Micro-Irrigation vs. Drip Irrigation

Hi All,

This is my first blog on green issues.  Conserving water is a big issue in Florida, and also saves homeowner's money.  Most people are familiar with the irrigation systems that spray entire yards and waste lots of water by also spraying the sidewalks.  Well, you can't do anything about lawn irrigation, except make sure your irrigation contractor understands you do not want to waste water on the sidewalk.

When it comes to the landscaping, though, you have some options.  Because your shrubs, trees and flowers are usually set into definable beds, you have a more manageable area to irrigate.  

Micro-irrigation is basically a black delivery tube with smaller spray nozzles that you can place wherever you need to irrigate a specific plant or group of bedding plants.  When a nozzle gets clogged, you can see it is no longer delivering water where you need it.

Drip irrigation is a brown tube with holes at set intervals, usually 18" to 2' apart. That means that if you have a plant at a specific spot that does not have a hole, that plant won't get water.   This is a problem with small plants grouped in one area.  Plus, it take a lot of tubing to cover all these plants.  Drip irrigation is best when used on shrubs that are spaced 2 to 4 ft. apart in a row, like a hedge.  Aside from spacing issues, you also cannot see when it has become clogged until your plants are dying.

When you first plant, you must water every day for 15 days, and then every other day for 15 days.  Then, depending on your landscape choices, you can obey the local watering restrictions, or not.  With micro-irrigation and drip irrigation, you won't lose your landscaping during these restrictions because it is exempt. You can water as needed, as long as it is only the micro- or drip irrigation systems.  Of course, your contractor needs to make sure these areas are on a separate zone if you are connecting to your timing box.

Finally, you can set up your own zone by using a timer attached to a hose bib, and skip the timing box altogether.  Even better, use a rechargeable battery. Now that's green living.