How much water for drip irrigation??

[RoboticsProfessor]

How long and/or how often do I set my drip irrigation timers?

Area: Southern California, La Mesa, 10 miles from coast
Land: 40 degree slope, approx 100 X 40 feet
System: Drip irrigation with timer box for 6 zones, 5 zones installed, 4 to 10 small sprinklers per zone (sprinklers are the standard home depot fittings - small - either an umbrella spray to wet about 3-4 foot diameter circle, or 4 small streams for about 1 foot diameter.
Vegitation: One lemon tree (20 feet high), 2 large trees (15-20 feet), 25 small to medium bushes/flowering plants.

I can easily set timers for one or two waterings a day, and select any desired days of the week.

I'm thinking of one round of watering before sunrise (10-15 minutes??), and one short watering (2 minutes) during time when I'm home so I can observe and look for leaks. I have two dogs, so I might have some chewed up sprinklers on occasion.

 

[Smart Red]

Welcome to TEG!

Sorry I can't help with such tek-nik-al stuff as irrigation in such a different growing zone, but I wanted to say I'm glad you found us.

 

[bobm]

Also, on land... what is the soil type, structure , water holding capacity, pH, the depth of the hardpan , amount and when you have rainfall, how often and how long you have fog , weeds / grasses or lack thereof ? I could consult your county farm adviser for best results as all of our different locations have different environments.

 

[NwMtGardener]

Heh, its a tricky question. As Bob mentioned, you could consult the experts in your area.

You could "wing it" as is my usual approach. I'm in a much different environment than you, but there are a few general guidelines i can share. By the way, i'm no expert! You may easily get some different suggestions from others.

You encourage deeper roots, which is better for the plants and your water bill in case of drought, by watering more water, less often. So the lawn irrigation you see on every day for a short amount of time encourages a shallow mass of roots. Then if the irrigation is stopped for some reason, the grass quickly dies because the roots are too shallow to access any water stored deeper in the ground.

I tried that theory in my garden, but it didnt work for me. I have drippers to hanging pots of tomatoes, as well as a soaker hose in the bed of the veggie garden, so i ended up compromising and keeping my tomatoes happy by shorter, twice a day settings on my water regulator. I really just keep an eye on my plants - when i was seeing the tomato leaves drooping, and the soil looking too dry, i knew i had to get more water to them, more often i mean.

There are complicated mathematical formulas for saying "my agricultural crop needs this much water a month for optimum growth, when i put a bucket out under my irrigation system it delivers so much water an hour. So if i run my system X number of times per month that should be ideal" i cant remember all the details, i remember Digits talking about it on a thread here a while back, you could try a search here at TEG on irrigation to find that thread if you like to do advanced math! Me, i just improvise and adjust as i see the need.

Oh, and i also water early in the morning, i think its a good idea so that less water is lost to evaporation.

 

[dickiebird]

If it were me, I'd try what you stated in the last paragraph of your post.

THANX RICH