While more would be better, I get away with 2 emitters on many roses. I do have 4 on others in hot spots.

I suppose part of the answer to when a plant can survive with only drip is the frequency of the drip and volume of water you are dispensing each time.

Before you commit your time to an old garden hose, see if

"Goof plugs" will work in that hose.

"Goof plugs" are wonderful things. Very big grin. Emitters will go on vacation sometimes, never to return. I think my voles and moles collect them, but I haven't been able to prove this. I do know that goof plugs will plug a multitude of sins/holes. A lot faster that cutting the hose and splicing my way around a leak.

Thank you all very much. Stillann, I don't know if these plugs are available here-I'll have to look for them on Amazon (have NO idea what they might be called in Italian, so it may take a while). I don't know how to measure how much each dripper emits, but let's get back to that later. First I have to put them in. I'm going to go for 3-4 emitters per plant. The fact is that hand-watering so many plants is just SO physically exhausting,and I really, really, REALLY have to slow down-my physique just can't take what I make it do any more. Besides, if I do manage to get this system to work, and the water is this time concentrated just on the individual plants, I might be able to provide more water ; since I wouldn't have to spend so much time and energy applying it by hand ,I'd have more time and energy to spend bringing water in.

You have all been a great help. Monday I hope to start putting in the emitters. If they work, I'll get back to you about the questions of how to juge how much water is being provided, etc. Thank you once again!!!

Here, there are at least four different emitter volumns; and they are color coded.

Set up four with glasses or empty plastic jugs under them and see if they all fill at the same amount for ten minutes.

Are you on a well ? if so how does it pump before it starts to gasp?

Since I am gardening on fill which is nearly pure sand (or at least started that way), I have found that drip doesnt work well. The water goes straight down from the emitter, straight down through the sand, so the root zone doesnt get moist. I’ve had to change them over to sprinkler type emitters, and they need to be on daily or more for short periods. I have two for each plant, but they would prefer three.

Drip is a pain because each emitter needs to be checked for clogging every year, which means finding and inspecting, hard on the back and time consuming. With sprinklers (real ones) the system doesnt need as much maintenance and you can easily see if the system is working from a distance at a glance. It’s obvious.

Bart has a gravity fed system, no well. Bart I hope for the best for this.

If you have clay soil or heavier soil, you can get away with less emitters (running for alonger time) because the water will naturally spread out before it percolates down.

If you have sandy or fast draining soil, you need more emitters (running for less time but more frequently) so everything can get wet all the way around the rose's root system. Or, a drip ring or small sprinklers like noseometer was talking about.

I have sandy soil and I initially tried 2-3 emitters on each rose. I had to adjust them as the rose grew and the root system spread out. It became difficult to get enough emitters on each plant. Caveat: I have terrible soil!!

This is not relevant to your situation, but I wound up installing Netafim in a grid pattern that covers the entire rose bed and they do much better (they are fully mature now with big root systems).

For your current situation, a few emitters per rose will do wonders. Also, can you get a thick layer of mulch over the emitters once they're installed? It really helps them stay in place and not get damaged when stepping around the roses...and it helps retain the moisture so much better

I'll have to see, Rosylady. The emitters that I have seem to be like mini sprinklers; I chose red -coloured ones in the hopes that they'll stand out better.

My soil-at least in the areas where I plan to install this-is pretty heavy and clayish.

I hope to start installing them tommorrow-fingers crossed that this will work!!!

OK, I spent Monday putting in emitters; it took a lot of time, because I had to figure out how to punch the holes in the hoses. The oldest hoses were the hardest; maybe because they were made of thicker rubber than more modern ones. I got about half done,so I decided to test it to see if it'll work. I think it will, though the quantity of water that the emitters released was very variable, and not according to any clear pattern. However, I made two errors: I forgot to Teflon the juncture between the top and the bottom of my filter, plus my main-line hose was too long. Also, at least one of the T-junctures on the the main line needed Teflon as well. Many of the emitters didn't sprinkle, but when I took off the tops, they bubbled, which is no problem; I'm only unhappy about those that didn't emit (luckily these were only on two basically established roses). But I know from my experience with my first system that a small error in one part of a drip system can throw the entire thing off balance, and the filter leak was very bad. Yesterday I fixed the obvious problems and finished installing emitters, and started in on my second system.

Now: how to tell how long I need to leave it running?

I’ve tested emitters with unknown flow rates by placing them over or in a bucket and running them for a set amount of time and measuring the result. Then multiply time and emitters until you have the amount you want. This is trickier if the flow is variable - I suspect a gravity system will vary as it gets further from the source so you may want to take a few measurements at different locations and adjust accordingly.

Thanks, Heather. I've been doing some research, and, indeed, it DOES seem to be very tricky-apparently even with a "normal" system. Mine is even more complicated by the fact that my garden is on a sharp slope. The areas in which I'm installing drip are relatively flat, considering the site as a whole, but stil sloping.

To make matters worse, I found a forum on which a pro points that if you give plants that famous "one inch of water per week" (or is it two? in any case, I find this profoundly irritating),you are watering them shallowly, which is a BIG no-no. To deep water, you'd have to give them a full 8 inches or so! which I can't do.

For now, my soil is still quite humid, thanks to the rain. My hope this year is to try to keep the soil humid for as long as I can-building on the base that the rain has given me-by drip-watering. I hope to start today.