Hiway16 Magazine... about people and places in north-central British Columbia, Canada

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Drip Water for Healthy Plants

by Jim Easterday

One of the problems of gardening is watering. Many of us have used water sprinklers for years with poor results. Some parts of the garden or flower bed get too much water and other parts get too little. The water puddles on the surface of the ground and soon evaporates. Dig down an inch and you may find that the soil is still powder dry.

There is a better way - drip watering.

Compare shallow watering with a sprinkler with deep watering with a drip

In place of a sprinkler, we install tubing to each plant or each row. Along the tubing, we install small drippers that only deliver between 1/2 gallon to 2 gallons of water per hour. Drop after drop of water in one spot forces the water deep into the soil unlike surface watering with a sprinkler. The water is delivered right to the roots where it does the most good.

1/4" tubing is placed 18" apart and the drippers are 18" apart on the tubing to soak the entire planted area

Drip irrigation is very popular in the deserts od the Middle East where water evaporates quickly and where water is scarce. Drip watering uses as little as 30% as much water as spray irrigation. There are no puddles on the surface to evaporate.

You can use drip for flowers, vegetables, shrubs and trees.






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