Hi,
Could anybody throw some light on microtube irrigation for a flower bed? Any lessons learned or tips and advice. If you have installed it, then how is it working for you?

I am planning to install one and I see a bunch of companies on amazon ranging from $12 to $40. Anything I should keep in mind.

Location: Houston
Flower Bed: Mainly fruit trees (young, 9 months old max)
Any other plants in flower bed: Not at this stage, maybe in future
Length and width of flower bed: around 100 FT x 3'- 5' wide (varies)''

Most important is that you have a level soil surface. Anything on a slant will cause you problems. If you have hard water you will need to clean your droppers from time to time. You will still have to water the big potted plants at first with the water hose, because those droppers only water the surface areas during hot times. Anything over 3 gallon pots you better water with the water hose the first year or two and water deeply.

Don't buy a kit. Go down to the local BigBox store and buy the parts you need. Use half inch tubing for the main line and tee off of that with quarter inch lines to water all your plants. Hills are not a problem and neither are containers. If its a big hill (I had one at my old house that had an elevation drop of about 100 ft), there are some tricks to keep the upper lines full. Visit the BB Store to familiarize yourself with what's available: drippers, micro-sprinklers.... Then go home and draw up a plan and make a shopping list.

Fruit trees will need fewer but longer water times. Consider a second system specifically for the trees. Use irrigation timers.

For a young fruit tree (9mon to 2 Yrs) what is the average gallons or time it needs to be watered in houston Tx summer (90F)

If I water more than 10 minutes, I start seeing water running off to the nearby ground. So am I watering too much?

You might be watering too fast. Use a slow drip or a sprinkler with a 2 - 3 foot radius - you want to water enough so the soil below and outside the root ball is damp. You are trying to encourage a healthy root system and roots grow towards water. If just the root ball is wet, they won't grow out into dry soil. If you put the hose on a slow drip and let it run until the water starts to puddle, you have watered enough. You can test that by digging a hole or poking a stick into the soil outside where you think the roots are and seeing how wet the soil is or if the stick comes out damp. But, you don't need to water daily, it all depends upon how fast your soil dries. In the beginning, when you first plant trees, it may be once or twice a week. But after they are established, it might be once every one to two weeks.

Regarding creating zones, I am confused on how many should I have? My flower bed will have the following: Fruit Trees, Shrubs (Roses, flower plants), and Veg (Peppers, rosemary, cilantro etc) all spread across evenly.

The total flower bed is straight long 100 Ft x 4-5' width., Houston TX weather

Regarding Creating Zones, I was thinking of creating 3 zones. The plan is to run three header tubes (one for each zone) all across 100Ft of my flower bed..

Zone 1, for plants needing water everyday
Zone 2 for plants needing water 2 or 3 times a week
Zone 3 For plants needing water once a week

So I will run three(3) - 1/2" main header lines. Connect 1/4 tubing to zone header routed to the specific shrub or tree etc as per watering requirement.

With above I can adjust zones per season (summer & Winter). Also having all three zone headers running thru out the flower bed, all I need is to plug in 1/4 tube as needed to required zone main header

Does it sound right?

As your plants are mixed together, they will all get water as often as you set the shortest interval. So daily. The trees need deep water. That's why I suggested two lines. The tree line can be run once every 1 or 2 weeks for several hours. The other line could be run daily for 10 minutes. I think 3 lines is excessive.

I only have a couple trees so, 1 line. About once a month (they are well established), I run a garden hose out to those two trees for a couple hours.

I installed the drip irrigation today, I have T connection for 1/2" line and it is leaking. The fitting is a T where you just slide the tube in. Are their any alternative Tconnections I can consider to prevent the leak.

Also at the end of the 1/2 tube, my end cap plug pops up due to pressure. How do I prevent this? I am using a 25PSI regulator.

You haven't shoved it in far enough. The hose has to be at least an inch, maybe more, into the connector. If you scratch the tube with your fingernail before you start shoving it in the the connector, you will know how far in you have shoved.

I use the figure 8 end things. Stick the tube through one side, bend it and stick it back through the other side.

Turn the water down. These are low pressure systems.