After reading a really old thread on this forum, I decided to put in a drip irrigation system. I purchased a couple of kits and installed 100ft of irrigation this morning. I have each daylily set up with a 1GPH drip. My daylily clumps are still pretty small. Most have 3-5 fans, but I do have some larder clumps with 8-10 fans. Should I use more than one dripper for the larger clumps - one on each side of the plant?

Also, once I had the line laid out and before I poked holes for the drippers, I ran water through the line to flush it out. Then about 30 minutes later when I was putting in the drippers, I noticed that the water that was left in the line from when I flushed it was already hot. Once I had the drippers installed and the line running, the water came out hot for a minute or two (depending how far down the line the dripper was) before turning cold. Will this warm water harm the daylilies? I do plan on covering the line with mulch eventually but I have busy, busy weeks/weekends (3 kids in travel baseball/softball) starting this afternoon and I'm not sure when I will be able to get the mulching done. Hopefully it won't be a problem. Will applying a couple inches of mulch over the line keep it cool enough?

Hot water would be risky but presumably you can avoid turning it on for the first time during the day? If you turn it on early mornings the water within should have cooled down overnight. Mulch should indeed help but it would depend how deep it is.

I will see how the water feels in the morning. Right now, our temps are in the upper 70s at around 7am when I usually go out to water, and my daylily patch gets full sun first thing in the morning. I want to get a timer so that the water can start at 5am without requiring me to get out of bed to do it, but I have to fix the leaky outside faucet first. Am I correct in assuming that when you have an automated/timer watering system that the faucet it is attached to has to be turned on at all times?

amberjewel
Yes, if the faucet is not on then the water can not run through the timer and hose! I think if the first flush of water runs near the daylily and is absorbed by the ground and then that is followed by the cooler water I think that will keep the temp under control.

amberjewel said:I will see how the water feels in the morning. Right now, our temps are in the upper 70s at around 7am when I usually go out to water, and my daylily patch gets full sun first thing in the morning. I want to get a timer so that the water can start at 5am without requiring me to get out of bed to do it, but I have to fix the leaky outside faucet first. Am I correct in assuming that when you have an automated/timer watering system that the faucet it is attached to has to be turned on at all times?

Amber if you are anywhere in the Springfield area, we have a daylily society here. I am a member, Treemail me if you are interested in knowing more about it.

It poured rain here this morning and reached 100 this afternoon SO humid.

@Frillylily
I would love to be a part of a group, but I am in the middle part of the state...close to Columbia. We haven't had rain here for around 2 weeks and none in the forecast for over 10 days!

So I convinced (read: paid) my 10-year-old to help me mulch over the hose lines this evening. Which leads me to another question...

Is it okay to cover the drippers with a layer of mulch? I know that if you are burying the line you have to keep the drippers above ground, but I'm not sure if putting mulch on top of the line counts as burying it. Any thoughts on that?

Amber - I have micro irrigation in my garden. (Works great for me.) I am impressed that you are using drips instead of sprinkler heads. Drips are probably better as it does not wet the leaves to attract pests and fungus. I do cover my lines with mulch. Just make sure that the drips are above the mulch. With what you are doing, I have to wonder if a soaker hose might have been a better and possibly easier choice to do instead? I think you are going to have some very happy daylilies to have regular watering during the heat of summer!

Make sure to check the water pressure from your faucet. To much will pop your hose. Too little and the water won't make it to the end. I have pressure regulators on mine. I have never put mulch over mine, but I did get some new drip line this year that is made to use on top or under soil. The heat has never bothered mine, but I do water very early in the morning. Oh, and dogs seem to think dripline is one off the best chewies ever. My pup chewed up about 200 ft. last summer. Luckily, she couldn't get to the other 400 ft. I'm going to try burying the new drip line this year. If she digs it up--I'll be back to overhead watering.

Be aware that animals (both domestic and wild) in the garden can trip on the drip line and pull it apart.

Also, if you live in an area where there are a lot of rats (we live in Rat Haven thanks to all of the oak trees, which harbor rat nests), be aware that rats love to chew on drip lines (and also netafim). Because of this, except where absolutely needed or there was no better solution, we have torn out most of the drip and netafim from the garden. The rats kept chewing holes, which can be hard to find (especially under heavy groundcovers), so we ended up with a lot of leaks, higher water bills (due to said leaks) and some dead plants (because they weren't getting water, because of the leaks).

Not a fan of drip or netafim here, though I admit that they have their uses.

Good luck to you!

Thanks for the advice and thoughts everyone.
@beckygardner
I decided on the drip system over a soaker hose because the drip system allowed me to place the drips right where I wanted them and I could put in different size drippers (1gph, 2 gph, etc.) based on the size and type of plants I have.
@dspack
The kit I bought came with a pressure regulator. Right now it seems to be working well. Keeping my fingers crossed. No dogs for me, so unless some strays in the neighborhood show up I should be okay.
@Polymerous
I don't think we have a problem with rats...shudders...at least I hope not. But we do have a lot of squirrels so we will see how it goes. The two kits I bought were $13 each. So if it works out great, but I won't be out a lot of money if it doesn't.

We have some squirrels here too... I don't think they were a problem with the drip or netafim. The only problems they seem to cause are digging up my flower pots (to plant acorns), planting oak trees where I don't want them, and (possibly - not entirely sure that they are the culprits) moving or stealing plastic labels.

We have lots of oaks, and lots of squirrels, no rats. They love to eat the aluminum ties from my chain link fence and eat holes in my water hoses. They dig in the beds and are a general nuisance, still they are cute. But I do wish I did not have so many of them. They do damage the tomatoes when they are getting ripe and they dig up the little seedlings, but over the years they seem to be getting better about staying out of the garden. It is about time for some new hoses I have had to patch the holes gnawed in them by the squirrels so many time.

I have birdbaths and bird feeders in my yard for the wildlife which both squirrels and birds and other creatures use. I have never had any damage done that I am aware of. I feed the squirrels unsalted roasted peanuts (which do not sprout) and sunflower seeds. Squirrels and birds don't seem to do any damage and often entertain me! I also garden for butterflies and dragonflies, so there is a lot of "movement" in my yard. To me ... a garden isn't a garden without wildlife.

I have had a rat problem or two from time to time. They have done the most damage by chewing holes in the screen around my back porch. Grrrrr ....! But between the snakes and my electric trap, they don't survive very long.

Raccoons can also be a problem. I have had to cover my 2 small pond containers with chicken wire to keep the raccoons from eating my minnows and destroying my waterlilies. I keep minnows to eat mosquito larvae.

It's the cycle of life here as my yard which is a wildlife habitat as well as a human garden. We happily co-exist.

they eat the tomatoes for the liquid most likely. You might try keeping a shallow pan of water on the ground away from the tomatoes and see if they drink that instead.

I have four or maybe five shallow birdbaths set up, I have a branch right down by the bog garden, and I have two lovely fountains. So I think the squirrels just like to aggravate me! They love to toss things down from the trees trying to hit me in the head when I am working the compost piles, they act like monkeys sometimes.

@Seedfork
The squirrels here do the same thing, but I don't have any food or water set out for them specifically.

Last year the squirrels continuously dug up a couple of small fans I had planted in pots thinking that would be better than putting them in the ground...learned my lesson on that. The flowers didn't make it

They're bored!

Could be!