Watering Systems

 We're considering installing a watering system since our garden area has
grown so large recently. Having studied the layout of the block, we've
decided where the pipes need to go, but which spigots to install for
which plants?

There are weepers and tricklers and sprays and sprinklers and... I dunno!

To my mind, you want to water the soil, not the foliage. Does that mean
only weepers or tricklers will do a decent job? What's the point of
putting in risers with sprays mounted at their tops? And how do you stop
the main pipes from twisting around so the spigotty-things stay put?

HELP! This is a serious post. Please don't joke until you've given me a
starting point!

Thanks, guys. ;->

--
Trish Brown

Newcastle, NSW, Australia

 Hi,

I guess it depends - in some areas the sprays might be more suitable. You
prevent the pipes from twisting by using u-shaped metal pins to hold them in
place.

You have to keep the pipes above ground - if there is a leak - you want to
know where it is.

Here's an idea though - how about using large PVC pipes - drilling holes
into them - burying them into the ground - and connecting them to the water
supply with a turn off switch (in case of heavy rain).

The idea is that the PVC pipes will slowly leak out the water - and they are
fairly large and not easy to damage.

 

Sprayers are good in that you can see what area they cover and adjust them
to fit.  They are not so good as they encourage some fungi by wetting
foliage and kicking up spores from the dirt in some cases, they are also
likely to waste some water through evaporation or runoff.  Both of the
latter problems can be minimised by not running at high pressure and
monitoring how the soil is taking up water.  Risers are to allow you to bury
the pipes and to give greater coverage (especially above mulch) as within
limits the higher the jet the further it will shoot (and be carried by the
wind).

Drippers and soakers don't have the disadvantages of sprayers, you can put
them under the mulch and waste almost nothing.  However the water is all
applied at one point so the coverage is dependent on the hydraulic qualities
of your soil.  With very sandy soil the water is likely to go downwards and
not spread much away from the source, which may be exactly what you want -
or not.  In very clay soil infiltration can be slow but as long as you apply
the water slowly to avoid runoff it will be OK as the water will spread if
supplied slowly  It is possible to get dry spots and these can be hard to
notice and you can get plants congregating around the wet spots.  Mostly you
can deal with this by some careful study and inserting/removing extra
drippers where required.

Go to an irrigation/sprinkler shop as once they realise you are serious they
will explain much more than the bored student and Bunnings who has no clue.
Take home all the pamphlets and do you sums, arrange your bankloan etc

Try:

http://www.hunterirrigation.com.au/

for a start.

Oh one final tip.  Get some extra joiners for the cuts you didn't mean to
make and some plugs for the jets/drippers yopu didn't mean to put in.

David

 David Hare-Scott wrote:


Great! Thanks, David! Sounds as though I might be needing drippers
and/or very short risers then. Part of my garden will be devoted to
roses and I'm historical about getting the foliage too wet and causing
awful fungus to take hold. Another part will be for shorter annuals and
some herbs, so p'raps the sprayers will work best there. DH has laid the
majority of the pipework and all I have to do is decide how I'm going to
distribute the water.

(NB. About a hundred years ago, they were selling out watering kits at
KMart or somewhere. They cost hardly anything - $5, I think - so I
bought about half-a-dozen, thinking to water my Mum's yard *really*
well! LOL! Instead, I went back to Uni and the half-dozen kits went up
in value. They've come in extremely  handy this year, when I need to get
a largish amount of garden watered efficiently. At last! Something went
right! LOL!)

--
Trish Brown

Newcastle, NSW, Australia

 news:0117eee4$0$20641

You could try laying bluestone around the roses - the roses' roots will be
attracted to the dark moist underneath the rocks.

Laying on a layer of thick mulch will also help.

I haven't been watering my garden much this year - and the roses look top
notch - no blackspot.