About

Based on Science

  • The idea for this website came from observations and audits of numerous landscape drip irrigation systems. In interviews with water managers it became apparent that there was a lack of an easy to use science-based resource to schedule drip irrigation for trees, shrubs, groundcovers and accent plants.
  • We hope this website will help water managers create more data driven drip irrigation schedules that promote healthy landscapes and conserve water.

METHODOLOGY

  • The program assigns each plant a crop coefficient of low, medium or high. If plants with different crop coefficients are located within the same zone, then the program uses the average crop coefficient of all plants. Schedules produced using minimal crop coefficients will apply enough water to maintain all plants within a single zone without creating excessive growth. This will result in both water and labor savings requiring less pruning and trimming of trees and shrubs.
  • No attempt is made to ‘fix’ the existing irrigation system. Instead, the scheduling will work on each irrigation zone or station ‘as-is’. Schedules will accommodate a mixture of flow rates and plants within each zone. Since there may be instances where both trees and shrubs occur within the same zone, some plants may receive more or less water than optimal.

IRRIGATION SYSTEM DESIGN

  • Well-designed systems with trees in a separate irrigation zone from the other plants will perform best. Water amounts are based on the existing emitters and not on the plant size. As plants grow and mature, additional emitters will be needed to supply sufficient quantities of water.
  • Schedules for systems with mixed plant types of widely differing water requirements present a challenge and will not be optimal for all plant types. Trees will be at a disadvantage in mixed landscapes with many other plants types as the schedule will apply water more frequently to accommodate plants with shallower root zones. This will result in trees being irrigated more frequently than they need and promoting shallow tree root systems.
  • If plants within a zone are extremely high water users they should be put on a separate irrigation zone in order to prevent chronic over-irrigation and water waste of the other plants.