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nancyk
January 17, 2020
By James Grumman- Victoria County Master Gardener
Edited by Charla Borchers Leon
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY VICTORIA COUNTY MASTER GARDENER JAMES GRUMMAN
This minimal drip irrigation connection consists of a water backflow converter, timer and pressure reducer. In addition, a fertilizer siphon has been included and is charged with liquid fertilizer every 10 days to two weeks. Note the various settings on the timer for adjustments to the system.
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY VICTORIA COUNTY MASTER GARDENER JAMES GRUMMAN
The drip irrigation system shown here is designed in place to water a row of fruit trees with the tubing around each specimen in the bed. This design helps ensure the water directly reaches the root system of the trees.
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY VICTORIA COUNTY MASTER GARDENER JAMES GRUMMAN
Various pots shown here are recipients of water at the same time from the black tube drip system designed to water various locations at once. Such a design ensures that plants requiring similar care in similar conditions can receive similar irrigation through timed and regulated settings.
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY VICTORIA COUNTY MASTER GARDENER JAMES GRUMMAN
This bougainvillea plant is watered through a black tube emitter that sprays or bubbles water o the plant in the container placed on the table. It not only regulates the amount of water applied to the plant, but will also ensure irrigation should you not always be available to hand water plants in teh hottest and driest conditions.
I love my plants. I love to grow them from seed, nurture them, transplant them, fertilize, trim and water them. When they begin growing, I want to do all I can to make sure they can bloom and thrive in the warm and humid climate of Victoria – and that usually means adequate and appropriate timing of watering. A drip watering system is the most efficient method for delivering water to root systems.
Drip system requires less time hand watering
Watering by hand helps expose me more intimately to the garden and its needs. With the increased volume of flora around my house, it became much more time-consuming and burdensome. It is for this reason that I assembled a drip system around my house and yard to relieve me from spending so much time watering when I had other garden needs to be addressed. Many times, the last thing you want to do on a hot, summer day is drag a hose around your yard.
Currently, all my outdoor plants are being watered through the drip system. This includes my landscaping, potted plants, hanging plants, greenhouse plants and row crops.
Advantages to drip irrigation
After using and adjusting the system for a while, certain advantages became obvious. These included more efficient water utilization, more efficient use of time, flexible distribution and cost-effectiveness. There also was ease of assembly and alteration/adjustment.
Numerous possible adjustments
Unlike a poorly adjusted sprinkler system, the water was not wasted, and spray and mist evaporation was eliminated. A drip system can be configured to water directly, in a distribution and volume determined by you. It can be expanded, contracted, shaped to water multiple areas at once. With a good timer, the volume and time can be adjusted.
Sprinkler vs. drip systems
A well-placed sprinkler system remains the best for watering large lawn areas. With minimal effort and understanding of a sprinkler system, water can be efficiently delivered to all parts of your lawn and garden to keep plants looking fresh and vigorous during most times of the year.
Note that with wrenching hot and humid summers, most plants can and do look stressed at certain peak heat times even with adequate water distribution. The recommendation from Victoria County Extension Agent Matt Bochat is to plant vigorous plants of recommended varieties that are tried and true for our area like Texas Superstar plants found at texassuperstar.com.
Using a sprinkler system to water beds and crop areas is inefficient and wasteful. A good system can be fitted to accomplish both tasks. Sprinkler systems are often complex, even for the homeowner, and professional help is needed for placement and adjustment.
A drip system is cheaper, and hoses, connectors and various drippers can be available through several garden centers in Victoria.
Connection to house faucet
Pictured with this column is a minimal connection to house faucets. A backflow preventer is required to prevent contamination of the house water supply. A good timer is essential to adequate watering. I use four on my property. More elaborate timing systems are available but somewhat more expensive and complicated to set up.
After the timer is a pressure reducer. Most household systems use 25 psi to feed the system. Fifty (50) psi is available, but any devices attached to the system should be checked to see if they can tolerate this higher pressure. The house water is usually 120 psi.
Shown in the picture is a fertilization system which I charge with liquid fertilizer every 10 days to two weeks.
Illustration of uses of drip system
Other pictures illustrate the variety of uses of the system. Pictured is a row of fruit trees with the drip system in place around each tree base. There is also one which shows a system that will water various locations at once. Yet another illustrates a black drip emitter that sprays or bubbles watering the container plant on the table.
Visit VEG to see a drip system and more
A good example of a drip system in place is at Victoria Educational Gardens (VEG) at Victoria Regional Airport first installed in 2008.
Look for an area where the tubing is laid on the ground and emitters are placed near the plants that are to be watered like in beds that have hedgerows or feature specimen plants as opposed to mass plantings. In another area, the inline hose is snaked through more densely-planted beds to provide complete coverage with emitters every 12 inches.
VEG is a good location also to get ideas for plants in your own garden, as well as seeing a large water collection system in operation.
The Gardeners’ Dirt is written by members of the Victoria County Master Gardener Association, an educational outreach of Texas A&M AgriLife Extension – Victoria County. Mail your questions in care of the Advocate, P.O. Box 1518, Victoria, TX 77901; or vcmga@vicad.com, or comment on this column at VictoriaAdvocate.com.
ph: 361-935-1556
nancyk