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Help me design this, cheaply, efficiently, but not junk.

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Newfie

Unregistered

1

Friday, July 6th 2012, 9:59pm

Help me design this, cheaply, efficiently, but not junk.

Hi. Could use all the pro minds together on this one.
Been looking at automating the watering of the veg garden.
Heres what I have.
a 50 foot by 50 foot plot. Within that I have 55 raised beds. ranging from small to large.
Within the Greenhouse, I have 2 55 gallon drums for rain water collection, I also have city
water in the greenhouse and power.
On the outside perimeter of the garden, I have flower plantings. What I think I want is the





DIG ML-1006 1/4 in. Black Non-PC Black Micro Drip Line (1000 ft.)

I figure if I run a strand outside the 50'x50'perimeter, that would use 200 feet,same on the inside perimeter, leaving 600 feet for the various raised beds inside the perimeter..

The questions I have is, how to ensure there is enough pressure to have all the emitters work properly, to know what else to buy with the drip line to be able do all this with.. , How to set it up so it uses up the water in the barrels first then lets me switch over to city water.., how to reduce the pressure on the city water, any other considerations I haven't even though of... I'm new to all this, I've read all the product listings, and have a general idea but am completely overwhelmed with all the terminology, And I don't have months to learn it all. My garden is drying up in this heat and I can't hand water such a big area twice a day.... too much time.

So thats my sad little story, so can the smart ones help? (haha) Tell me what to do. What to order.
Appreciate your help.
Sue

mrfixit

Moderator

Posts: 1,510

Location: USA

2

Friday, July 6th 2012, 11:55pm

You'll never ever in a bazillion years water all that stuff with just 1/4 inch tubing.
With drip there's numerous ways of doing it.

I'm not a design guy I'm a repairman but I've installed numerous drip systems and repaired 100's.
If you want it to work and you want to see it working you'll need to run 1/2 inch tubing through out.
Now attach your 1/4 inch tubing to that.
Now attach these,
Bubblers
You can get stream bubblers, flood bubblers and even 360 degree sprays with these. All very cool.
They're totally adjustable.
You'll only be able to attach 3-4 max with 1/4 in tubing before you lose water pressure. I usually do 1 only. Sometimes 2, usually in a large pot.
The beauty about these is they're totally adjustable. You can move them around wherever you want.
The best part is you can SEE them doing their job.
Another thing is they put out enough water to ensure the valve operates correctly.
I've never had a home owner complain about these.
-----
That's one way of doing it.
----
There's more stuff you'll need, filter, pressure reducer maybe, but I've given you my 2 cents. I'm all ears on other ways of doing it.

This post has been edited 1 times, last edit by "mrfixit" (Jul 7th 2012, 12:02am)

GatorGuy

Moderator

Posts: 458

3

Monday, July 9th 2012, 9:54am

Some of the things you ask will really add to the price.
" How to set it up so it uses up the water in the barrels first then lets me switch over to city water."
That's not going to be cheap. Or easy. You will have to have something to notice when the barrels are dry (float? flow sensor?) then something to switch from one feed line to another.
110 gallons divided by 55 beds = not much water unless you get lots of rain.
The next question is how high are the barrels?
If they are not high enough to provide pressure then you need to add a pump.

You might be better off just going straight with municipal water.

Wet_Boots

Supreme Member

Posts: 4,102

Location: Metro NYC

4

Monday, July 9th 2012, 12:18pm

Rain-barrel watering is done because you want it done, not because it is economical. And don't forget that rain barrels are swell places to grow mosquitoes.

GatorGuy

Moderator

Posts: 458

5

Monday, July 9th 2012, 1:20pm

See, that's were I'm oh-so-fortunate.
I have a fine crop of mosquitoes with no effort on my part.

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