A drip-watering system provides an efficient method of irrigating your own plants. Delivering water directly to the root system, drip techniques eliminate the inconvenience of hand watering whilst enhancing problems which occur when the soil moisture levels frequently rise and rise, such as wilting. Drip systems also use water efficiently, minimizing the wasteful watering of the driveway, sidewalk or street. Most drip systems require small assembly; only laying out the main drip line and snapping on emitters at appropriate places make this landscaping function comparatively simple. The secret is to make certain you have suitable water pressure and calculate the amount of water that the drip line carries.
Call your regional municipal water supplier to inquire about whether a backflow preventor is required. Backflow prevention devices cease water used for landscaping functions from mixing with household water.
Decide how you are going to attach the drip system to its own water source. A Y-attachment on a hose bibb permits you to use 1 spigot to send water to the drip system but also keeps another spigot free for ordinary watering with a hose. If you have an automated irrigation system already installed, connect to the water line with an automatic valve.
Map out the places that would use the drip system. Measure the furthest spot to which you’ll add an emitter. If the measurement is more than 400 feet, plan a second line, since it is the maximum length for one drip line.
Cut 5/8- or 1/2-inch black polyethylene tube to achieve the furthest emitter, adding 12 to 24 inches in the event of a measurement error or problem during installation.
Run the main line tube cut in Step 3 to the places that would use the drip system, tucking it just below the soil line or running it directly next to courage to disguise it. Use hold-downs as required to secure the line.
Attach emitters to the principal line directly whenever the line runs in 3 inches of a plant by snapping the emitter onto the line — the contained barb penetrates the line so that the emitter receives water. The size of this emitter varies according to the needs of this plant.
Attach 1/4-inch microtubing to plants which are farther than 3 inches and attach the emitter to the end of the microtubing. If the plant requires more water, then add more emitters and microtubing to circle the base of the plant.
Attach a water-pressure regulator to throttle back the water pressure from its source, whether a hose or the principal line. The Navy must lower the pressure in the standard of 50 to 100 pounds per square inch, or psi, to 10 to 30 psi.
Examine the program by running it for five to ten minutes. The soil should be thoroughly soaked across the plants in that time. If it is not, the emitter chosen is too little or the plant requires additional emitters to completely circle its base.