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TerriS
11-02-2021, 10:33 AM
Wondering what if anything people do to protect the pop up sprinkler heads in the plant bed if you get river rock installed. I have donuts around the ones in the grass. Is it needed in the plant beds to protect them from getting damaged under the rocks? Also anyone know of an easy way to tell how many sprinkler heads you have I am worried some could have gotten buried under the rocks.

Thanks !

Kenswing
11-02-2021, 10:43 AM
Wondering what if anything people do to protect the pop up sprinkler heads in the plant bed if you get river rock installed. I have donuts around the ones in the grass. Is it needed in the plant beds to protect them from getting damaged under the rocks? Also anyone know of an easy way to tell how many sprinkler heads you have I am worried some could have gotten buried under the rocks.

Thanks !
We also have rock in our planters. We used the same donuts as we did in the lawn.

As far as locating any suspected buried sprinkler heads. Run each zone of your sprinkler system. You should be able to see the heads trying to poke up through the weed paper, even if covered by rock. We actually had one covered. In addition to seeing the little "tent" we also saw water bubbling up.

mulligan
11-04-2021, 10:24 AM
You don't normally use "pop up" heads in flower beds.

vintageogauge
11-04-2021, 10:39 AM
You don't normally use "pop up" heads in flower beds.

Correct, our irrigation was modified to maintain the proper coverage on the balance of the lawn with the pop-ups and the small spray heads and bubblers were placed in the beds among the plantings and trees.

tophcfa
11-04-2021, 10:39 AM
We have river rock in our flower beds as well. I took out all the pop up sprinkler heads and replaced them with extensions that are permanently a couple of feet above the ground, varying the height of each depending on the height of the surrounding plants. Since you don’t mow in there, they don’t need to go below ground, and the extensions go above the plants and spread the irrigation water around the garden much better. Plus, you never have to worry about the pop up’s getting stuck. You can get the parts you need at Ace Hardware, Lowe’s or Home Depot. Very simple and rewarding DIY task.

RICH1
11-04-2021, 01:04 PM
i use a piece of 4 in pvc .... push the rocks to the side , cut the pvc and slide over the head ... easy peazzy

Kenswing
11-04-2021, 01:26 PM
You don't normally use "pop up" heads in flower beds.

We have lots of plants in our beds. We do have the riser mounted heads on the perimeter but to keep my wife from tripping over them, we have popups in the center and along the sidewalks..