FW: Mediterranean irrigation
- To: m*@ucdavis.edu
- Subject: FW: Mediterranean irrigation
- From: L* C*
- Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 11:23:39 -0700
From: "Laura Cooper" <lcooper@artcenter.edu>
To: steev@mail.monitor.net
Subject: Re: Mediterranean irrigation
Date: Tue, Jun 20, 2000, 11:22 AM
Dear Steve,
Thanks for the very useful information. Nick and I garden on a hot and windy
hillside in Los Angeles, and while we stick (mainly) to mediteranean plants
we are also creating an urban oasis, and our urban oasis looks and feels
better with a little water. So far we have soaker hoses along our fence and
around our roses. Your plan sounds like it would work for us.
As for watering by hose, it is one of our favorite things to do because it
feels so good. O.k. maybe not everyday, but nothing beats seeing a
hummingbird shower right in front of you.
: Laura Cooper :(the not very pure)
P.S. When we have accumulated more land, I'd like to have a more 'pure'
approach as the garden extends further from the house, having drier zones as
one extends out.
----------
>From: steve french <steev@mail.monitor.net>
>To: medit-plants@ucdavis.edu
>Subject: Mediterranean irrigation
>Date: Tue, Jun 20, 2000, 10:08 AM
>
> I agree that no irrigation during the summer months is the 'pure'
> Mediterranean method. But some of us do water to create a more lush
> environment. I've found a method of irrigation that is very water
> efficient. I've had great success with what's currently called 'Subsurface
> Irrigation'. At my home I use mulch over newspaper and snake 'dripperline'
> under the mulch. Dripperline is 18mm drip tubing with emitters factory
> installed within the tubing. The emitters don't easily clog - they're very
> sophisticated turbulent flow emitters spaced either12", 18", 24" (pardon
> the non-metric) apart. I use 12" spacing.
>
> The best dripperline is pressure compensating, made by Netafim, an Israeli
> company. It was developed for agriculture. I first heard of it maybe 10-15
> years ago. It was used around here in landscaping in highway median strips
> near Vacaville, which is between San Francisco and Sacramento, California.
> The summer climate there is windy and hot. The tubing is buried 4" (there's
> that non-metric again) in the soil and covered with mulch. If the tubing is
> laid in parallel lines, it can irrigate as throughly as sprinklers while
> losing no water to wind or evaporation. I heard of an auto dealership in
> the area that used this method under turf. The sprinklers were leaving
> mineral deposits on the new cars. The owner took a gamble and switched to
> subsurface irrigation of his turf. It supposedly works very well, giving
> him the beautiful green turf with no overhead watering. He can ever
> irrigate while people walk on the grass! Also I've heard of a sports field
> near Stockton in California's central valley that is also successfully
> irrigated by subsurface irrigation. If the tubing is laid with correct
> parallel spacing, one can calculate the precipitation rate of an area and
> base irrigation on the current ET rate (evapotransporation).
>
> I just 'snake' the tubing in my own garden. The emitters use 2 liters per
> hour of water. That's 200 liters of water per hour per 100'. Excuse my
> mixing metric and non. I run into this all the time and it's driving me
> crazy. I call 2 liters per hour, 1/2 gallon per hour, so that's 50 gallons
> per hour or .83 gallons per minute per 100'. One can successfully water a
> large area of shrubs or perennials with a very low water flow. I have a
> well, so this is essential for me. I keep all flows at 3 gallons per minute
> or less. If you use automatic valves and a timer and water at night and use
> mulch you can have a beautiful garden with very efficient and thrifty water
> use.
>
> All in all, though, I've found the most important water conserving method
> is the mulch over newspaper. We just had a heat wave here. Last Wednesday
> the temperature was 110 deg. F in my garden. I've never seen it so hot. I
> didn't lose one plant.
>
> Steve French
>
>
> Steve French Landscape Architect
> 2616 Meier Rd. Sebastopol, CA 95472
>
> Laguna de Santa RosaTributary
> Russian River Watershed
> North America
>
> tel: 707-829-1200
> fax: 707-829-3967
> sfla@monitor.net
> www.stevefrenchlandscapearchitect.com
>
>
