Adding Drip/Micro Irrigation to Existing Branch

Vinessa and Junior stopped by Today for a post-ride beer (at 9am - the best time!) and took some produce with them.  I walked down to the Orange Home Grown farmer's market that debuted in my neighborhood Today.  I arrived late so I don't want to judge the show of produce, I'm assuming that great stuff all sold out quickly and I was only seeing the left overs.  I intended to sell at this market, possibly this year - more on that later.

1. I need to keep the sprinkler so a Tee is needed inline

I moved my blueberry bushes over to their intended location and have been meaning to setup drip irrigation for them.  I have a couple sprinkler branch lines that run through the planter so figured I would just tap into one of them to run my 1/2" main line.

I installed my sprinkler system for approximately 4,500 sqft. of lawn, back 5 or 6 years ago.  The project was an excellent learning experience and I picked up some great PVC and irrigation installation techniques.  I figured I'd take some good pictures of Today's project as a sort of "how to".

2. Cut the line 1" out from where you want the Tee
vertical to be.  In this case I wanted it about 2" from
the fence line
TIP: Push pieces of a grain-bread up the pipe to block
the trickling water if you can't wait for the water to
stop trickling - when you are done you activate the
circuit and flush the line

3. Trim a 1" piece from the remaining branch line to
accommodate the 1" burned up in the Tee.
Basically the tee will elongate the line it's installed on
so you need to remove 1" of pipe if you want the
finished length to be the same

4. Pre-assemble the pressure regulator and 1/2" drip line
adapter, then measure the overall height to determine
the length of the riser.  Here you can see the riser
already installed in the bottom of the male-thread PVC

5. Backfill with the excavated dirt. The regulator needs
to vent, so I backfill with pea gravel around it

6. 1/2" drip main line installed, hole backfilled and
mulched.  Now ready for the 1/4" micro lines to the plants

7. Example of one of the pots with a ring of 1/4"
bluestripe drip line connected to the 1/2" trunk line
running behind the pots.  All done.