Gardening : The Big Drip: Water Plan for Home Gardens
The term drip irrigation is off-putting, much more agribusiness-sounding than, say, sprinklers .
What might first come to mind is an irrigation system covering acres of crops in the Central Valley, not something that would be of much help in a back yard.
But drip irrigation, its proponents say, is an efficient and money-saving way to get water to the garden. Sprinklers send water shooting into the air, and much of the time water not only ends up where it is not needed (the sidewalk, or bare patches of earth, whereupon weeds spring forth) but also misses places it should go.
The advantage of drip irrigation is that a gauged amount of water flows through polyethylene hoses directly to the roots of each plant. Water is saved (it is much less likely to be lost to runoff and evaporation) and so, therefore, is money. Because the rate of flow is long and slow, soils can better absorb water and plants are healthier.
A drip-irrigation system can be designed for areas of any size: a landscape of flower beds, trees and shrubs; a vegetable plot (where overhead watering can produce choice conditions for diseases and pests); an orchard, even the potted plants on an apartment balcony. And it can be put on timers, the same as sprinklers.
Irrigation Basics
The basics of drip irrigation will be discussed at a one-day UCLA Extension class called “Drip Irrigation for Home Gardeners” next Saturday. Paul Moore, former superintendent of the Department of Agricultural Operations at UC Riverside and owner of Horticultural Services, a landscape design and maintenance consulting firm, will provide do-it-yourself information on how to design and install a drip system.
Topics to be covered include: what components make up the system (valves, filters, pressure regulators, hoses, emitters) and how to select them; how much water to apply; how many and how to space emitters (where the water comes out), and how long to run the water.
Figuring out the latter is a bit tricky. Calculations are based on such factors as plant water consumption, soil type and climate, involving, Moore says, “grade-school arithmetic.” Seasonal water requirements, fertilization and maintenance (a drip-irrigation system must be checked for clogging about once a month) will also be addressed.
Videotape and Display
A videotape of drip-irrigation basics will be shown, and a display of a system will demonstrate how all the components fit together. Handouts will be provided.
Drip irrigation is lauded by many as a gardener’s cure-all, but detractors decry that the hoses are unsightly and can be damaged by animals (dogs and rodents) and that high maintenance is required. Moore will address these issues as well.
“Drip Irrigation for Home Gardeners” will be held in Woodland Hills next Saturday; telephone (213) 825-7093 for enrollment. The class will be repeated through University Extension, UC Riverside, on July 15; for more information, telephone (714) 787-4105.
