MendoGiantZ said:

Three days of hard work and my urban orchard is 90 percent complete. Got all the fruit trees planted. Mulched everything and then covered it with a nice brown wood chip that looks really good. Re did the veggie bed with cantaloupe and zuchinni as well as some heirloom tomatoes. Planted 4 hydrangeas along the shady part of the house. It's looking super good and hopefully in 3 years I have more fruit then I know what to do with.

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MendoGiantZ said:

My buddy and I have surprisingly been able to keep up with all the work at both properties for the whole year so far. We hire some extra hands when we need them and most of the time I am overwhelmed but we seem to knock out the big projects ahead of time. Not gonna lie I go to bed every night and think about both spots and what needs to get done and how to accomplish it the best way. The stress builds up but might as well go for it while I'm young.

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MendoGiantZ said:

Not gonna lie I go to bed every night and think about both spots and what needs to get done and how to accomplish it the best way. The stress builds up

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Blaze said:

You might want to go a little bigger than 1" on the main line for a system that size. Usually you want your main lines to be larger than your 'spurs' and your 'spurs' to be larger than you irrigation lines. So for example on my garden the line that comes down from the pond is 3", the main line that comes off the valve box and goes to the raised beds is 1 1/4", the risers or 'spurs' that go out to each individual bed are 3/4", and the drip lines are 1/2". I wouldn't ever go smaller than 3/4"-1" for anything PVC for an irrigation system.

Breaking it up into different zones is definitely a must and don't cheap out on the timer. Hunter brand have been my favorite so far, very reliable and one 9v batter will last the whole season. If you get a unreliable timer you will be fighting it all summer. Whatever drip lines or emitters you end up buying should say what the maximum run you can have per zone at a certain PSI, you can use that to calculate out how many zones you need. I always under-size my runs thought to make sure I have consistent pressure.

I personally really like the Netafim Techline with 12" spacing. They are very sturdy, the fittings rarely leak, each emitters is pressure regulated so they are very consistent. The smaller 1/4" lines tend to get plugged up a lot more, even just a low mineral content in your irrigation water will gunk them up in a season, I have never had them last more than a few months when I tried them before we started having problems. Some of my Techlines are 3 years old now and still running fine.

The T-tape sucks, you can't make a spiral with it for a smart pot and all the fittings seem to leak. Not a big fan of bubblers or sprayers as they take a lot of pressure, are more prone to getting clogged, and they create a lot of humidity under the plant come harvest time. You can easily see if they are running though.

The Raindrip emitters that Netafim makes are also reliable and last a long time and can be removed to clear blockages, but you have to manually place each emitter in a 1/2 line which takes FOREVER if you have a large project like you do. Some people really like them though, I've got some family members that have been using the same ones for something like 20 years and they still work, but they are a serious pain in the ass the to set up that first time.

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Blaze said:

Yeah that's why I don't like that style of emitter. We used them for a few seasons but they were too much of a pain in the ass! The Techline just works right from the get go and keeps working all season long. We have enough problems with squirrels trying to destroy our irrigation lines, I cant mess around with anything that is going to add additional time or hassle to my set up.

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