# Irrigating elevated flower boxes



## Phids (Sep 24, 2020)

Last summer we had flower boxes along the upstairs balcony railing, and while they looked nice, it was a pain to water them (it was basically me standing there shooting a hose up from ground level with a steady hand). I'm thinking it may be easier this year to install some sort of 1/4" white tubing from ground level that snakes up to the upper level and along the railing with output where the flower boxes are located. My thinking is that I would manually and temporarily attach the hose to the 1/4" tubing at ground level and turn it on whenever the flowers needed watering, which would be much faster and convenient than the alternative.

Any thoughts about this? Is this something that might be feasible? I'm assuming I would need a regulator as well?


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## Tincup86 (Mar 24, 2021)

If you are attaching to a spray or rotor zone than yes add a regulator before the 1/4" lines. Other than that sounds like you have a good plan. you can use this if you hard pipe onto the existing line https://www.rainbird.com/products/6-outlet-drip-manifold. Or this if you want to tap off a pop up head https://www.rainbird.com/products/12-riser-adapter-14-barb. The barb rotates so you can point it in the upward position.


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## Phids (Sep 24, 2020)

Thanks. That drip manifold sounds like something I will need. I'm going to have to plan out the logistics of this in more detail but it sounds like it can be done.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Your idea is the standard setup approach. Of course, you can also add a timer which makes it even easier. You do need a regulator to lower the pressure and use the drip irrigation style. You can use the downspout to hide the tubing.


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## Tincup86 (Mar 24, 2021)

There are few ways of doing it. It would be best if you could tap into a rotor zone because the run times would be semi equivalent if you used micro drip. If you used micro sprays https://www.rainbird.com/products/xeri-spray-360-true-spray you could add it on a spray zone. In my experience this supply water fairly quickly and would only need 6-8 minutes of run time to do the job. If you wanted to get crazy you could tap into the mainline and install a drip valve with regulator attached and throw a Hunter node bluetooth controller on it and be completely independent of any other valve. If you have a master valve installed you would need to set up a false zone in your controller or open the solenoid to constantly have water to the drip valve.


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## Phids (Sep 24, 2020)

Alright, so I never got this project off the ground last year, and as I'm revisiting it now, I'm running into some questions:


Do I _need _to begin with a 1/2 line leading from the source (faucet is on side of building at ground level) up to the second level balcony, or can I just use 1/4 line from the source? Based on my research it looks like the maximum run length for 1/4" tubing is only 30 feet, so the flow rate might not be sufficient to bring water upstairs to water plants there (I estimate it will need a run of 40-50'). However, the cost of 1/4" white tubing is cheaper, so that would be a more economical option.


To water flower boxes, would it be better to put a 1/8 line into them than a 1/4 line?


Do I need to use a regulator? Or can I simply adjust the flow rate using the valve on the Y splitter that is currently at the faucet, and not change it all year?


Is poly tubing or vinly tubing better?


Is this something that can remain in place year-round, or would need to be removed in winter?


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