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chook starts with ... Gday I have been watering about 30 fruit trees now by hand for about 3 years.I am now thinking of putting in some drip retic but have no idea what size and typec of hose or pipe to use. was wondering if anyone has any ideas? i want to bury the main line and need it to be able to be driven over with a vehicle.Any advise would be appreciated cheers | About the Author chook gingin wa 27th March 2012 6:33am #UserID: 6770 Posts: 8 View All chook's Edible Fruit Trees |
denise says... I have heard of a rule of thumb that the average garden hose in the city can handle 30 microjets.To test in your conditions you keep adding jets to a short piece of your tubing until it stops being efficient. Then you know how many jets/outlets you can use on the longer tubing, In NZ we use a black polythene tubing that would be ruined if driven over a few times. | About the Author 27th March 2012 7:21am #UserID: 0 Posts: View All 's Edible Fruit Trees |
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MaryT says... Hi chook, If you need to drive over the line you will need to encase it in something that would protect it -a conduit much like for electricity cables or similar. I WALK over mine so what I use wouldn't be suitable for running a car over it. I have a drip system that can't replace hand watering in the long term (I have a container garden). | About the Author MaryT Sydney 27th March 2012 8:00am #UserID: 5412 Posts: 2066 View All MaryT's Edible Fruit Trees |
snottiegobble says... Chook, I would suggest using 18ml poly pipe ( it comes in roles) & poking it through a 1" poly pipe cut to the width of your driveway. This can be buried without fear of shattering as may be the case with plumbers plastic conduit. Initially buy your required ret. from a local hardware & glean the advice needed to choose timers, corners, T pieces, straight joiners risers, clamps, & jets etc. Once you have mastered this you will enjoy doing other ret. projects! ADVICE : before attempting to run poly tubing into place, unwind it & fasten it down ( rock or bricks )at each end in a long straight line & leave it in the sunshine for a couple of days! This will greatly lessen its darned memory to roll up at every opportunity! Good luck! | About the Author snottiegobble Bunno & Busso ( smack in the middle) 28th March 2012 2:03am #UserID: 3468 Posts: 1458 View All snottiegobble's Edible Fruit Trees |
Amused says... I would use a weeping line for each tree. It's made to be buried, just make a circle around each tree at the drip line. Join each line with normal poly pipe like SG suggested. If it's buried then this should suffice even if you're driving over it. If you want a stronger pipe you can get a much thicker poly pipe and fittings from a plumbing shop. | About the Author 28th March 2012 7:31am #UserID: 0 Posts: View All 's Edible Fruit Trees |
amanda says... Hi chook....30 fruit trees is quite a serious outlay and needs to be especially reliable in our WA summers... I would really recommend that you get advice from a specialist reticulation shop (there are good ones in Joondalup) as there are many pro's and con's for each system... Take a sample of your soil with you too. Some examples: there are Pressure Compensated systems that negate the loss of pressure issues. There are sub surface drip lines which are covered in geotextile membrane - to avoid root penetration...(also great as a back up system) There are netafim lines, and also the weeper hoses mentioned b4. There are pressure compensated drippers versus microsprayers etc. A good retic shop will help you to test your water pressure and litres/min delivery..this will be valuable information eg: you may not have enough pressure to run 30x2 microsprayers at the same time...(as each tree will need two at least...) You may want to invest in the metal single gateway taps (much less likely to leak than standard tap fittings..) Personally - I did away with slow drippers for my fruit trees..in favour of microsprayers...fruit trees have shallow roots and mine have done so much better getting shorter waterings - but more regularly (it's sandy here tho') There is another thread on this topic - you should be able to find it under the Search function too...hope this helps :) (ps - I take my hat off to u for hand watering for 3yrs! It must have been really time consuming?) | About the Author amanda19 Geraldton. 400km north of Perth 29th March 2012 4:27pm #UserID: 2309 Posts: 4607 View All amanda19's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Original Post was last edited: 29th March 2012 4:31pm | |
| About the Author chook gingin wa 29th March 2012 8:52pm #UserID: 6770 Posts: 8 View All chook's Edible Fruit Trees |
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| About the Author chook gingin wa 29th March 2012 8:53pm #UserID: 6770 Posts: 8 View All chook's Edible Fruit Trees |
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| About the Author chook gingin wa 29th March 2012 8:54pm #UserID: 6770 Posts: 8 View All chook's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Amused says... I also use sprinklers / sprays for my plants but I have a lot of deliberate overlap so the water isn't wasted. Sub surface irrigation is the most efficient!!!. To avoid the expense you may be able to bury your watering system under a thick layer of mulch to avoid root penetration. Pressure compensating drippers could be avoided by mapping your layout evenly and carefully. The alternative could be costly. I also take my hat off to you for your efforts over the years. | About the Author 30th March 2012 11:10pm #UserID: 0 Posts: View All 's Edible Fruit Trees |
| About the Author chook 3rd April 2012 6:47am #UserID: 6770 Posts: 8 View All chook's Edible Fruit Trees |
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