Jimi,

Do a physical water audit. The film delivers water based on line pressure. This happens, if the drip line is level along its length, because pressure loss occurs at each orifice. A non-clogging drip line is made with no restrictions at the openings. It is essentially a pipe with holes drilled into it. Which reminds me, look up PVC drip lines in past threads. Back to subject. If the drip line slope downward at 1.5% slope it tends to increase the pressure along the line while it is being lost at the orifices. Thus making flow more equal at all orifices. Now for the audit, take cups and bury them under the drip line at intervals along its length. Time a specific long irrigation cycle and measure the depths in each cup. You should see the variation of water application along the lines length. You would have to water more to get the dryer side watered adequately and the nearer side will be over watered. The obvious comparison is to raise your system on stakes at 1.5 degree slope and do another audit. A slightly raised system is easier to see clogging. With a well supplied system you not only have to deal with particles in the water but algae that will form at the orifices if sitting on the wet ground. Check out the PVC system, it take care of these problems and easy to remove and replace for continued long-term use. JMHO aloha

First don't trust anything that says no clog, that's like buying a weedless hook to go fishing. If you loop your drip lines you will have a more consistent pressure through out each zone. Remember drip is not meant to water each plant individually its purpose is to keep the ground moist in a particular area so that there is always available water for your plants. I suggest you also install flush valves in the drip line( atleast 1 per section). They should sell them at Home Depot or Lowes. As the zone comes on they will purge and help flush out particulates that could cause a clog. When the pressure reaches a certain PSI they will close. Also you should install a mesh filter before the valves of each drip zone. They will catch any particulates before they ever get to the drip line. The filters are removable and will need to be cleaned every so often( depends on how bad the sediment is). Lastly in you garden beds lay the drip tubing in a grid pattern and space your rows about 12" apart. If you have small ornamental trees you can run a ring of tubing around the trees drip edge and that should be adequate. Experiment with you cycle times and adjust accordingly, all properties have different micro climates and one section may not need to run as long as the others. Seasons obviously will also play a role.

If you have ever watched a drip system shut off, then you will discover why DIG and Raindip drippers clog up. There is an incredible vacuum created as the water behind the lines drop. The water continues to dribble out at slow rates due to the surface tension of the water. As the water dribbles out and no water comes in behind, a vacuum is created and debris get sucked into the drippers.

Netafilm is the only company I know that solved this problem. Their drippers have a valve that shuts off when the pressure behind the line drops below 9-10PSI. Not only does this keep in a column of water behind the dripper for when the system comes back on the next time around, but it keeps debris from flowing into the system.

It's true, you can't guarantee no clogging, but Netafilm seems to have taken a step beyond other drippers. I think that's worth investigating.

As an Israeli company I expect Netafim products would work well in south texas.