Installing a drip irrigation system can make watering your garden so much easier. From vacations and busy schedules to changing weather conditions, it isn’t easy to keep up with keeping your garden irrigation—but installing an all-in-one drip irrigation system makes the process a snap.
These systems come with nozzles, tubes and sprinklers that distribute the right amount of water to every plant, resolving both underwatering and overwatering issues. Drip irrigation is also set to a timer, so it works automatically with no effort on your part.
Let’s take a closer look at these systems and how they can help your garden.
Nozzle considerations
Drip irrigation systems use several types of emitter nozzles depending on your garden irrigation needs. Here are some common types:
- Micro-spray sprinklers: These utilize a low-pressure irrigation system and are meant to be installed near taller plants or near a few specific plants that have greater water needs.
- Basin bubblers: When you need a small, low-pressure sprinkler, these nozzles are the right choice. They’re staked into the ground and hooked up to the drip system’s main hose; then they spray water in a 360-degree arc, striking all the plants around them. This is a good choice for a cluster of flowers.
- Point-source emitters: Landscape gardeners favor these nozzles specifically for plants that don’t thrive when they have water on their leaves, such as tomatoes and eggplants. Point-source emitters are fixed nozzles that deliver a predetermined amount of water to each plant every hour.
Considerations for drip irrigation systems
When you’re constructing a garden irrigation approach, you want to take several factors into account. To start with, you’ll want to consider your garden’s size. A smaller garden may be able to utilize a single kit, but larger gardens often require more lengths of tubing as well as emitters.
Then you need to think about what kind of plants you have. Different types of plants have different water requirements. You may want to mix and match systems to best serve all your plants. Drip irrigation systems are flexible, and, even with a single system, you may be able to meet the needs of every plant in your garden.
Other considerations include soil type and flow rate. Different types of soil have varying drainage and nutrient-retention characteristics, so you want an irrigation system that works with the soil type. Once you have all this figured out, then it’s time to think about which emitters to use and how to space them out. Failing to do so can result in plants receiving too much or too little water.
For all your garden irrigation needs, turn to the experts at Star Sprinkler Systems Inc. We’re a family-owned and -operated business with over 35 years of experience. We are solely dedicated to the irrigation of residences, businesses, playing fields, golf courses and public areas. Our trained professionals can do it all from water conservation to spring startup service to irrigation to repairs. Give us a call now to learn more and receive a free estimate!