by Behslayer » March 14th, 2020, 1:24 pm
Hi Chris, thanks for posting. Always interested in learning about Gardening. On our land, I'm putting a hedge around the entire property. I'm not sure if I will need to Hog Fence off the entire property yet, so I'm putting in a Hedge of different varieties of Gardenias, Jasmines, Kwai Fah(Sweet Tea Olive), Coffee, Bannanas, that's over 200 plants. Plus I got Citrus Grove, Fruits trees, Nursery, Vegetable Garden. So, there's several hundred plants which need watering. I set up a very simple irrigation system. It's manual, no timers. I turn one valve and all the plants on the property are watered. Different plants have a different capacity watering Flag Drip valve which are inexpensive at Home Depot/Lowes. For example newly planted Shrubs, other smaller starting plants and vegetables, have a 1GPH one gallon per hour flow, while Fruit Tree starters have 4GPH, etc. I can isolate the different sections of the main Feeder Hoses if I want to isolate one particular group as I have several shut off valves at different joins and seperating different sections, so it is possible for me to water only the vegetables, etc.. We've had a heap of rain lately, but if it doesn't rain, I'll usually run the vegetables every 2 days and do everything with a deep soak every four days. It's not an exact science. If I close some valves other things will have more water supply, but it works out well enough an I can always check plants or groups by sticking a finger in the soil. All of these plants are covered in a thick layer of mulch but I keep the final thin hoses and Flag Drip Valves staked in place on top so I can make sure everything is working.
Every month or so I often move the Flag Drip Valves. Out from Center or to the other side of the plant. This encourages Root Growth. Like if my drip hose is only on the downhill side of the plant.. there's not as much reason for roots to extend to the uphill side of the plant. (Not a huge deal because it rains a lot).
Anyways. The Short of the Long of this post is I use a very simple, manual Drip Irrigation System. I can turn on one valve and water hundreds of plants. The whole thing cost me? @ $200 but I had to dig and put in alll my watering lines as this was a raw property. So that's several hundred feet of 5/8" Irrigation Tubing, 1/4" Rubber tubing, few hundred flag valves, Couplers, T's, Stop Ends, Shut Off Valves for the Tubing, a One Way Valve for the connection to the Water Outlet. For some this will be very old news, but for others, look up a few videos, and have a walk through Home Depot, Lowes, or your local Hardware/Gardening Store and don't be too intimidated. It's very simple if you go all manual. It can get more complicated if you like with Automatic Timers, Liquid Fertilizer Inputs, etc.. but with a simple manual shut off system, as long as you don't forget anything on... you won't find yourself with flooded plants and $1000 water bills. A few of the Drip Valve options are little sprayers for above ground. It's good to include a few of those right around where you would most notice them so you know if your water is on or not.
