Netafim Drip line

[Jastin]

So I Installed drip on my front south facing slope last year and than i found out about Netafim - (brown drip line with self cleaning emitters built into the tube that you can bury up to 6") I'm thinking about retrofitting it again so I can have more of an order to my watering plus save money, establish ground cover and yes, I want to rip out the landscape fabric. Is anyone using this? I'll post a picture later on what my slope looks like now.

[Jastin]

before photos

[MattyB]

Netafim is one of the higher quality brands available at places like hydroscape. Your options for emitter rates and spacing are greater. I've found the DIG brand at home depot to work great. Their only option for the inline prespaced emitters is 1 GPH spaced every 18 inches which seems to work fine.

[Tyrone]

This is used a lot over here. Water must be clean, ie not well water. The one for well water is black called boreline. I've never used either because even though the emitters are more than just holes in a tube, I've been worried that the roots of plants will get in and block them up. But I would like to hear from those who've used it for a while about whether this is really an issue. If it's not then it's got some great benefits. I use Netafim PC stakes at the moment with great results.

Best regards

Tyrone

[Jastin]

This is used a lot over here. Water must be clean, ie not well water. The one for well water is black called boreline. I've never used either because even though the emitters are more than just holes in a tube, I've been worried that the roots of plants will get in and block them up. But I would like to hear from those who've used it for a while about whether this is really an issue. If it's not then it's got some great benefits. I use Netafim PC stakes at the moment with great results.

Best regards

Tyrone

This drip line is used here a lot for under turf applications so I would think that it wouldn't matter about the roots. The website says that the holes resists roots. I personally would not bury it, just throw it down and mulch on top of it. If you bury it you run the risk of rodents eating it up and its more of a pain to fix. Techline CV is the one I was going to go with. The emitters are self cleaning and have check valves in them so your water doesn't drip out at the lowest hole after the water is off. You also get the same pressure at every hole. Techline RW is the one that you can use with reclaimed water(not sure about well water). My friend uses it on a slope for his fruit trees and he loves it.

[MattyB]

Check valves and pressure compensating emitters are good for slopes, but not required. I've found that by keeping my lateral lines (3/4" pvc) from stretching out too far that I can set the optimum pressure for the top of that 'zone' and using the cheaper, non-pressure compensating emitters is fine, the pressure just increases a little bit on the lower end.

Read up about the true subsurface installations (not just mulching) like you were talking about under turf. These set-ups need special clean out valves and a dilute herbicide is added to the system to actually kill any roots that want to form at/in the emitters. It gets complicated. Just to bury it is not how it's meant to be done.

[Jastin]

Check valves and pressure compensating emitters are good for slopes, but not required. I've found that by keeping my lateral lines (3/4" pvc) from stretching out too far that I can set the optimum pressure for the top of that 'zone' and using the cheaper, non-pressure compensating emitters is fine, the pressure just increases a little bit on the lower end.

Read up about the true subsurface installations (not just mulching) like you were talking about under turf. These set-ups need special clean out valves and a dilute herbicide is added to the system to actually kill any roots that want to form at/in the emitters. It gets complicated. Just to bury it is not how it's meant to be done.

Interesting MattyB, i'm always out to save money! We installed subsurface Netafim yesterday for a turf job with the Netafim rep there guiding us and he didn't mention anything about herbicide. The only thing he said was that you need a disk filter and a flush valve above ground. I called them today to find out about the root thing ( in regards to another topic ) and the lady said that it prevents it without chemicals but I wouldn't chance it anyways.

I'm just running out of flow on that station for drip because I have so many emitters.

[Tyrone]

I was invited to a Netafim installation course thing and they said that you must use the herbicide injector for turf applications with the techline, and it is not designed for well water/bore water with under turf applications. As Matt said it gets complicated under turf. The herbicide injector costs a couple of thousand to buy. I know this isn't the "Turf forum", but to me, what worth is their in an underturf application if you need to scarify. You'll cut all your lines up and have to start again.

I would definitely use a disk filter (probably 130 micron) for the techline, just to be safe. Down at my retic supplier I've seen so many DIY's buy the techline and right before my eyes refuse to buy a disk filter (they aren't cheap), saying they'll see how it goes without it. Once they leave the store, the guy behind the counter says he can't believe how many people say that, because how are you going to clean a techline properly once it's full of gunk. It can be cleaned to a point, but after that it can't and it has to be thrown out and replaced. Not a nice job when you've planted your entire landscape up with 600m of the stuff.

I think installing it under a coarse mulch would give the least issues, but to be safe I'd use a disk filter before the lines.

Good discussion this one.

Best regards

Tyrone

[MattyB]

If I remember correctly the built-in emitters have the herbicide built-into them somehow, but as Tyrone mentioned I'm pretty sure I read something about additional herbicide whether it was an injector system or something impregnated into the disk filters themselves, doing a slow release of some sort. I would have no problem using a low level herbicide to curb root intrusion on my turf, but I wouldn't want to mess with that around my ornamental plant roots. Plus it's just too high-end. Leave that stuff for golf courses and botanical gardens. There's no need to bury your lines under ground, just mulch over them. That way you can find them easily when doing new plantings.

[Jastin]

If I remember correctly the built-in emitters have the herbicide built-into them somehow, but as Tyrone mentioned I'm pretty sure I read something about additional herbicide whether it was an injector system or something impregnated into the disk filters themselves, doing a slow release of some sort. I would have no problem using a low level herbicide to curb root intrusion on my turf, but I wouldn't want to mess with that around my ornamental plant roots. Plus it's just too high-end. Leave that stuff for golf courses and botanical gardens. There's no need to bury your lines under ground, just mulch over them. That way you can find them easily when doing new plantings.

I agree, I think i'm just gonna rip out my fabric and leave what I already installed.

[Tyrone]

If I remember correctly the built-in emitters have the herbicide built-into them somehow, but as Tyrone mentioned I'm pretty sure I read something about additional herbicide whether it was an injector system or something impregnated into the disk filters themselves, doing a slow release of some sort. I would have no problem using a low level herbicide to curb root intrusion on my turf, but I wouldn't want to mess with that around my ornamental plant roots. Plus it's just too high-end. Leave that stuff for golf courses and botanical gardens. There's no need to bury your lines under ground, just mulch over them. That way you can find them easily when doing new plantings.

Yeah I think you're right about a cartridge you can install in the filter itself. It last about 2 years and then has to be replaced.

I'd never try this on my palms. Turf no matter how expensive is easily replaced. Rare one off palms are not.

Best regards

Tyrone