Choose The Right Heads For Your Sprinkler System
Automatic sprinklers make your life easier while also ensuring that your lawn and landscape plants receive the water they need to survive. When designing your sprinkler system, you will have several choices when it comes to sprinkler heads and emitters. The following guide can help you make the right choice.
Shrubs and Flowers
Drip irrigation lines are well suited for shrubs and flower beds. Overhead watering may not reach the soil through the dense foliage of a shrub, so most of the moisture ends up lost to evaporation. As for flower beds, overhead watering increases the chances of blossom damage and fungal problems in the garden. Drip lines are installed along the top of the soil, with the emitters placed so that water is delivered directly to the soil growing zone of the plant. Little moisture is lost when plants are watered in this manner.
Trees and Large Shrubs
Trees and larger shrubs may need irrigation, too, depending on the tree variety and your climate. In this case, opt for bubblers. Bubblers are sprinkler heads that are placed inside the planting basin for a tree or larger shrub. Water bubbles out and fills the basin, and then it soaks in slowly so that the tree's root zone is evenly moistened. Bubblers should only be used in soils that drain well, otherwise too much water can accumulate.
Small Lawns
For small lawns or small areas of the lawn, such as a side yard, spray heads are a good solution. Spray heads can be adjusted to different patterns, such as a full circle, half circle, or quarter circle. They operate under low pressure so they only cover a small area. In larger lawns you would need to install many spray heads, so they aren't a good choice if you have a lot of area to cover unless you don't have high water pressure in your home. For small areas, though, their coverage tends to be just right.
Large Lawns
For larger lawn areas, consider rotary heads. Rotary heads require more water pressure but they cover at least twice as much distance as the average spray head. Rotary heads rotate on the pattern you set them to -- full circle, half circle, or quarter circle. They send out a large arcing spray that as they rotate, which ensures the most distance is achieved with the fewest sprinkler heads.
Contact a sprinkler installation service in your area for more help.