SPRINKLER TALK FORUM - You Got Questions, We've Got Answers

I am building a youth camp in northern Arizona and will be planting a large number of hybrid poplars for shade. In some places the trees run close together every 8 feet or so, other places just a few trees spread out. The water is off a well and I don't want to use anymore than I have to since I have to pump it. Many years ago I worked on a tree farm and we used drip emitters at the trees, poly to the drip emitters, bigger poly to the valves, and hard PVC at the manifolds. The spacing was dense so the runs weren't that long for each valve. The pipe between the manifolds was 2" PVC and we used a pump to keep the pressure high. That said, is that the way it is still done today. The trees will be planted all over a 20 acre parcel and I don't want to spend anymore money than I need to but I also don't want to worry about freezing, etc. The dirt is heavy clay. Is soaker tube an possible option? In the past there were issues with the pores filling with dirt more than with drip emitters. Any comments are welcomed.
Thx
EWB

Thx - Good article. What would be the max elevation difference between emitters with the pressure compensating emitters? Sound to me that those would be the easiest in the short run. Make a loop around the tree and punch the emitters into 1/2 in poly and then tie the poly runs together based on flow and elevation.
Thx again

So if I want 25 +/- 10 psi on a line I need all the emitters to be +/- 23 feet (10psi/.43 psi per foot). I can easily do +/- 10 feet as my property has a very shallow slope.
Thx again

Is there an easy way to determine friction loss based on material/size of pipe and flowrate? My brother uses black poly above ground and has issues with rodents chewing through it but he also has had gophers chew through heavy PVC so I am not sure what the solution is there.