irrigation

[kvet]

Hoping some of you experienced gardeners can help me tweak my drip irrigation to improve the soil.

My garden is relatively narrow with poor soil 2-3ft wide in most place, alkaline, kind of sandy, most of it shaded. Good news is that it drains well, but takes a long time to dry since it is shaded. Landscaper setup everything with 1 or 2 drip emitters per plant, buried under the mulch, kind of into the soil. I'm exploring improving soil over the next couple years, starting by adding local compost under the woodchip mulch. This work will be a waste with the drip emitters, since they pretty much leave a narrow band of water, and the space between the plants will dry out.

There are a few different directions I can go. All have pros and cons.

1. raise the current emitters over the mulch
2. zig-zag drip line/tape/tubing through the garden (embedded emitter in the hose every 6-12")
3. zig-zag soaker hose
4. replace emitters with micro sprayers
5. replace emitters with micro bubbles/streamers

Thoughts?

[Ray]

My entire yard is mulched.

In the front, where the "show" is, we have two zones of pop-up sprinkler heads to soak the entire area. The two sides and the back have a combination of drippers and micro-sprinklers, and that works really well.

[DirtyCoconuts]

have you ever read the book by David the Good about florida gardening, i suspect not, but it is very good

Amazon.com

there is an whole chapter about using mulch to improve sandy soil over time and it is quite amazing...I agree with Ray that mulching everywhere is the way to go

i would also add that for the configuration of your garden, long and thin, one or max two could soak the whole area

[estación seca]

It depends on where you live, what the climate is and what you want to grow. I would not use micro sprayers. Too much water is wasted. Use discrete emitters for a few shrubs, and soaker hose for bedding plants.

Go to Rainbird.com and click on the commercial/professional division. There are a lot of tutorials and design papers. I like the Rainbug drip devices. Water is measured at the device, not the end of the tubing where rabbits might chew it off.

[Ray]

Originally Posted by estación seca

It depends on where you live, what the climate is and what you want to grow. I would not use micro sprayers. Too much water is wasted.

In your climate, I agree. Our humidity is such that micro-misting at 4 am doesn't even dry on the surface until 10 or 11.

	Mistking Looking for a misting system? Look no further. Automated misting systems from MistKing are used by multitude of plant enthusiasts and are perfect for Orchids. Systems feature run dry pumps, ZipDrip valve, adjustable black nozzles, per second control! Automatically mist one growing shelf or a greenhouse full of Orchids. See MistKing testimonials

[kvet]

Thanks for the feedback so far.

I am in zone 10a, coastal southern california. The entire yard is mulched with a 2-3" layer of woodchips. The thin and long yard wraps around my house, east to south to west.

There are approximately 100 plants, each with one or two drip emitters. This will concentrate the water in a small area by the roots, resulting in drying out the rest of the yard. It's my understanding that for the mulch to actually break down and improve the soil, it needs moisture. Without moisture, it won't do anything. I've read this in various articles, and here's a simple video on the subject:

The various emitters I've described in the original post could all potentially work, I'm just trying to get opinions on what would be ideal to bring in more moisture. Popup sprinklers are overkill for this yard.

EDIT - wow this forum software is trying to be too smart and doing weird things with the youtub video. sorry about the weird appearance.

[fishmom]

In California, you need to wait for seasonal rains. Who knows how much we will get? If you can't stand to do that, a gray water system is a possibility, if the plants are not your veggie garden. Are you already catching and using water when you run hot water inside? Or washing vegetables? Those are other sources of water. But the mulch breakdown, while not speedy,may happen faster than you expect.

[Ray]

Here in NC, we get enough rain and humidity that the mulch decomposes quite quickly, even where it is not irrigated.