What are my options for fixing this chewed up drip irrigation setup?

I will put all new "stuff" on there, as that's the only way I'll know how it is put together anyway.

What I *think* I'll do is replicate what "was" on the other elbow (of the other nearby tomato plot), which is a MHT garden-hose fitting (which had a soaker hose on it until the wife ripped it off in the mistaken believe that I put it there and that it was a thread, somehow, to the baby tomato plants):

I was wondering about that.

Why doesn't anyone just take a length of 3/4" PVC and drill a few holes in it?

Seems to me the cheapest and strongest method.

I guess the only downside is you need a drill press to make it efficient.

I had not even thought of that, but it has the advantage that the drip lines would all radiate from the same point, so the water flow should be even, right?

She has threatened to lock the gate to the tomato garden!

She "strew" them (strowed them?), so they're all scattered about.

(She doesn't have a whole lotta' patience like I do.)

I had not realized this. No wonder they had been buried. Thanks for that tidbit.

I have others popping out of the ground scattered about the yard that I was wondering what they do.

I'll snap a picture in the morning for you.

Wow. Nice job! I did miss that. I don't know what "seasoning" is (I'll have to look up the thread); but wow. It looks great! (And it started off looking horrid.)

I like the way you assembled the photos (with the white border).

Did you use Paint.NET freeware on Windows for the DIY photo?

PS: I'm a Windows/Linux freeware junkie; have been a freeware addict for decades; so, I pretty much should know most of the good stuff. The only thing you ever need to buy is MS Office; and even then, only to be 100% compatible with the proletariat who use Windows exclusively. :)

Hmmm... they're under an oak tree (which bears acorns). And, they "look" like the same leaves. But, that's all I had to go by.

Having seen the majestic deeply lobate oaks of the east coast, I do understand the leaf does not look like your common eastern oaks ... but I still "think" it's an oak (due to the fact that the momma bears acorns - and I don't know any other tree that does that but an oak).

If it's not an oak, what is it?

Googling ... I see this Coast Live Oak:

Or, maybe this Blue Oak:

And, these common-to-California oaks:

And, even these native California oaks:

Almost none of which have the classic East-Coast lobate leaf shape.

Ah. Thanks. I had never seen those before. My water is somewhat hard (I think it's 14 ppm Calcium.) Certainly the coffee pot gets that white film in just a week (removed with vinegar).

Every spring when I turn on the watering system again, I go through to see what needs to be replaced, and what is still working well. I guess after setting this up originally, I'm just so used to repairing something that wears out I just do it automatically.

One thing about that tubing is that it tends to wear out at the point that you have a dripper or plug, so I've figured out that I just have to cut off about a 1/2 inch where it was connected by worn out and re-attach the original dripper.

btw, that turbing looks like it was damaged by a shovel. I'd probably just cut out the damaged section and connect the 2 pcs with a straight pronged connector if doing that wouldn't make it so the sprinkler on the other end too short.

Good luck on your new set-up!

For tomatoes I've always liked using these sprinklers because they are adjustable:

or

It's attached to a 1/4 inch water tubing that is fed via the 1/2 inch main line tubing. The heads on it turn to allow more or less water to drip or sprinkle. I use one per bit planter, or 1 between 2 tomato plants.

If I were you I'd connect a fitting that had a shut off valve there, and then connect your tubing to the shut-off valve. :D

Ah, a shut-off valve makes a lot of sense!

I'll stop by the hardware store and buy a couple (one for each nursery).

Do you think I can just pull out the green water restrictor with pliers and shove the slip-fit shutoff valve onto the existing white pipe coming out of the elbow?

I'm not sure .. you might have luck getting that green pc out if the glue wants to let go, then again, you might end up breaking the elbow fitting it's attached to, which would create a bigger headache to fix.

If it were me, I would just insert a new section of 1/2 inch tubing

So it would look like this ... the elbow > green fitting>1/2" tubing (about a foot long)>shut off valve> longer pc of 1/2" tubing on the other side of the shut off valve. This pc of tubing acts as a main water line so you want it long so you can lay it around where your garden is, then you can run 1/4" dripper tubing from your main line. You can use the shut off valve as a pressure regulator, too, by simply not turning it on all the way which will reduce how much water goes through your drippers, plus you can use adjustable sprinklers to water just at ground level, or bigger sprinklers to get larger areas. On my front yard set-up I even have a BIG sprinkler attached to the system that waters my entire front grass, while the flower bed sprinklers just water their rerspective plants, only.

Sorry for being so wordy .. just hope it helps. :)

Hey, you could kill vampires with one of those and wash the ashes away at the same time. ^_^

TDD

... and fertilize your tomatoes with the same ashes, too!

haaha well .. you can do just about anything you want to do with these drip irrigation parts.

hey, if I can do it, ANYONE can do it! :-)

Which part did you suggest? I got lost reading all the posts and skipped through a lot of discussion part...

I'm all about making it simple! hahaha!