How Long and Often To Run Drip Irrigation

All right, thinking I can have this set to start 7:30. That should be good. I get asked a lot about how long to water plants for. Pardon the mess. I'm in the middle of filming other videos. And it's a specific enough question. I figured let's just do a video on it. Let's just have a what I think is going to be a very boring but hopefully informative video looking at a timer and talking about how long to run your drip for. It is an impossible question to answer. By the way, that is really how I should start things off and just say I do not have a direct answer for you. Knowing how long to run your drip really is going to come down to well, a lot of different factors, but ultimately I would say observation. That's probably going to be the most important thing with knowing how long to run your drip. Could also say intuition, but I feel like that's a very unhelpful, just useless thing to say. So, there are a lot of factors with just in general. I would say probably the question I dislike the most that I get from people is how do I water this plant? I'm like, well, I don't I don't know because I don't know where you live. I don't know your climate. I don't know your temperatures. I don't know what kind of airflow there is. I don't know whether you're indoors, whether you're outdoors. There's so many factors. The way I grow this aloacia lutia over here may not be the same as where you grow them maybe if you live in the the southwest with drier air. We're going to have to do things differently. That's why it's not a straightforward answer. And also when it comes to running your irrigation, something that matters is are you watering pots or are you watering in the ground? What kind of soil do you have? What's your moisture retention like? What are you growing? So, a lot of it does have to be boiled down to knowing what your garden is like and some things about your soil, how long it holds on to moisture. And if you don't know those things, then you figure it out through observation. I start back here if I'm doing my pots. I'm having this set to start at 7:30 in the morning for this section of plants right in here. You can see it doesn't have any sun right now. It's about 10:15, 10:30. These don't get sun until about, I'd say, I don't know, 11:45 to noon. Then the sun kicks over here and it stays around for several hours. Then it's some shade again for them. So, I make sure that they have a good drink a few hours before that. I don't like to go too early because there are a lot of slugs out here. I've learned to start my watering a little bit later in the day and that helps with the slugs. So, I'm starting mine at 7:30 a.m. And then we're going to go with for starters 30 minutes. I think that that's ample once a day. And I know that that doesn't seem all that exciting or informative, but that's where I'm starting. I'm going to have to tune it. The way I do that is through watching the plants and seeing how they respond. It's very easy with this timer. The ones with just a little knob, a single outlet timer. The ones that have multiples on them, they're I think a nightmare to set. These right here, it's very easy. So, if I need to adjust it, it's not a big deal. One thing you can do is go ahead and just get your drip set up and go ahead and just Well, really, actually, just keep it on the auto setting right here. Put that right there on the auto. And then you should be able to No, no, no, no, no. Never mind. Forget what I said. You want it to be on auto to run automatically. You click the manual button right there. Duh. And I would say just go ahead and set it for like, I don't know, 30 minutes. It doesn't need to run for 30 minutes, but just set it for 30 minutes. And then observe it. Just sit back, grab a cup of coffee, something like that. Relax, and wait and see how long it takes for the water to come out of the bottom of your pots. When you're watering by hand, that's a good way to tell whether or not it's time to go ahead and stop watering. I usually let water run out the bottom of my pots for, I don't know, 10, 15 seconds, something like that. That's to make sure that the soil has been evenly saturated. Now, with a drip, depending on what kind of potting mix you're using, it can be much more difficult to evenly saturate the soil. I have some plants out here that I have used some mixes for that are um high paracity. They drain very, very quickly. So, it's hard to get things saturated evenly. So, I have to use different drip heads for those. That that's that's deviating. If you're just using a standard allpurpose mix, that shouldn't be too much of an issue. The main thing is that you're getting the water to the roots of the plant, right? But even with drip, I usually like to see it come out the bottom of the pot. Say you live on a balcony, maybe you have neighbors down below you in an apartment, condominium, something like that. Then, you know, maybe you can just wait until like the very second you see water come out the bottom, and then however long that took, that's how long to run it. I'm working with a lot of really big pots out here. So, mine usually have to run for quite a long time. And that water will come out the bottom of these containers for maybe 3 or 4 minutes, which I know seems like a long time, but that's just through observation what I've learned what it takes to really keep things watered and to keep all the plants that are potted up underneath things watered. Right? That comes back to the observation. just watching to see if things are going to droop down a few hours later, if they're going to stay standing up for the rest of the day. And at the end of the day and the next morning, stick your finger down in the soil near the drip head within a few inches of it and see if things are nice and moist. If they're not, maybe want to run it longer depending on what kind of plants you're growing, your climate, and all those other things. You know what I mean? And also, I should mention what type of drip head you're using matters, too. you're using half a gallon emitters, whole gallon emitters per hour, using adjustable drip heads like I use. Um maybe you're using the micro sprayers in which case usually need to run them a little bit longer, right? It's because those sprayers are working a much larger area and it's not going directly into the soil. So they generally they generally need some more time. I like the adjustable drip heads because it just makes things easier for me. I can go through and go, "Oh, this one's getting too much water." and just crank it down to a smaller drip or one needs a lot more water that I can open it up all the way to give the plant a lot of water. Otherwise, it can be difficult if you have a big mix up like I do between very large big plants that are in, you know, like 36-in containers and then smaller plants over here like this alocacia that's not going to want as much water as say this Robboini palm oil will. But I was back to that observation. So, back to what I was saying. check it at night and then again in the morning and see how they're looking. So if it looked good at night, you can just move on to morning, not have to worry about it. If they don't look good at night, then go ahead and give them another 10 minutes. It might take a few days, even a few weeks really to find the rhythm and the timing for what you really need for the plants. The reason it might take a few weeks is because the weather changes. All week it's been in the mid 80s and humid and beautiful. We've been having afternoon showers that are very brief. I haven't had to water very much at all this week, but next week it's supposed to be hot and humid in the upper 90s into the hundreds. And there are a few days where it says hot and dry. You have to water so much more when it's hot and dry, which case I would have to adjust some things, right? So, drip does take a lot of the time out of watering plants, but it's not a set it and forget it kind of thing. One, in the sense that you have to check your emitters because sometimes they blow off. That happens to me all the time, especially when it gets hot outside. And because you got to make adjustments because what I set up for spring or early summer isn't going to be the same as what I need mid to late summer when it's just blazing hot outside. Okay. So, say after you've done that 30 minutes and the next day it just didn't seem like that was doing it, then you have other options. You can run it for longer, which probably isn't necessary because these are containerized plants. That water is just going to keep flushing out the bottom of the pot. And I'm not saying you need to run yours for 30 minutes. That's just because these plants are absolutely massive. These are huge, huge plants over here, so it takes a long time to get them watered. In fact, I'll probably end up dialing it down to 15 or 20 minutes, but I'm starting off with 30 so I can just, you know, get them up and going. In fact, it's really just a matter if I set it to 30. I'll probably dial it down. There are other options. So, next week when it's insanely hot outside, it will probably be a really good idea to go ahead and switch things up. And instead of having it water for, say, 20 minutes in the morning every single day, I'll probably be changing it to where it's going to water for 15 minutes, probably four times a day, which is a lot of water, but they're going to need it. And I would think within 15 minutes, these big plants right here, that should be enough time to get everything watered. But with that heat, it's only going to take a few hours for them to dry back out. So, they'll need a repeat watering. Uh, you can do twice a day with this timer, but it splits it up into every 12 hours. I don't necessarily think the plants need to be watered at 7:30 in the morning and 7:30 at night. It would generally be that I would set this for 7:30 and then they would be looking kind of crummy again by say 1:30 to 2:00 in the afternoon. It's how it just works where I live. That seems to be when they're like, "Oh, I need more. It's too hot outside." Then you have the options of going, "Okay, well, they're just limp because they're trying to get through the heat." So, you set your timers to go on right after, you know, the shade's going to be back on them. Maybe you feel like spraying the plants down. That helps lock in some moisture. Or you can say, "All right, well, it seems like around this time, this is when the plants start to welt down again." So, you want to run it maybe, I don't know, 30 minutes to an hour before that. I do generally really like these orbit timers because they seem to last a long time. But as far as setting specific things up, I do prefer a timer where I can set the frequency because every 6 hours is too much. Every 12 hours sometimes isn't enough. You know what I mean? There have been heat spells and times out here where I have had to run them at the every 6 hours for up to 15 or 20 minutes, right? That's a long time. That's a lot of water to have to give them, but sometimes that's what it takes. Generally, when things are that hot though, I just go, "Okay, I'm going to have to supplement with some hand watering." But that's not always an option. Sometimes you're traveling, sometimes, you know, you're just not going to be around. In which case, I'll go, "All right, every 6 hours the drip's going to run for 15 or 20 minutes." That is only in the hottest hottest parts of the summer. Usually 10 minutes is okay. If I'm doing four times a day, every 6 hours and I'll go about 10 to 15 minutes. And that will keep these very large plants hydrated. that might be extreme overkill for you. It really just depends on what you're growing, how big your plants are, your climate, your sun. Also, remember, I have this giant patio here that just radiates the heat back up onto everything and creates a nice little oven that cooks everything. It's very common with a lot of drip systems that I've set up for them to only run for about maybe 5 minutes, something like that. 5 to 10 minutes, maybe twice a day, three times a day when that's an option, depending on your timer. at the absolute max. And usually that's fine for most people's containers and things like that. Especially if they're a plant that's just getting morning sun and afternoon shade. And with those, usually just once a day is fine. But again, it just depends on where you live and what you're growing and all those things. So that's why the best advice I can give is to just set your timer to the manual for you, I don't know, 20 30 minutes, which I'm sure is going to be extreme overkill, and sit back and wait for the water to come out the bottom of the pot. However long that took. Let that be your starting point. Start with once a day and the next day you'll be able to determine whether or not you need to up that to twice a day if you need to. Or even just maybe try running them for an additional however long you ran them the first time, maybe go ahead and double that or quarter it, you know. You know, so if it took 10 minutes, add another 2 and 1/2 minutes to that and see if that's enough by the next day. You just kind of got to play around with things. And that's just potted plants. So plants that are in the ground, it's going to be the same concept except, you know, you can't watch the water come out the bottom of the container, which does change things up quite a bit. Hi, baby. Hi, baby. You have a good time in the pool. If it's in the ground, then you you kind of there's I feel like this is just it sounds mean, but sometimes I just start on the low end and if they wilt and oops, I did a bad job and I got to try again. You know what I mean? Then it just means you got to up how long you run them for. It is much more difficult to talk about how long to water things in the ground than in containers. In containers, you just say make sure it's evenly moist. Water's coming out the bottom of the pot, that things are being evenly saturated, which is a little bit different with drip. You know, you're not always trying to get things evenly saturated with the drip. Ideally, that would be the case. But really, a lot of that goes back to what kind of soil you're using. In the ground, you just got to see if the plants are happy. You got to observe them. All of it comes down to observation, right? I'm pretty sure I probably said that word so many times. For me, with my I would say medium clay. That's not really an expression or a term, I don't think, but I would say I have a medium amount of clay. Used to be a lot of clay, but I've been amending for the last I don't know 15 years or so. So, I have a good probably 18 in of decent soil in my garden beds. And then a just clay over here where I haven't done anything. I I mean, I do things. I top dress with compost, but I haven't done the gypsums and all the other things that I've done over here in the sand. I've done tons of stuff in the garden beds to loosen things up. Where there's clay, I think along this end right here, I have drip emitters, micro sprinklers set up that run for well, technically they're connected the same drip that runs down there. So, right now, they're running for 30 minutes once a day. And it's a drip system that spans the entire area, this back wall over here. And some of them come out to the containers like this pot right here. You can see there's a cord right there. That's a drip line. Goes up into this Gaussia palm. And I have that turned way way down so that it's not getting overwatered because the stuff that's in the ground tends to need more because you're trying to saturate and water a much larger area and it takes longer to get that water to go down. When you're using the micro sprayers, a drip head, different story. If you have drip run to every single plant, it's a I don't know, 30 minutes in the heat of the summer is probably about right depending on where you live. It goes back to all the different variables, right? Maybe you have a ton of succulents in your garden. Which case, why are you watching this video? You probably don't need to put drip on them. But you know what I mean, right? There are just some things that really just don't need much. And a lot of things like I have a ton of impatience and uh the panacle hydrangeas, which they don't need a ton, but I notice the flowers don't crisp up as quickly if I make sure to really stay on top of their watering. Right? You just got to sit back and watch. I know that that's not the most helpful answer. I would say start low and just keep moving up from there. It might take a few days to figure out what you need to do and be prepared to adjust because you probably will because the weather changes. The heavier your clay, the more moisture retentive your soil, the smaller amount of time you're probably going to need to run your drip, right? If you have a very poor soil, then that water is going to move through much more quickly and uh you're not necessarily going to need to have your drip running quite as long. But if it's on the more extreme end of that, you may have to run it even longer because it's draining really, really fast. The plants can't even get to that water, right? And then that of course influences the frequency as well. So those clays, heavier soils, they're going to hold on to moisture longer. You don't need to run your drip anywhere near as often. So I mean, I'm running it every single day. Uh but a lot of people could probably get away with every other day, but I have all the bananas and the gingers. I have a lot of plants that they want water every single day. But a lot of your typical landscaping shrubs in a climate kind of like mine where it's warm and humid that humidity makes a big difference. You could probably get away with every other day. But you just kind of got to wait and see around new trees, shrubbery, things that you're trying to establish if they are plants that want the moisture. So I'm not talking about like baptizes, right? Nothing like that. Talking about, you know, you planted a new tree, you know, or a hydrangeanger, something like that. Then I would make sure you run it every single day because you're trying to establish a new plant. But all these other things that have been in the ground for years and years and years, not the perennials, not the things that die back, which I am referring to my gingers and bananas in that case, but the shrubbery that have been in the ground for several years, they're generally okay with every other day. Main thing is that they're getting watered heavily enough that the water's really making its way through the soil, which I know that's a difficult thing to observe. It's actually not something you really can observe just by standing and looking at the plant. But you just got to be making sure you get enough water that they're going to be able to put down nice deep roots cuz that can be a problem with drip that I've noticed is that sometimes when you're running drip in the landscape for me anyways, I have gone too low on the watering. The plant will look fine because it's getting the water to its root ball that you just put in the ground but not the surrounding area cuz it's not running long enough. So I also have wanted to offset my drip heads more towards the middle of its existing root ball or right on the outside right onto the drip line. So it's getting some of the existing root ball and the outside root ball. And sometimes you got to move the drip head around the plant. So I like the ones that are on the little stakes. That's getting off from just how long and how often to water. But I think that's about as good as I can do with that advice is you just got to sit back and watch and see what's making the plants happy and what isn't. If they're welting, then you need to run it longer. If they're not welting, you're you're doing great. It's probably fine. I would have taken y'all around the garden and shown drip and everything for the video, but there just isn't much of a point because you really can't see any of it cuz everything has grown up around all the drip. All the annuals and everything are covering it up and then have areas where the mulch is over it. So, I hope you don't mind the lack of scenery changes, but it wasn't necessary. We were just having a quick talk. Hope everybody's doing well. Tips, tricks, suggestions, always appreciated. Lots of people have different methods. My method is just you just got to start with a number and work from there. Let me know if you have any favorite brands of timers. I've tried a whole bunch and I've started to settle with just going back to the cheapy cheap Orbits cuz they seem to last the longer. The ones with the multiple manifolds, I never get more than a year out of them. Sometimes I get two years, but not often. Those end up just being riddled with problems. Like I've done ones with the four outlets on them and yeah, I'd say every single one of them, every single year, at least one of those outlets stops working or just gets stuck open. So you got to be on top of watching them. Whereas these, they're just easier, but it's a pain cuz they usually need like 10 of them. So there is that. But they last longer usually, not always. All right. Hope everybody's doing well. I'm having a great day, great life, and everything's going absolutely beautiful for you. Hey Tur, you want to say hi or goodbye? Yeah, say goodbye. Good boy. All right. Isn't it pretty? I love the way this santa is coming up. That's a great plant. They don't need any drip. And keep on growing. Bye-bye. [Music]