When planning your irrigation system, there are lots of different types of sprinkler heads you can use throughout your system. Each type of sprinkler head has a unique purpose, so you may need to use more than one type of sprinkler head throughout your yard in order to effectively water everything.
#1 Pop-Up Sprinklers
Pop-up sprinklers are extremely popular home irrigation systems because you don't have to see them all the time. These sprinklers are nestled into the ground, and the head is popped up out of the hole whenever your sprinkler system is turned on. The sprinklers are designed to recess into the ground far enough as to not get damaged when you mow your yard.
With pop-up sprinklers, you can adjust the coverage area of the spray pattern, and you can adjust how much water is delivered per hour as how much comes from the sprinkler heads. There are a wide variety of pop-up sprinkler heads to choose from that allow you to control for these variables.
#2 Spot Irrigation
Spot irrigation sprinklers go by many names, such as bubblers or spinners. These types of sprinklers are used to provide water to specific plants. You see bubbler sprinklers used in flowerbeds, for example. The sprinklers are visible but are generally located close to the base of the plants that they are designed to provide water to. They are not that obvious because they are located at the base of the plant and usually don't stick out above the vegetation that they are providing water to. This is great for plants that need a high level of water or plants where you don't want to spray water all over the area.
#3 Drip Lines
Another type of sprinkler system like spot irrigation is drip lines. Drip lines do not stick out above the ground at all. Drip lines lay on the ground and have small holes in the line. Water sprays out of the line and saturates the ground around it. The drip line may be laid at the base of specific plants or throughout an entire flowerbed.
#4 Rotary Sprinklers
Rotatory sprinklers tend to stay above the ground. They move in a circular pattern. How far the sprinklers go depends on how they are set up. They can be set up to rotate 360 degrees, or they can be set up to rotate 90 degrees. The rotation level is about how much space you need to provide water to. They deliver water a lot further than other models mentioned above, although the amount of water delivered per hour tends to be lower.
When it comes to determining what sprinklers to use in your irrigation system, work closely with your landscape designer to figure out the water needs of each area and use that information to pick the best sprinkler or water delivery system for that area.
