I switched over to spot spitters this year. I think they are a great product, but i learned that i need more adjustability for all the different trees and plants on my system. I guess if i bought a bunch of different sizes and a bunch of the different regulated emitters they would probably be excellent, but thats too much messing around for me as things grow throughout the season.
Did you get the DS (downspray) version or the regular? I bought the regular, not realizing that there were two different ones. I would recommend container growers look into the DS ones as they may work better. My regular ones had to be positioned carefully (leaned 'forward') or 1/3 of the spray would end up outside of the pot.
I used the 6.6gph compensating no leak emitter (netafim woodpecker) from my mainline to limit flow to each one and also as the 1/8" tubing adapters (spot spitters need 1/8" tubing). The cool thing about this was that they all turn on and off at the same time. What i didn't like was that the 1/8 tubing seemed more prone to pop off the nipple and leave a tree without water (this cost me all of my MIBs this year), maybe if i just went 1/8" tubing directly into the mainline it would have been a better connection.
Previously i used the cheap-o adjustable 360* emitters, the ones with 8 sprays around the circle. They don't get as consistent coverage of the soil surface (the trunk blocks it) and they can clog (easy enough to unscrew top though) and the nipples get fragile over the course of the season. Despite the downsides, i think i got better watering and growth. I just set my thirstiest tree wide open and got its watering in a good place with the timer and then i was able to just go around and dial back all the other ones to exactly where they needed to be.
I may go with the Potstream sprayers this year as those have the same adjustability but look like a more robust product with better tubing management and probably better area coverage.
Did you get the DS (downspray) version or the regular? I bought the regular, not realizing that there were two different ones. I would recommend container growers look into the DS ones as they may work better. My regular ones had to be positioned carefully (leaned 'forward') or 1/3 of the spray would end up outside of the pot.
I used the 6.6gph compensating no leak emitter (netafim woodpecker) from my mainline to limit flow to each one and also as the 1/8" tubing adapters (spot spitters need 1/8" tubing). The cool thing about this was that they all turn on and off at the same time. What i didn't like was that the 1/8 tubing seemed more prone to pop off the nipple and leave a tree without water (this cost me all of my MIBs this year), maybe if i just went 1/8" tubing directly into the mainline it would have been a better connection.
Previously i used the cheap-o adjustable 360* emitters, the ones with 8 sprays around the circle. They don't get as consistent coverage of the soil surface (the trunk blocks it) and they can clog (easy enough to unscrew top though) and the nipples get fragile over the course of the season. Despite the downsides, i think i got better watering and growth. I just set my thirstiest tree wide open and got its watering in a good place with the timer and then i was able to just go around and dial back all the other ones to exactly where they needed to be.
I may go with the Potstream sprayers this year as those have the same adjustability but look like a more robust product with better tubing management and probably better area coverage.
