I plan on buying them. They have a nice selection of types and a nice table describing specs.
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I’ve been using those for all my trees. the flow rates are a lot higher than my other drip emitters so it was hard to balance things if they were on the same circuit, so I made circuits with only spot spitters. I’m using mostly the smallest ones with the downspray patterns (and the very smallest downspray isn’t available as a “tall” so I taped them to stakes since “tall” is nice)
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I would love to automate at least part of my watering but it’s hard to know where to begin. Is there a recommended book?
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I haven’t come across anything personally… This thread is the best I’ve seen but there are others with helpful information too! The system you would use differs based on how many zones you want and how many different irrigation points, how far away from the source, etc.
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I am watching
and the rest of the series
i am thiking of buying the parts that are used by the comercial operations and scaling it down to my use case.
Thus far if come to the following conclusions for myself.
-If going of my houshold or other high pressure water supply, ill need a pressure reducer.
-get a good filter. mabey ill have a go at trying to DIY a sand filter myself.
-get the higher quality drip irigation (i want drip) because it tends to have better filters that clog les.
-i’ll likely go for the build in emitters (build into line)
-the higher gallon/hour emiters should also clogg less. But you’ll need more zones depending on the capacity of your water supply.
-immiter spacing depends on your soil. for clay you can space them wider, for non clay closer.
-depending if you have lots of rain in winter, you have to worry or not worry about salt buildup.
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Here is the first leg of my drip irrigation system. I installed 1/4 inch drip hoses for my three raised beds, each of which is 4.5 X 8.5 feet.
It takes several hours to drip an inch, based on containers I put under sections of hose to measure. I can start them, go away, and return in several hours to turn them off.
My garden has 4 main sections that need watering. This is the first. The in-ground vegetable bed is next, then miniature fruit trees, then an area with sweet corn. They may have different delivery systems - maybe individual emitters for the fruit trees, and bigger hose for the sweetcorn. I plan to have valves between the sections, since they will deliver at different rates.
Last summer, watering was not much of a pleasure, especially during very got weather and more especially during the wildfire season, with thick smoke in the air. I hope this system will help.
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I have a question for those who have systems installed with in ground pop up sprinklers. I am building a list of parts I need for my various tree zones which will eventually need more water than what drip emitters can handle.
In other threads, I believe I saw a preference towards Rain Bird electric valves versus Orbit. They are the exact same price where I am planning to get them, so I was curious if anyone else had a preference?
Additionally, how many individual pop up emitters are able to be placed on one zone based on your experience? I am planning on no more than 6 per zone but I would do up to a dozen if it was possible. I guess it could be trial and error scenario but I’d rather lean on experience first. It would be about an 80 foot main run (probably 3/4" pipe rather than 1/2" to maintain pressure?) with tees off for the 1/2" emitter lines.
This is all new to me, so any experience based advice is much appreciated!
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between orbit and rain bird, yeah I’d prefer rain bird but they’re both cheap enough valves sold in big box stores to not stress about it. you can swap the solenoid in-place later if it breaks
for number of emitters per system, look up the gph of the emitters and add them up. if you’re using full pressure it’s different than if you’re doing a lower pressure system. I’m using this regulator + inline filter in my drip systems:
https://www.rainbird.com/products/pressure-regulating-filter-rby
the 3/4 one does 5 gpm so 300gph which would be enough for many emitters (my biggest zone is maybe 300 gph). 80 feet would be fine for 1/2", I didn’t look that up but it feels way under capacity, I have runs longer than that on 1/2" with no problems. I remember the limit being a few hundred feet
you can get higher gpms out of a 3/4 valve and pressure reducer, or without any pressure reducer if you’re doing full pressure. the one I linked is on the low end of gpm ratings I think because it has the filter included
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https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=5059
So I just found this forum about people who care about grass more than fruit (our arch-nemesi?) I found the term “swing pipe” on a barbed 1/2" rain bird fitting review on Lowe’s website and it led me to the grass forum, where I learned what I believe is the slang version of swing pipe, which is “funny pipe”.
I say all of this, because I had been looking up friction loss tables for various pipe sizes and runs and found (as I suspected) that 3/4" pipe can carry over 2x as much flow at ~25 psi (if I start my pressure regulator right at the tap, this will be what I’m working with) which for a 100’ run comes out to about 6.5 gpm for 1/2" pipe and ~14 gpm for 3/4" pipe.
I saved the table for reference:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rNBVbCBnnAD03WRuK5gmnxcOZ6GAFVHF/view?usp=drivesdk
Lowe’s lists the rain bird pro pop up 360° heads at 3.7 gpm, so you can theoretically run 3.5 “full heads” worth of pop ups on a 100’ run based on that calculation.
A 180° and 90° head require a concurrent drop in available water, at 1.85 gpm and 0.92 gpm, respectively based on the descriptions. So that means you could run 15 90° heads where you could only do 3 full heads based on those numbers. Sure it’s more work and time and materials, but you could pinpoint your sprays a bit better if you have trees spaced out further or have specific smaller areas to target.
I guess it all comes down to preference but the long and short of it is that it does not make sense to use long runs of 1/2" pipe where you plan to install pop up emitters. Just pay a little bit of and install the 3/4" (or bigger) line to make friction loss negligible. It looks like a 1" line is the first size where friction loss begins to matter less.
For my use case (and I am completely guessing on what my needs will be) I am looking into price differences between 3/4" and 1" setups for electric valves now, and if it’s a negligible difference I’ll probably just make the jump up for my backyard (longer run) just to be safe. It’s basically double the flow and should cover anything I’d want. I keep changing my cart the more I research 
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if you’re using a pressure regulator you can put it out near the first emitter to save pressure loss. then any pressure lost between the valve and the regulator won’t matter and you may be able to down size the “valve to the garden” pipe
also consider different emitters if your system isn’t penciling out. if your goal is X gallons applied you can run a lower rate emitter for a longer run and get the same effect. all of the emitters I run are in the 10gph (not gpm) or lower range, for dwarf trees and my garden. I’d need a bunch of them for a standard size tree or maybe something like a soaker hose in a loop
in my lawn I’m using hunter “mp rotator” pop up emitters which are in the 1/4 to 1/2 gpm range and still get large area coverage, those could be used for a large garden, or a standard size tree. they’re really cool. these are lawn-type sprinklers and meant to go on buried pvc with a flex pipe, although you could adapt them to other installations. because they’re relatively low flow my lawn gets watered for 20+ minutes in the summer in order to get enough water out, not really a problem at night
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I took your advice and purchased a couple different regulators as well as modifying my pop up setup. I discovered sprinkler warehouse this afternoon and was pleasantly surprised that they had sch40 fittings much cheaper than the big box stores, as well as most other system components. They did not have the 3/4" pipe, rubber porous 1/4" soaker hose, or the 18 gauge wire I wanted to run for all of the valves in stock (Home Depot or Lowe’s will likely be my go to for those items), but otherwise I price checked and they beat HD on everything else I looked for, and with free shipping too. It seems like they have a sale on a lot of items right now. The 1" valves I ended up with were cheaper than the replacement kits, so I just bought an entire extra valve, assuming that will be my first major part to fail as long as I winterize everything.
If anyone wants a parts list, I’d be happy to send it for a 6 valve rachio setup on a quarter acre lot, split between garden beds, hanging baskets, foundational planting shrubs, and a small orchard.
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In case anyone want’s to talk about “budget unfriendly” designs…
First, a link to the photos I have. As with every project, I wish I documented more.
I will say, the biggest cost is labor. I removed all labor from the equation, but I used a lot of my own, and my wife’s. All in all we started this project in July and we are just finishing up. But that’s mostly due to life just getting in the way. So far I’m happy with it.
Here’s the basics:
My orchard is in the corner of my lot, with a weeping willow (Cyan W) at the corner, which is a 90° corner. There are three arcs with radii of 60 ft, 80 ft, and 100 ft from the willow. 5 trees on the inner arc, 6 on the middle, and 8 on the outer. There are also two trellises (red), one on each side of the 80ft arc for Ponca blackberries and tomatoes. Each fruit tree has different water requirements based on ripening time, fruit type, etc.
I wanted a system that can be fully automated, since I do not live at the lot yet. That means each tree is its own zone with a RainBird irrigation valve. I wanted the system to bee freeze-resistant, so we trenched the mainlines about 2-feet deep at a minimum.
The green lines are the mainlines. 1" black poly pipe with double Oetiker ear clamps on every fitting. I also used a torch to soften the pipe when clamping. Every. Single. Fitting.
The orange lines are the shallow 3/4" PVC cross lines. Where the orange and green lines meet, there is a tee intersection on the mainline with a vertical riser of polypipe. That riser ends in a valve box with two valves, one for each tree flanking the box. What you can’t see in the interior picture of the valve box is the mainline riser, but it it hitting a PVC tee at the apex of the splitter I cobbled together.
The PVC runs to the tree about three feet from the trunk, and terminates in a 1/2" threaded vertical PVC riser. You can attach whatever you want to that riser, I’m using a 1/2" elbow that feeds a spiraling loop of dripline around the tree. As they get bigger I can change the configuration for each tree.
The video of a snake I was chasing actually shows a decent view of the crosslines.
The Purple dot is a sprinkler for the grassy area between the willow and the first line of fruit trees. The three orange lines on the inside that don’t lead to trees are stub-outs for eventual planter boxes.
I used 18/3 irrigation wire, one line to each box, all leading back to a shed with the controller system installed. And yes, I made my wife help continuity test the wire before we buried it by running a 9volt battery through it and licking the wires…
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Just installed my Silk Hope Mulberry.
Like all the other trees, the mulberry is planted in a mound. This time I wanted to focus the water more since this is the smallest tree I’ve planted. Not bare root, but close. It’s only a twig of a thing.
So I created a clay retention ring around the tree. I figure the ring will focus water towards the roots, but being on a mound will still allow for more drainage. Lots of clay in this soil, but mulberry are supposed to be easy, right?
Now for the irrigation. My system has each tree on its own valve, with a 1/2" riser 3 feet from the tree. I can put anything I want on that riser, and in this case I have six 1/4" lines with 2 gph emitters spaced evenly within the retention ring. Then the whole thing got covered with mulch.
My system is being designed to water the trees in either gallons or inches, but primarily inches so the rainfall readings from the on-site weather station can adjust the routines easily.
For this little guy I think I’ll leave this setup until July, and if I have good growth by then I’ll widen the retention ring and swap the individual emitters for a more permanent 1/2" drip line that spirals to cover the entire mound.
I also spread some fertilizer around the outside of the retention ring. The mound is made of dirt from pool excavation with minimal organic matter in it, and if the roots-seeking-nitrogen theory is true, hopefully this will promote the roots spreading away from the trunk faster 
I also tried something a bit new for this one. I dug a small hole to plant the tree in, then made a slurry of local soil and water to form a runny mud, then after positioning the tree in the hole, poured in the slurry to set it in place. We’ll see.
More to come. I’ve got to get the rest of the trees set up with drip line before I figure I’ll have to start watering in April.
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Here’s a “normal” loop around a fig. No emitters yet, but the 1/2" line allows me to plug in anything and change things around. As the fig grows I can remove and plug the emitters on the inner loop and install outward-facing bubblers on the widest loop to target a wider drip line. Or just pull this spiral out and screw a different solution on to the 1/2" riser.
Mulch and fertilizer on top.
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Well, this subject is certainly massive, and it’s easy to become overwhelmed…
I grow trees/seedlings in Air-pots, and as my amount of plants have increased, I’ve simply not been able to keep up with doing regular watering by hose. 
…
2022 was incredibly wet here in central Norway – wettest in half a century – but my plants did incredibly well! 2023 was below average in rain, and with 150-200 more seedlings, the chore of watering got really hard!!!
I’ve decided on purchasing components and set up my own watering system. The general outline of my plan is:
- 1/2 inch line from my water supply which forks out to my different plots.
- Each plot have solenoid valve units which can open to up to eight 1/4 inch tubes, one at a time
- Along the 1/4 inch tubing, I’ll attach either drip or mist nozzles for each pot.
I would need to supply power and controlling cable to each plot. I’ll find a solution either using arduino or raspberry pi, to control which solenoids are opened.
But, then are my questions:
- should I use mist, spray or drip nozzles
- are there limitations on how many nozzles I can have for each stretch of 1/4 inc tubing? Will it be higher for drip and lower for mist?
- which type of plastic tubing should I go for, since I would like it flexible and long lasting? (I’ll bring inside each autumn, except for the main distribution line)
- should I go for nozzle adapters which are in-line, cutting the cable for each nozzle, or should I go for system the punches hole on the cable?
I’m quite terrified by doing this project!e🤣
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It’s my understanding that water pressure decreases significantly with distance the smaller size pipes you use. I’d recommend looking for a table showing what your maximum line distances would be, I found something like that doing my search.
HDPE is typically a good option for longevity from my experience at work.
I think for the emitters go with whichever works best for your use case, I bet many would work well.
Thanks for the reply 
Yeah, that is the reason I am concidering using 1/2" tubing 
… Also, I’m almost certain I’m going with adjustable drip nozzles rather than spray nozzles, so I can reduce he pressure loss for each nozzle. I don’t mind if I have to water one stretch for 20 minutes before cycling. As I’m going with actuated motor valves and not solenoid valves, there is no appreciable curren draw from the system while watering.
Oh, and thanks for the input regarding HDPE @disc4tw 
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The trick for black poly (the type used in drilled wells) is to heat the end of pipe up a bit with a torch. The fitting slips in effortlessly, and when the poly shrinks back down in seconds, it forms a tight leak free connection even without hose clamps. Obviously hose clamps are still a good idea, but they are strictly a failsafe since the shape of the barbs is cast right into the poly, similar to how pex fittings seal. I didnt know this trick the first few times I messed with black poly and some of those fittings dribble a bit to this day.
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I put in an irrigation system last spring in the high tunnel. Initially, it was a bit daunting wading through the various options, but it was actually really straightforward. We have 5 beds and 6 paths that run the length of the tunnel. I ran a mainline of thinwall 1/2” black poly up (the hydrant is on the downhill corner) and then across the length and width of the tunnel. I installed 3 runs of 1/2” drip tape (6” hole spacing, lowest volume available) down the length of each bed. I bought the best drip tape I could; it wasn’t much more $ and claimed to have better balanced emitters that are less prone to clogging. I opted for a shutoff at the “manifold” end and a threaded cap at the other in case I needed to drain it or run water up the line to jet out the emitters. The whole works is fed by a regular frost free hydrant and operates with no additional pressure or regulation. We have gravity fed water from a dug well or “spring” which nets about 30 psi static, and around 10 psi dynamic with the system running. I put a cheap hose fitting type programmable timer in line, followed by a small 8 gallon (or so) fertigation tank. Its strictly passive- no mixing or metering of any kind, but well suited to distributing fish emulsion or other types of somewhat less concentrated fertilizers.
The last part I have yet to hook up is auto watering for the subtropicals in container in the north bed. I ran out of ambition and wasnt ready to commit to a layout as yet, but Ive purchased everything to run a small loop of 1/4” low pressure drip tubing in each with a shutoff in line for each loop. Next year…
I only have a couple of hundred dollars into the system, which works a treat. For an area 36x48’ Id say that’s pretty reasonable! That price jncludes a bunch of extra parts and enough mainline and tape to redo or expand, since this stuff is functionally high-end disposable. Anyone doing this for $ would probably replace it all annually or nearly so. We may get a decade out of it, we’ll see.
This type of system is probably not well suited to an orchard or suburban yards but its very cost effective if you can swing it.
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