Okay, this is off topic and a bit of a babble....

So I have been looking at drip irrigation for a while for my containers, but it wasn't until I got my fig trees that I felt it was very necessary to get a system.  So now, once I set up the system, I can relax and enjoy my trees, right?  Or is there something else I'm missing to make sure my tree are happy and producing?  Is this a sign that I'm becoming obsessive? BTW, it very hot here and I can't leave for a weekend if I can't find someone to water my trees when I'm gone. 

Please tell me I'm not alone in this.  My DH thinks I've gone nuts.

I had the same problem, sometimes I'm away for a few days and it's a pain getting someone to water for me. I have been using 55 gallon drums cut in half and made into sip containers. Growing results have been amazing and you only have to fill them every few days. Great instruction on how to make can be found on bills figs link on the f4fun homepage.

Northeastnewbie Knows about these systems 

All my plants are on drip systems here in the desert, but on occasion, the battery goes out, so be sure it's working.  I've had grapevines die (and they are hard to kill) because the little hose blew out, and nobody noticed.  The daily walk is a good thing.

my older trees are on drip system. i only have 4 old trees. it works well on them, however, i also give water by hand few times a week to spots that drip system missed. they can go on forever on drip system. make sure the battery is fresh like deserdancer said if you are using electronic timer.

all my 1 gal pots are watered by hand. i only have about 25 of them. problem i see with 1 gal pots on drip system is, each one loses water at different rate. even tho i pot them up all at the same time, ones growing slowly with less leave will go on for much longer without the water. so.., drip system in this case might cause to water too much, unless they are on different timer.

even at over 100 degress, the 1 gal pots will go at least 3 days without water. they stay under the shade most of the day. only get sun for about 5-6 hrs.

My 2 figs are in 15 gallon pots, one is a BT (1 1/2 ft tall) and the other is a Chicago Hardy (3ft tall, with fruit from nursery).  I try to not let them go too dry, but should I? 

V,
I have a huge 3 timer drip irrigation system.  One set of timers water those in my orchard and the other 2 water my container pots.  However, for most of my pots, I'm switching to Bill's self watering pots.  I am making them now.  The reason  being is I move my pots around a lot.   Plus some of my varieties like more sun than others.  One thing I learned about drip irrigation is when you have a lot of plants on one layer, make sure to make the row or layer one complete circle for constant volume and pressure.  Also, I have a squirrel problem.  So when my drips go off, the squirrels bite into the sprinkler head trying to get more water.   Drip irrigation does work great though so go for it!  Match up the correct drip size for you pots, 1/2gph vs 1gph.

How far away from a faucet are your figs?


It's really easy to set something up. 

Go to Lowe's and look in the sprinkler area.   There you will find tubing and 1/2 gph emitters along with a 9 volt timer.  Marketed unter the "Mister Landscaper" brand.  Very easy to use and I've had mine in for 3 years.  The battery needs to be replaced at the beginning of each season. They have starter kits and then just add on to it as needed.

I have a drip system from dripirrigation.com.  I've found the parts to be reasonably cheap and they have "kits" for the beginner. This kit is what I started out with and I've expanded it substantially.  I check on it once a day typically, especially as it's been hotter.  I'm looking for a system to automatically "fertigate" my crops but haven't found anything suitable just yet.  I have mine setup on a timer to water 3x a day for 8 mins at a time, rather than one big watering per day or every other day.  I think my smaller pots would dry out if I did something like that, but who knows.  This setup works for me for now in this persistant 90+ degree heat!

Anyone use a drip system for larger pots?  The problem I've been having is that I'll stick multiple drip spikes in a pot to make sure a larger area is wet and that I'm not just watering a small portion of the dirt in the pot.  Sometimes I'll have up to 4 spikes in a pot.  This seems wasteful and I'd like to limit it to 1 or 2 at most.  Does anyone have experience with spot spitters or micro sprinklers for larger pots and find what works best?

I haven't found a need to "mist" any cuttings or new growth, but perhaps that's more of an issue in hotter drier climates.  I also haven't had problems with "too much" water.  Even the 1 gallons seem to handle moist soil well.

Dan,

I went to Lowes, home depot, called Campbell & Ferrera, Meadows Farm and yet to try Merrifields (way too expensive), none of the places I contacted had any drip irrigation stuff (how frustrating!).  I finally settle on a system from drip depot and made the order. Now I need to wait for it to arrive and set it up. 

Timclymer,

How big is your pot that you stick multiple spikes and what rate are they?  I have .5 & 1 gallon spikes and 2 gallon drippers and will play around with what might work, but any advice or experience would be appreciated.

I'm watering anything from a .5 gallon pot up to a 10-15 gallon pot.  Anything from a 2 gallon pot up usually has 2 spikes in it.

My setup has 1gph and 2gph PC (pressure compensating) drip emitters split 1, 2 or 4 ways so I can tailor the GPH pretty specifically.  I have mostly 2gph emitters split 2 and 4 ways as I find it easier and more consistent and have the watering cycle complete pretty quickly.

It's fun stuff and I'm constantly learning.  I think next year I'll have separate pot areas for small, medium, and larger potted plants.  Everything is jumbled together now and it's hard to tell what is what.

I am using a drip system this year, 1/2 gallon an hour drippers, 2 drippers per 18 gallon pot, if it is hot I will water about 15-20 mins 3 times a day give or take, the trees seem to like it.

My mistake I meant 1/2 gallon per hour not 2 gallon

I use a drip system and it gives me my freedom back!  Some folks may have to water twice a day if they have a fast draining soil mix like Al's mix.  I can't express how simple and easy  it is to set up.  Here's another tip.....if you're setting up a lot a emitters, use those rubber/cloth gardening gloves.  Your finger will thank you!

I know alot won't agree, but I use the self watering container mix and I can go days without watering, especially on 15 g and higher.

You need to have a drip system designed for your specific layout and type of trees. The box store systems will not do for our set ups to expensive and cant buy parts..I buy all my parts at irrigationsupplyoutlet.com Reasonable and a good design will save you some time.. You will need to inspect the system some do the daily walk I check mine about every three days.. Emitters clog up hose blow apart. things just happen.. I am doing the celts system in a few days 150 gal pots 130 5-20 gal pots and a dedicated line to his in ground trees four zones for around $300.00 this is just parts no labor..It can be done read up on the internet undestand the system get a good pressure reducer and multi zone timer and start laying out a design.. The 1/2 poly feed tube can be left ontop the ground for now but really should be burried as soon as possible the sun will heat up the water in the poly and you end up blanching your trees roots... Any questions pm me I will do my best to help you out....

http://www.misterlandscaper.com/default.aspx

Hey Dom, what is your mix?

70% Peat, 20% Vermiculite, 10% Perlite- Vermiculite seems to do a real good job of keeping water from burning off due to heat.

I usually water at night my in-ground trees so between cooled off tubes and grass shading, it seems to help. 

The other thing is to keep an end open and flush out the warm water, then close to force through emitters. 

This is the beauty of the SWC. I hooked up tubes to my in-ground lines and fed them into the fill tubes.  I don't have to worry about scorched roots or overheated soil since the water goes straight into a reservoir, even if hot.