I'm looking for an automatic watering system to use on the
trees if I am
away for a few days. Has anyone used the Drip Works system?
Brent at
Evergreen Gardenworks mentioned them in one of his articles.

Are there any other automatic systems available? Would a
regular sprinkler
hooked up to a timer work just as well?

Thanks, John - NJ

DripWorks is not an *automatic* system. The company makes
watering and irrigation systems that include drip emitters and
spray emitters attached to a network of tubing which in turn is
attached to a water source, where -- if you want to make it
automatic -- you purchase and install a timer, either
battery-operated, or tied to an electrical system.

I use Dripworks systems for my Oriental Garden, my bonsai, and
for the perennial/blueberry/annual gardens out in the yard. The
Oriental garden and bonsai are on a Gilmour electronic timer --
battery operated. The other gardens are manual. I use
Dripworks' Spectrum, full circle adjustable sprayers, and I find
it quite satisfactory, through I might use other kinds of
sprayers or emitters if/when I adjust/revise/expand my system.
Of course, the automatic system is as good as your batteries are
fresh. The booklet with mine says the batteries should run it
for a year, but I replace them every 6 months.

There are other kinds of sprinkler systems and timers -- Lowes
and Home Depot sell something similar, that should do as well.
Dripworks has a website -- www.dripworksusa.com -- and a paper
catalog (recommended) that you can get at 1-800-522-3747. I have
NO connection with the company, other than a reasonably happy
customer (and I did not purchase through the company, but
locally).

You need to take the timer off line in winter to protect from
freezes, and if your winters are very severe, you may have to
disassemble the entire system, but I have no experience in that
situation. I use my sprayers all year -- without the automation
in winter. I sometimes run them all night when a "severe" (for
us) freeze is expected.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Our life is
frittered away by detail . . . . Simplify! Simplify. -- Henry
David Thoreau - Walden

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