Automatic drip irrigation system

[Muse]

Annually, I grow kabocha squash from a ~6'x10' patch of earth, surrounded by concrete. I grow the vines up bamboo trellises I construct each year and out onto the concrete patio. I generally work in a whole lot of my DIY compost, also fertilize liberally during the growing season. I planted ~120 seeds in this and covered with little wire teepees around 10 days ago, the seedlings haven't shown yet. The teepees are to protect from hungry birds, which like the little seedlings (after a few days the birds don't seem to like them).

After things heat up I water daily by hand with a garden hose, trying to keep the leaves dry but generally watering for maybe 5 minutes, a lot of water.

I want to automate this. I think if I bury drip line(s) in the patch it will save on water, decrease humidity and thereby prevent or at least slow the mildew that always develops in spades.

I have zero experience with automatic or any other kind of drip watering system. I've always irrigated my vegetable gardens manually with a hose, generally with some kind of nozzle on it to control flow and pattern.

One reason I want to do this is so I can leave town and still have the plot watered. What kind of automatic system would work for this ~6'x10' patch?

 

[NutBucket]

Basically buy the parts you need to make your drip system and use a timer like this:

http://amzn.com/B004INGS8S

This is the easiest way to automate watering.

 

[Muse]

Basically buy the parts you need to make your drip system and use a timer like this:

http://amzn.com/B004INGS8S

This is the easiest way to automate watering.

Yeah, I saw that device and figured it was the one to get. I'm wondering what to get for hose/tubing and how to set that up. Again, I have no knowledge of that. I read some reviews of Rain Bird T22-100 Drip Irrigation 1/4" Blank Distribution Tubing, 100' Roll but don't know if that would work or be the best choice. Folks say it's not very flexible at all. I don't know if flexibility is necessary, if I could have lengths of it joined by some flexible stuff. I have no idea if people fashion systems like that, kind of like how a car radiator is constructed or if they just lay something down, maybe cover it with mulch.

Edit: This looks like it might be a very good place to start:

Drip Irrigation Design Guidelines

 

[highland145]

OT a little. Anyone know if there is a fitting I can put on a riser on my irrigation system and run lines off of that to spray heads that I can put at individual bushes?

 

[LegendKiller]

OT a little. Anyone know if there is a fitting I can put on a riser on my irrigation system and run lines off of that to spray heads that I can put at individual bushes?

Rain Bird and others make them, but then you have to have your entire zone on while you water with the drip. I looked into that also but couldn't get it to work.

My irrigation company had prewired an additional zone so I had somebody come out, put a special drip irrigation valve on that reduced the PSI to what the rest of my drip system required. It is attached to my regular irrigation controller, a Rainbird timer, which I'll probably replace with something more automated. I then ran the drip around my house to each plant. System works very well.

 

[highland145]

Rain Bird and others make them, but then you have to have your entire zone on while you water with the drip. I looked into that also but couldn't get it to work.

My irrigation company had prewired an additional zone so I had somebody come out, put a special drip irrigation valve on that reduced the PSI to what the rest of my drip system required. It is attached to my regular irrigation controller, a Rainbird timer, which I'll probably replace with something more automated. I then ran the drip around my house to each plant. System works very well.

Thanks. I have 2 zones that are bushes only and I'm wasting a lot of water watering the whole area. Not that water is expensive here but I'm watering crap in the beds that I don't want to grow. Let the S.C. summer kill the other stuff.

 

[bbhaag]

Why do you need drip irrigation? Why not just attach soaker hoses to the timer that Nutbucket linked to? Soaker hoses would be a lot less maintenance and would help keep water off the leaves. That would help prevent the spread of powdery mildew.

 

[Muse]

The reviews of the linked timer had mention of the unit leaking when water pressure's too high. Yesterday, I borrowed a meter and it said my pressure's 92psi. I saw a This Old House video yesterday and he (Tom?) said ideal PSI is 50 for a house. Should I install a pressure regulator? I opted not to when my service was replaced ~5 years ago, but maybe that was a mistake (IIRC, they wanted ~$100 to do that). Maybe I can install my own...

 

[NutBucket]

You'd have to comfortable sweating some pretty big pipes. Your typical home Depot torch won't cut it. But yes, you should install one. Other valves and fittings aren't really meant to handle that much pressure either.

 

[Sukhoi]

92 PSI is pretty high, and not ideal. Should be more in the 45-65 PSI range. Higher than around 80 can cause issues with increased leaking of fittings around your house.

EBMUD appears to think anywhere from 30-130 PSI is fine for them to deliver to you. http://www.ebmud.com/customers/water-pressure/ So you're probably responsible for installing a regulator to get the pressure down below 80, but you could try calling them and see what they say. Maybe they'll put one on your main line for free.

 

[NutBucket]

The plumber on This Old House is Richard

I've only been watching that show for the last 25 years.

 

[Muse]

The plumber on This Old House is Richard

I've only been watching that show for the last 25 years.

Yeah, I guess it was Richard (he didn't ID himself in the video, but I just watched a couple of minutes and the info on the link said it was Richard, so I guess it was):

Taming extremely high water pressure with This Old House plumbing and heating expert Richard Trethewey

92 PSI is pretty high, and not ideal. Should be more in the 45-65 PSI range. Higher than around 80 can cause issues with increased leaking of fittings around your house.

EBMUD appears to think anywhere from 30-130 PSI is fine for them to deliver to you. http://www.ebmud.com/customers/water-pressure/ So you're probably responsible for installing a regulator to get the pressure down below 80, but you could try calling them and see what they say. Maybe they'll put one on your main line for free.

I'll call them and see what they say. Thanks!

 

[Muse]

You'd have to comfortable sweating some pretty big pipes. Your typical home Depot torch won't cut it. But yes, you should install one. Other valves and fittings aren't really meant to handle that much pressure either.

I have a typical propane torch, also in the past I've used Mapp gas with it to get higher temperatures, may still have some, could get more. Would that provide high enough temperatures?

I think the pipe out there is actually steel, not copper, so maybe beyond my equipment. Of course, I could cut copper easily enough with a hacksaw, but dealing with the steel, well, I don't have anything to cut threads on it. Hmm. There is a tool lending library (my town's) a couple blocks away, maybe they have the tools I'll need, doubt they loan welding/etc. equipment.

Well, I'm going to take a JPG of it and post it here, where the shutoff valve is out front of my house, will do that in a few hours, it's not light yet.

 

[NutBucket]

The problem is getting the water out of the pipe so you can get it hot enough to sweat the joints properly. Obviously if it's steel it's a completely different ballgame.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

Domestic water pipes aren't usually too large for a regular torch. Mine is 1/2 inch combo of steel and copper. Large service is what 1"? Find the spot where it switches to Pex/copper/pvc and put regulator there. If it's steel it is likely threaded eliminating the need to chase your own threads. Pull off whatever adapter is there, cut back the side that is downstream from the steel, and plumb in the regulator.

 

[Muse]

Domestic water pipes aren't usually too large for a regular torch. Mine is 1/2 inch combo of steel and copper. Large service is what 1"? Find the spot where it switches to Pex/copper/pvc and put regulator there. If it's steel it is likely threaded eliminating the need to chase your own threads. Pull off whatever adapter is there, cut back the side that is downstream from the steel, and plumb in the regulator.

Here's my service. There's 6 inches of copper tubing (whose outer diameter is 0.88 inches) from the shut off valve to where it does a right angle turn and in under the house, into the crawl space. Maybe I can put the regulator between the shut off valve and the right angle turn, don't know if there's enough room. What do you think?

I figure the effective (?) inner diameter of that copper tubing is 3/4" and maybe I can install this:

Zurn 34-NR3XLDU Wilkins Pressure Reducing 3/4-Inch Valve Lead Free

 

[Sukhoi]

Just put the regulator above the red handled valve

 

[Muse]

Just put the regulator above the red handled valve

That's the top or bottom one in the picture (I'm colorblind)?

 

[lxskllr]

Wonder if there's a minimum pressure for the timer. Maybe it could be hooked up to rain barrel. In case of drought, supplement the rain barrel water with grey water from the kitchen sink.

 

[NutBucket]

If the timer uses batteries I would guess pressure is irrelevant. I doubt it's a diaphragm setup like sprinkler valves...but I could be wrong.

 

[Carson Dyle]

I'm not sure you'd want to bury drip lines. They'll end up getting clogged. In a garden where you might be working the soil, weeding, etc. it's probably best to have them on top where you can both see them and easily move or remove them as needed.

 

[Sukhoi]

That's the top or bottom one in the picture (I'm colorblind)?

The pic isn't loading any longer. I recall the valve being the one to the left (close to the ground) in the pic.

 

[MongGrel]

I've always been tempted just to hang plants in the screened pool area and set up a drip system to grow a few things, but just have not gotten that motivated I guess.

 

[Muse]

The pic isn't loading any longer. I recall the valve being the one to the left (close to the ground) in the pic.

Yeah, taking a close look I see that what I took for white on the lower valve handle (circular) was white with red areas between white areas. Red may have stood out to people with normal color vision but red to me isn't so much a stand out color, but looking closely (i.e. with my head within 1 foot) I can see the red on that handle. Now green I can never make a positive ID on, never!

So, I have a 6 inch length of copper there with ~7/8" external diameter, so I figure it's what they term 3/4" copper. That piece is vertical. I can sweat in the pressure regulator there? Can I use propane, my propane torch with a Mapp Gas cylinder on it? My propane torch is one of those really simple ones, the cheap kind and I've had it since the 1970's.

That image link is working for me right now. Pasting it here:

 

[NutBucket]

It should work. You may want to invest in a slightly better torch as it will have a more "concentrated" (or maybe focused is the right word?) to deliver more heat. IMHO if you're messing with that line I would turn off the water at the meter and replace the shutoff valve with a nice 1/4 turn ball valve while you're at it.

And if you want real code compliance add a pressure relief valve (water heater style) after the regulator. Theoretically could prevent interior flooding if city pressure went haywire for whatever reason.