Drippers come in numerous options, and it can be challenging to decipher which one will suit your needs. Hopefully, through our guide, we can help you to select the correct dripper for your system.
Options to consider
- Flow Rate
- Pressure regulation or non-pressure regulation
- Take apart
- Filtration and self-flushing capability
How to select a Flow Rate
Drippers come in a variety of flow rates. Deciding on which flow rate depends on the following factors.
- How much water do you have to supply?
- How long do you need to water?
- What size area/How many plants you are watering
- Is the water clean or dirty?
Answering the above questions can help you determine the flow rates available for your system.
For example,
- Water supply = 10 L/min
- How long = 1 hr
- Num of Plants = 10
- Source = Clean house tap
Changing the drippers from L/hr to L/min may be helpful.
An 8 L/hr dripper is only using 0.13 litres of water per minute. you could use 75 drippers, and still be using only 9.75 L/min, within the rage of the house tap supply.
To find out the flow rate of your water source, you can calculate this using a Bucket Test.
Important Tips
- A bigger flowrate has less chance of blocking.
- The better quality drippers are less like to clog and have more consistent flow rates under pressure
Pressure Compenstation
Pressure compensated drippers are recommended as you can ensure the distribution of water is more even between the drippers. The pressure compensated drippers have a diaphragm inside the dripper to manage the flow. There is a variation in drippers capabilities in compensating and their accuracy, check that their range of pressure-compensating suits your needs. If you have a large block or accuracy is important, check the drippers co-efficient of manufacturing variation.
For commercial growers, having your drippers perform accurately across the board is important, so be sure to do research the dripper performance charts.
CETA Take Apart Dripper
Take Apart or None
Drippers come as a take-apart or button dripper. The Take-Apart drippers have a top that can be unscrewed for cleaning and unclogging in case any debris got into the line.
How Many Drippers Per Plant
One, two or more, depends on how much of the root-zone you would like to water and how big that root-zone is. Keep in mind that any root-zone not irrigated may come under stress during dry periods. You need to know the water requirements of the plant, along with how many drippers per plant and the flow rate per dripper, you will be able to piece together what dripper will suit.
Pipeline Supply and Zoning
DIY design for an orchard irrigation system is not recommended, call one of our designers, and we can see how we can help. System design can be a simple calculation for small orchards, and larger systems will need a full computer-aided design process.
Water Supply and filtration
Water quality and filtration are essential for drip irrigation systems even if you have excellent quality water. If you have poor quality water, we need to know a bit of detail on what is in the water to decide what filtration system will suit.
