Gathered data, need help figuring out drip custom nozzle rate

@Modawg2k Here’s the procedure I use. Let me know if any of it doesn’t make sense. Keep in mind they’re asking for diameters. I also went with values closer to the larger shrubs in my yard, versus the minimum. It’s a judgement call but will directly impact the total watering time.

Thanks for the direct link to that post. That entire thread is one the scariest things I’ve seen on the web

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I can’t tell by the picture, it just looks like the plant shadows at 3 square feet.
So 2 gph / 60 minutes is .03 gallons a minute.

96.25 * .03 = 2.8875
2.8875 / 3 = 0.9625.

But look at your plants…which one do you think is closer?

A little update on those Jubilees. Changed PR to 0.9 from the 3.2 that was determined from Rachio calculators. They have bounced back pretty well. Watering times are no 1 hour vs 15 minutes. Also, recent monsoon activity helped it to change it’s course.

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@Modawg2k Nice! If it weren’t for the monsoon, roughly how often do you think you’d be watering?

@azdavidr there is no rain in the next week forecasted so here is the schedule. It watered today.

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@Modawg2k Mine are watering today too, and I’m at a slightly lower interval. I’m definitely pushing it though. Is that watering time with 2GPH heads? I have 1GPH and water for much longer (7.5 hrs). If like to play with dropping that down but want to wait for cool weather to test that out, so I have a chance to add a few heads to my larger shrubs. I have some that are pretty mammoth, as well as some pygmy date palms that like more water.

Here’s my schedule. Mine are watering right now, although the schedule shows tomorrow.

BTW, here’s one of my larger shrubs. It has about a 5.5’ canopy.

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@modawg2k and @azdavidr, your plants both look great!!!

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Yup, 2 GPH. Like we’ve talked before, I’ll do a more thorough evaluation of my drip system in the fall and probably dial in some better settings and perhaps replace 2gph with 1gph and just reset some of the drips.

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Ok. I was just wondering how our volumes compared. You’re putting out about 2 gallons versus my 7.5. Our shrubs and intervals are different but it gives me a reference point when I start trying to dial things down. Thanks!

@azdavidr Just to confirm, when you say 7.5 hours, you are referring to just your shrub schedule right? That 7.5 isn’t a combination of multiple zones?

Correct, I’m watering my shrubs for 7.5 hours straight so I can put out 7.5 gallons. Based on the Water Use It Wisely guidelines (Lawn Watering Guide - Interactive Watering Guides - Water Use It Wisely) I should be giving my 5.5ft shrubs 17 gallons, but my largest are also the more drought tolerant version, so I figured I’d push it and they’ve done ok.

I should add that I haven’t confirmed that all of my shrubs only have single emitters as some are buried under the branches and hard to identify without digging around. I plan to do that when the temps drop. I’ll add some extra emitters to the larger shrubs and at that point drop the run times. It’ll be a lot more efficient and of course will be better for the shrubs to have a wider distribution of water placement across the root zone.

I figure that I’m giving my shrubs 2.7 times as much water as yours since you have 2gph heads and mine are 1gph. You’re giving them 2 gallons every 5 days, where I’m at 7.5 gallons every 7 days, so 7.5 gal / ( 2 gal * (7/5) ) = 2.7. Given the size difference the difference in watering seems somewhat reasonable.

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I’m glad .9 is working better for you, thats still based on a guestimate, probably need to measure off the real footage

Definitely. How do you treat plants that grow more vertical then out.

Good question. I don’t have any of those, so it’s tough to say. I think the assumption where they suggest using the canopy size is an approximation of the root ball diameter, which is what’s really the key metric. Maybe a soil probe would be able to give you an idea in that case?

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I would compute the cubic foot.

So if you your bush is 2 x 2 feet on shadow and 3 foot tall, that is 2 x 2 x 3 = 12 feet.

Please understand this is probably too aggressive, the stomata will not be evenly distributed as you find in any type of turf. So I would probably half it, 12 x .5 = 6

I take a third myself but I know my vegetation, which is why I have continued to recommend 1 foot per gallon per hour. Since you live in satans anus, I would probably stick with half.

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Name of the plants?