Rain on Demand: Drip Irrigation and Drip Hybrids

With California's normal summer finally here (take that, El Nino!), our hot weather is apparently here to stay. It doesn't take long to tire of dragging that hose or hand-watering your garden. Which brings us to drip irrigation and so-called drip hybrids.

With the advent of these new irrigation methods, it's easy to save both time and money when watering. I'm sure you've heard of drip irrigation systems. Invented by the Israelis in the 1970s, drip systems are designed to supply small amounts of water directly to the root zone through the use of flexible tubing and individual drip emitters. The result is an efficient and thrifty way to water. There is no waste from runoff, wind-scattered spray, sun-powered evaporation or the evaporation of accumulated puddles. Drip systems typically save between 25 and 50 percent of the water used by old-fashioned sprinkler systems.

And then there's the advantages of fewer weeds and even reducing disease problems. Because individual emitters only water small areas around each emitter, only a fraction of the soil's surface is moistened. This translates to fewer weeds because water doesn't go where you don't want it. Without the spray produced by regular sprinklers, drip-irrigated plants are less likely to develop water-stimulated diseases, such as powdery mildew, leaf spot, fireblight and scab.

The components for a drip system are inexpensive and, possibly best of all, simple to install. I converted a traditional underground sprinkler system to drip, utilizing the existing pipes. All I did was replace the regular sprinkler heads with rubber tubing and individual emitters. Most "spaghetti" tubing is one-quarter or one-eighth inches in diameter, and is sold in inexpensive rolls. Emitters vary as to how much water is released. A half-gallon per hour (gph) emitter is usually adequate to wet an area 16 inches in diameter. You can purchase emitters that range in size from half-gph to 9-gph.

About the biggest problem with the system is maintenance. Due to hard water and debris clogging the narrow tubing and tiny emitters, clogging often occurs. It requires constant checking and flushing. I always have extra emitters and tubing on hand. Also, it's difficult to actually see drip systems working. They're not like regular sprinklers where you can easily see what's being watered. Because the wetted area is much smaller with drip, control is more critical in replacing water used by the plant to avoid stress.

Besides drip irrigation systems, the so-called drip hybrids are also popular today. These hybrids don't save as much water as straight drip systems, but they still waste considerably less water than traditional sprinklers. Examples of hybrids include:

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