Drip Irrigation questions

[mem]

For those of you that use drip irrigation -- how many seasons before you need to replace the drip tape? Do you take it up at the end of every season, or leave it buried? If you leave it buried, how do you avoid tilling it up?

Also, it says to bury it 4 to 8 inches deep, so how will my seeds that I plant 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep get water? Do I need to run a sprinkler until they germinate?

Thanks

[Michael Kawalek]

I started out with drip tubing to irrigate my seedling orchard trees. The tubing didn't last more than two months before the squirrels found it. They chewed holes big enough to stick my index finger in and I lost 2000 gallons of water before I shut it off. I since then had to switch over to hard PVC pipe because it's too hard for them to chew through!

[mem]

Haven't gotten many responses, but I still have the question. Thought I'd bump this to the top.

[foxfiredidit]

Originally Posted by mem

Haven't gotten many responses, but I still have the question. Thought I'd bump this to the top.

www.irrigation-mart.com/tape.html

Hope this link works.
Scroll down to the bottom and there's an on-line book all about drip irrigation.
Looks like a lot of useful information.

[Oldcountryboy]

I wouldn't think you would bury a drip irrigation tubing. It should lay up on top of the soil next to your plants and have little spickets sticking out next to your plants to drip. Or that's how the drip irrigation worked that I used one summer. But I like using a soaker hose better.

[mem]

Thanks folks.

Everything I'm reading says to bury the drip tape -- bit the surface of my soil where the seeds are isn't wet. I went ahead and ran a sprinkler on it today. I wonder if it will work better once the plants have roots that can grow down to the water ....?

[T-Bone 369]

We bury it but not very deep - maybe an inch or two. We had trouble with the wind moving the tape around especially when the plants are small even when we weighted it down. The brand we use (Chapin) recomends burying the tape especially if used under clear mulch. Also, the emmiters are placed up to prevent clogging. We almost always replace it every year - it's almost impossible to get out without damaging it, although we save and re-use the manifolds. It's pretty cheap (a roll lasts us about two years). We have a cart set up that carries a filter and holds our fertilizer injecter pump - we move it to the head of each manifold and just hook it up to the well.

[kruizeag]

We lay ours on the top of the ground, but it is covered with plastic mulch. I have used soaker hoses in the past and kept them on top too. They only held up for two seasons before they seem to deteriorate.