near as large as some of you guys, I would still prefer not to have to hand water everything daily. when I just had the front lawn done, it wasn't that bad spending 10-15minutes a day in the summer evening but when everything's all said and done it'd probably take over an hour