I have noticed lately that we have a few “MVP” posts that are frequently shared amongst members because of their awesome content. I want to make these more visible and easier to find for new members in the future, so this is the start of that process
To get this going, I need your help!! I would love to hear from all of you what articles have helped you the most, or are just your favorite posts in general, and why. Also, feel free to include what you think would be helpful to add that we don’t already have, or things that you would like to hear from us. As we get into season and our community grows, it’s time to start improving it to it’s full potential. Thank you in advance for your help!
Off the top of my head… the web soil post and the 16 steps and the PWS post on using WUFYI. Also we had thought about known issues and work arounds like the one I ran into on “filling” a saturated zone causing a water event the next day.
@mckynzee, the other post I often refer people to that seems to have a decent number of hits is this one.
It’s specifically for people that have drip systems that don’t have continuous, evenly spaced emitters. We have a lot of those here in Arizona, but I know others from other parts of the country, like @Linn, have used it as well. There’s another thread or two that have the method of calibrating drip systems using a method of reading a usage number from the water meter and plugging it into one of your calculators which would be good to MVP as well. Then there is a 3rd recommendation that has links to online calculators, but they are restricted to continuous, evenly spaced emitters.
In summary, I recommend linking to:
‘single or multi’ port drip designs that don’t have continuous, evenly spaced emitters (thread above)
continuous, evenly spaced emitters’ (water meter + calculator method)
If the emitters are spaced out in a grid, maybe this would work. But if they are spaced out in a line (or snaked through a bed), it doesn’t work well. And the calculator could do a little more math for the user. The picture of the steps shows a water meter that records in Cubic Feet. But when you get to the calculator itself, it asks for the water usage in gallons. So the user is left to figure out how to change Cubic feet to gallons on their own. Not a tough calculation, but it should be built in for the user to enter either Cubic Feet or gallons. All that said, it still wouldn’t have come up with nozzle that you need for running this kind of drip. (using my measurements when I did my 60 minute test, my .225 CCF/168.31 gallons used would have a precip rate of 269.5in.hr!!!)
Yes, these cups can be set out in your lawn areas and you can determine the actual precipitation rate of a zone. It is possible to do this in a flower bed, but there should not any shrubs blocking the shrubs. This audit kit is a residential version of what professionals use for a commercial irrigation audit. Regardless of brand of controller you can use the results to set up a better schedule. I believe Orbit’s product also give you a zone efficiency reading. Four stars on this product.
