If you want to save water (and money) with drip irrigation, it all comes down to selecting the right design for your landscape, installing it properly and scheduling it correctly.
Drip irrigation saves water, right? It’s a question I hear quite often and the answer actually depends on your landscape design, type of drip irrigation and, most importantly, how it is scheduled.
How efficient your drip irrigation is relies on proper installation and how it’s scheduled. Of course, selecting the right design for your landscape is the first step.
Drip irrigation types include both In-line and Point Source. Inline tubes are distinguished by their often copper-colored UV resistant tubing, typically laid out in grid patterns over a wide area; tubes can be spaced 2 or even 3 feet apart to incorporate a lot of plants in close proximity. However, the success of an installation may depend upon the soil type and the capillary action of water moving through it. As bedding plants expire, over time the installation may resemble large areas of tubing emitting water in areas without living plants.
Point source drip is a more old-fashioned style of drip irrigation, with many small “spaghetti” tubes coming from a communal head or a long length of black tubing. This form of drip is great for widely spaced plants that are quickly established. Point source drip irrigation can often be removed after 90-120 days when the plants can survive on natural rainfall only.
Scheduling of point source is fairly simple. The emitters on the end of the tubes come in rates of half-gallon per hour, 1 gallon per hour and 2 gallons per hour. As I indicated last week, horticulturalists and foresters apply water in inches per hour. One inch of water is .62 gallons so the half-gallon per hour emitter is appropriate for once a week watering.
Initially, place the emitters next to the plant. Later, move the emitter away from the plant as the roots grow. This is one great advantage to point source drip irrigation: it can be moved to follow plant roots.
One of the advantages of point-source tubing is its flexibility — especially when compared to in-line tubing All that said, if you want to save water with drip irrigation, it all comes down to selecting the right design for your landscape, installing it properly, maintaining it, and scheduling it correctly.
Your plants will appreciate it and so will your bank account.
