IRRIGATION DEBATE! Drippers Vs Sprayers

[Double F]

What do you think is the best way to irrigate a large outdoor plant. For sake of argument, lets say the plant is approx 8 ft tall and 8ft across, in 2 yards of soil.


I have always used the standard pressure compensating drippers for my outdoor plants. I run a 1" mainline, either poly or PVC, with 1/2' poly tubing connecting to the plant. the 1/2' poly tubing is then connected to the 1/2' drip tubing. I use the one everyone else uses, basic 12" spacing, 1gph per emitter, and run it in a coil so that theres 30 emitters per plant. it works very easily but i have complaints about dry spots and sometimes the emitters clog, or kink up. its also hard to fertigate anything but synthetic fertilizers since its so prone to clogging.

But i want to go to sprayers, ive seen them used on a few friends farms and i want to try them out. Any cons for sprayers, what size GPH should i get. I am thinking of using 4 per plant, in a standard box setup. ive heard that sprayers clog too but at least its easier to visually check the lines. i also like how the water spray agitates things a bit and oxidates the water before going into the soil. they also look like they will cover a larger area of space. i see them in use in the commercial orchards and they seem to work great.

 

[mr.shiva]

I basically have the same watering setup you describe and mostly the same complaints (although it works quite well, it just seems it could be better). Fertigating organics is best left to watering wands, I know sprayers won't solve that for you. Drip works has a commercial sprayer stake (sprayer is replaceable, i forget the gph), with a 2.5 ft 1/4in white line with a barb installed, I think it was less than a buck a piece and ready to go. I've used those a couple seasons in my gh and want to refit my hill with those. 4 of those per hole would have to be better coverage, definitely more in league with my awesome watering wand skills lol.

 

[Backyard Farmer]

I ran sprayers in 2010 and 2012 in 2011 and 2013 I used 1/2" drip emitter tube.

The sprayers are cool , they put out a lot of water very fast and really soak down EVERYTHING if you place them right. my problem with them was over time they clogged due to my water source. I probably could have filtered it better and not had so many problems but I was spending all kinds of time fixing clogged sprayers as a result of a lack of filter - usually by just clearing out whatever gunk had built up in them and plugging it back in the 1/4 hose. If I was going to do sprayers again I'd run the big 2" disc filter from drip works on the main line and then a bunch more 1" basket filters on the zones ...I ran the big 2" disc filter last year and LOVED it. Only had to break it down and clean the filter discs once. This year I'll put a new set of discs in and keep rolling and hopefully have a new water source.

The drip emitter tubing is cool. Rolling it out is a chore. 12" is a little far apart for the emitters unless you're stacking like 50 on one hole, I like the 9" a LOT more. Seems to lay in more evenly with the emitters alternating as you go up the mound....

Early in the season like Mr Shiva I rock the watering wand until they're established and then I start giving them less wand and some irrigation and eventually no more wand and all the water thru the drip irrigation.

One thing I found that really helps is using a lot of a quality wetting agent on my soil when I'm in watering wand/ wand with irrigation supplemented, I use Yucca Ag Aide from Desert King.

This year I'm going to have my soil sprayed with it at the Worm Soil Factory when it's getting blended up.

 

[Bud-Boy]

I ran sprayers in 2010 and 2012 in 2011 and 2013 I used 1/2" drip emitter tube.


The drip emitter tubing is cool. Rolling it out is a chore. 12" is a little far apart for the emitters unless you're stacking like 50 on one hole, I like the 9" a LOT more. Seems to lay in more evenly with the emitters alternating as you go up the mound....

Early in the season like Mr Shiva I rock the watering wand until they're established and then I start giving them less wand and some irrigation and eventually no more wand and all the water thru the drip irrigation.



This year I'm going to have my soil sprayed with it at the Worm Soil Factory when it's getting blended up.

I concur and ditto

them 6in spaced inline, blue stripe drippers ALWAYS puts the water on spot. and super simple to install, remove to top dress, and replace, nice even spiral w a foot of space all the way to the ends.

Our hill is REALLY windy, sprayers are hit n miss

does the WSF put the additive in any other of their blends? Which county which place?

 

[StanKDanK]

You cant beat hand watering and paying individual attention to each site. I have wasted so much time on blocked sprayers and gravity issues with water pressure in the lines on slopes. Some plants get more than others etc.. I always end up hand watering in the end. It takes many more hours but I can sleep well knowing its done right.

 

[Sinkyone]

Sprayers are crap. They clog easily, require much more water pressure, and waste more water. They also create a humid environment in the canopy of the plant which will greatly increase your problems with mold and mildew. If you are having problems with dry spots, switch to 6" spacing.

 

[furrywall11]

Is there a larger thread about irrigation here...somewhere around? I'm looking to do irrigation for the first time this year and I want to do it right. I have it in my mind that I'll do water through the irrigation and then do compost tea and fertigation by hand...... Any and all advice appreciated!

 

[Backyard Farmer]

What are you thinking about doing?

Between Mr.Shiva , Sinkyone, and myself ..You could get all the help you need right here in this thread! Irrigation is pretty easy here are some things to think about: How much water do you need to distribute, and how fast? How many PSI do you need? If you're on a hill you will need pressure regulators to keep things even as the head builds. Drip emitter tube works better than sprayers; I use 2" main line to 1.5" to service the gardens , from there it goes to either 3/4" or I run right off the 1.5" and use 1.5x1.5x.5" reducing T to hook the drip line right to it.

 

[mr.shiva]

Ha, I think y'all talked me out of going big on the sprayers, and instead going with the 6in spacing route and mulch over it. I really need to be efficient with water this year. I double filter my irrigation system so I really haven't had problems with sprayers clogging, but you are right about efficiency.

 

[Backyard Farmer]

Right on. I haven't tried the 6" spacing because they say the max run is 18' and @ 30psi they only put down 28gph ...I use the 12" and 9" spacing alternated on my trenches and the 12" on my mounds. I have about 50 ft on each one so they stack pretty nice and I can put down 50gph..

It only mattered for me while I was on a gas pump. I only wanted to run max 2 hours a day. Yes that's right, at some points I was using 100 gallons per plant per day. Plus my vegetable garden is drip irrigated with emitter tube and is 2000sq ft..This year I'm trying to get my 2" diversion and gravity going so maybe I could change to the closer spacing...

One upgrade I do want to do is get 12V zone timers and electric valves so I can automate my watering even more. I was just going to get whatever drip works had. They never let me down

 

[mr.shiva]

The DIG dc timers from there work great ; With the rain sensor on those things you can even make them water on demand, when the moisture sensor is 'moist' it stops the cycle. You'd put the sensor in zone 4, so the timer goes through all zones 1-4 before shutting down

 

[Double F]

damn, more love for the dripline? good thing i didn't toss them all out.

what about octa bubblers? for indoors they work great, 2 octa with 8 emitters each waters the piss out of a 4x4 tray in 30 seconds.

what is the pressure compensation needed for gravity drop? i have 8 terraces that drop about 2 feet each. i split everything into zones, would be too confusing to list all the details. but usually i just add up the total GPH of all my zones and size the pump accordingly, last year i was having issues with oversizing the pump and it would literally blow the damn mainline right off the T-barbs and spring leaks. there was way too much back pressure on the drip line, since i have the added gravity pressure i feel like sprayers wouldn't have any issues with low pressure.

i was brainstorming and thinking of running 1 80gph octa bubbler per 2-300 gallons of soil. each 1/4in emitter is 10gph, so with a normal 30 minute watering i would be dumping 5 gallons through each emitter, 40gal per plant which is plenty for most days. for hot days just run the pump an hour per zone. ideally i would have 20 or so plants per zone.

im also guessing that the lowest terraces would have the most gravity pressure and so i could put more plants.

would love to see some pics of your guys watering setups. I'm gonna head over to drip works one of these days. might order a few octa's and do a test run and see how they work.

 

[Double F]

i had a brainfart, i went and checked and the drip line i was using was 9in spacing. i was using 30 per 200 gal smart pot and 36 per 300.

i hate coiling every pot, it takes fucking days even with hired help. the damn staking down always frustrates me because the drip works line is very stiff and easily kinks if you make the coils too tight. plus there are so many emitters you can never really tell when they are clogged, for all i know i might have had 2-3 per pot not even working. i know some pots the kinks would form overnight and then half the damn pot wouldn't even get water!

the cool part about drip line is that i had valves on each plant so i could shut off certain runty plants that didn't need as much water. i also had the drip line attached to regular 1/2 non drip line, so if i wanted to hand water i would just yank off the 1/2 inch and the stream of water is like having a hose at each plant.

 

[Backyard Farmer]

I've never had the drip line kink unless I was rolling it out carelessly.

Once it's in a 30-50 ft length I roll the hose back up , "Z" the end and hose clamp it instead of an end plug then hook it to either the 1.5"x1.5"x.5" T or the .5" poly hose I run off the main line to the individual mound.

My favorite runs are my 5 trenches. SO nice to just lay it out straight. I think it really works best that way, too.

Try out those octabubblers and see how they do, I don't like 1/4" line to bring water to my big out door trees.

I had sprayers and 1/4" line punched in to 3/4" poly in 2010 and 2012 and with no octabubblers (un necessary IMO) they all started up with in seconds of each other but my gardens were/are pretty flat. in 2011 and 2013 I had significantly better harvests, same strains same soil only real difference was the way I delivered the water. Take it for what it is worth.

To control pressure on a hill just get a pressure regulator going before the T, use a gauge in line after the T where you put the pressure gauge to dial in the PSI.

 

[TheRealHash]

Use both thats what I do.

 

[theJointedOne]

drip beats spray...everytime

 

[Sunfire]

800 gallon smart pots, tried it all! Flat soaker hose coils with 5inch spacing ONTOP of a thin layer of rice straw mulch is what I like. The hose gets sunbleached a little but its ok. No filters, flat soakers handle 45 psi easy. Drip and sprayers needs filters which robs half your flow and psi in my experiences. Forget mixing tanks and hand watering feedings. Just amend properly - biolive, azomite and aptus time release organic pellets. Sprayers can lead to mold and still cause dry spots. Irrigation on each zone 10 min and 50 off to let water wick instead of just running down through available channels. I learned that from my greenhouse and root bound mothers and indoor runs. Great technique that helps dry spots and saves water. Hoses ontop of rice straw helps wick water

 

[jackel]

Sprayers are best and I'll explain why I believe this.
If you have the water and water pressure, it's best to get the soil drenched before it gets too damn hot out. Soaker hoses get the top 4" or so, but by the time they do, it's 11pm and climbing to 90degrees in the summer.
The small pinholes in the soaker clogs up faster then anything I've ever seen. I've ran the same sprayers without cleaning them for 3yrs. Only reason I got new ones was cuz I redid all my holes and had to lay new drip system. And I'm on ag water. If you are using a more granular or crystally fertilizer, the shakers will b clogged every week.

 

[Backyard Farmer]

soaker hose sucks, drip emitter tube is a different animal and works really well.

sprayers and drip emitter tube sounds like a great combo if you have a lot of water and is something I might experiment with this year.

I just hate sprayers so finding a good one will be the key. Next time I'm in the area, I'm going to go handle all the ones that have at DripWorks and try the ones I like out.

 

[Backyard Farmer]

I've used those and I hate them