Repairs to the the watering system at The Tropical Paradise

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The Tropical Paradise is watered by a low-pressure "drip" system. The trunkline, as you can see, goes behind the garden, and the sprayer heads are discretely placed next to rocks (look behind the pinkish rock just right of center, you will see a tiny blue spray head). The spray heads connect to the trunk line by "spaghetti tubing" and are set on tiny risers that stand up about a couple of inches at most.

Yesterday I was pondering why I had so many spray heads. It was really too much, as one will cover an area about ten feet wide by 6 feet deep. So I took a couple out. I removed the spaghetti tubing where it connects to the trunkline and capped off the hole with a "goof plug". Yep, that's what they call them. While I had it all open, I noticed that there was another piece of spaghetti tubing that I had long forgotten that was watering nothing in particular. So I goof plugged that, too.

I will let this area dry out today and then cover the goof plugs with a liberal glop of silicone glue. Once that has dried, overnight, I will place the rocks back over the trunkline and cover it up.

The trunkline runs all the way around the garden and ends with a twist-off cap, which it is good to open up and drain every once in a while. The trunkline should be well away from any planting area, to allow access for repairs like this. The spaghetti tubing is what brings the water directly to the planting area, and it can be several feel long and still work great. I put rocks where the trunkline is, and along where I have buried the tubing, both to help keep everything in place and also to remind me not to dig there.

This is a pleasant task in warm weather as it always includes getting blasted by water at some point. Refreshing!

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