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Re: Jeff's Question

You should check beneath the soil for spread of water. Even in sands the spread is typically 2 feet wide (4 feet in silts, and 6 feet in clays). I have a diagram of this in WEEDLESS GARDENING. I also highly recommend Bob Kourik's book on drip irrigation. Another great book by Bob is HOW TO DESIGN AND MAINTAIN YOUR EDIBLE LANDSCAPE NATURALLY. The title is misleading; the book actually has basic and cutting edge information on soil, tree planting, site evaluation, etc. Every garden writer should own a copy of this book!

Lee Reich, PhD

Nan Sterman wrote:

When we initially installed our drip system several years ago, we relied on the advice of Bob Kourick in his book Drip Irrigation for Every Landscape and All Climates which is excellent and takes much of  the mystery out of the process.  Bob advocates the use of tubing systems with in-line emitters, i.e. the drip tubing has self-cleaning, laser-drilled emitters built into it, every 6 or 12 inches.  So, instead of constantly adding and subtracting emitters, you simply wrap some tubing around the base of a plant. One modification I've made over the years is this:  While Bob suggests preparing a bed for irrigation by laying out  parallel lines of drip tubing spaced some distance apart (6" or 8", I don't recall which), I find that in our sandy (and extremely well drained soil) that simply doesn't allow the water to reach all the plants in the bed.   Bob is in Northern California where as I understand it, there are very heavy soils so water spreads out horizontally and stays in the soil a long time.  In my soil, plants do best if I put a loop of drip tubing around each one, several loops for larger shrubs and/or trees that need it.  Another couple of points:I recommend Agrifim Durafilm Jr. drip tubing,  http://agrifimusa.com/.  I purchase it at my local landscape irrigation supply house.  Do NOT buy the stuff they sell at the big box stores.  Not only does it not come in bulk, but it has very poor quality control.In areas with highly alkaline soils, drip can cause a build up of salts around each emitter.  This can be dealt with easily and if anyone is interested, email me off-line. I've got miles of the stuff on my almost-acre and I swear by it. Anyone interested in an article on this topic?  I'd love to write one...   
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+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= Nan StermanPlant Soup (TM)205 Cole Ranch RoadOlivenhain, CA 92024760.634.2902 (voice)NSterman@PlantSoup.Com760.634.2957 (fax) +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= 
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