Is anyone using drip irrigation

[Irvin Cooper]

Is anyone here using a drip irrigation system, either on a small or larger scale? I have 2 acres that I am considering putting one in for and would like to get some perspectives from those who have done this before.

Thanks.

Irv

[Drew Cutter]

Two acres seems allot . Have you figure out how much water it would take ? is the water from the tap or store water ? I believe that mittner or other system uses drip system. My plans are to use drip , two 55 gal drums and container for my garden.
I do know someone who does it for his hydroponic greenhouse. I would contact someone who installs it professionally.

[kohburn]

I have drip irrigation, but not on that scale.

I use a battery powdered timer valve that lets me set how long it drips and how frequently it turns on.

depending on the arrangement I would be tempted to use a seperate timer for each crop row. This would have 2 main benefits: 1- it would allow you to use full size hoses to distribute water to the valves and avoid flow restrictions, 2- it allows you to fine tune the watering for each plant types needs, some do best when the ground dries out between waterings, some do best with a steady state of dampness etc.

the timers can be had on harbour freight for 30$ with some tubing and drip fittings (be warned though the cheaper drip kits without the time use poor tubing and shoddy drip fittings that spray instead of dripping and come apart at the seems)

[mommagoose_99]

We use Netafim drip irrigation. We only use it under certain crops that have plastic under them . We have 3 1/2 acres of produce. 25 rows have drip laid in them. Our crops with drip are cucumbers cantaloups watermelon okra tomatoes peppers and eggplant.
I bought our Netafim from Siver Creek Supply in Pennsylvania. 9,000 feet for under $200 . We use regular house hose to reach the fields and only water 4 rows at a time. You will need a bunch of connectors for this . It takes a couple of minutes to hook and unhook the groups of 4 rows. If you want more information , I will let my hubby email you.
Linda

[Irvin Cooper]

I plan to use a water holding tank such as this:

http://www.tractorsupply.com/webapp/...g=true&cFlag=1

I have a natural rise on one end of the field. I was thinking of putting the tank on a stand or trailer at one end, connecting it to the drip system.

Irv

[dogrunner]

I have one run of T-tape brand drip and then bought a whole roll (7500 ft) of the John Deere brand tape. I am using a very low pressure system, 55 gallon poly drums on each end of 75 foot rows. They do create enough pressure to push through the tape though, so far I am very happy with the set-up I would recomend the stuff!

[Ed Norman]

I ran 3/4" poly down a windbreak and also ran it in an orchard. Each run has about 50 bubblers on it and they will water the trees from a standard hydrant. Later I will hook it to a tank and try that.

[wy_white_wolf]

Drip and micro sprinklers on the raised bed and containers. Nothing to the scale you have.

[galee]

DH and I use drip irrigation on 1 acre garden with raised beds for tomatoes, cukes, beans, collards, carrots, onions, sugar snaps, broccoli and spinach. We have the tape laid on top of beds--12 inch drip spacing--and each row is connected to a long poly tube with screw fitting for each line of drip. The poly is connected to a valve and underground PVC whick goes to well and timer. We can change timer based on weather for optimum water delivery. My DH is in charge of the timer cause it has 30 zones and looks like the dashboard of the space shuttle. Hopefully we will have a plastic layer for the tractor this coming fall so I can keep the weeds under control. The drip irrigation waters the weeds as well as the vegs. I love the drip tape as it sure beats pulling hose to water an acre of veg twice a day.

[Drew Cutter]

i was told that i must empty my 55 gal drums every three weeks to prevent problems.

[dogrunner]

what problems? Algee build-up maybe but I can't think of anything else. We use rainwater in ours from a catchment system and pump set-up, not that rainwater doesn't get some gunk too.

[kohburn]

I was wondering what problems also - even with grey water irrigation the only concern is with not spraying it in the air onto the leaves, it just has to filter through the earth for all the purrification you could want.

[T-Bone 369]

Originally Posted by Drew Cutter

i was told that i must empty my 55 gal drums every three weeks to prevent problems.

Drip tape emmitters are pretty easy to clog - clogged tape is junk. If you get a little alge or sediment in the bottom of the tank will wind up causing problems. We are using Chapin brand tape and had some problems in the past with clogging from undisolved fertilizer remains and general gunk from the system. We started using a cartridge filter at the head of the field manifold and the problem was solved. We have a cart with the filter and the fertigation pump that we move the the section we want to water, hook it the the manifold and the hose and go to town. Another thing we do is make sure the conection end of the manifold is capped when we disconnect the supply (little critters like to get into the manifold - especially spiders) and cause problems.

[mooman]

I use drip tape. About 6,000 ft of row. The stuff is fantastic. I read alot about the T-tape, but ended up getting Torro brand because that's what they had. No complaints.

[Drew Cutter]

Recommendation on drip controllers ? cartridge filters ? If you have 55 gal. drums do you have to elevate the barrels ?

[Windy in Kansas]

Drew Cutter if you are watering out of 55 gallon drums you probably do not have an extensive system. Unless because of different plant need, why not just water it all at once? Turn it on, turn it off later, OR turn it on and let it run until the barrel is empty.
Would depend upon the size of your garden of course.

Depending upon water source in your area and whether there might be really fine sand, a Y filter strainer is generally preferred. One I have even allows a fertilizer stick to be added for fertigation. Bought mine in 1997 and don't know if they are still available, i.e. the ones for fert. sticks.

TIP OF THE DAY---install your drip tape with the emitters on top of the tubing. Any sand in the tubing will then stay on the bottom of the tubing and only water will reach the emitters, hence no plugging.

Solid poly tubing with emitters installed where and at the spacing you want them has merit such as for tomato plants spaced widely apart. A hybrid system of tape and punched emitter poly is a better system. Add some fine tubing punched into the solid poly for landscaping and run the small tubes to hanging baskets.

Although it is generally much cheaper to buy in large bulk rolls you may also want to consider getting tubing with different sized emitters for plants that need more or less water if you are using only one watering zone or circuit.

As Martha Stewart would probably say---Drip irrigation, it's a good thing to do.

[dogrunner]

I have 75 foot rows and my barrels are only elevated on 12" blocks. Of course the higher you put them the better the pressure is, but just with my 12" I get enough pressure to make the 75' run work. I also lay my tape out with the emmiters facing up.

[Drew Cutter]

I was told by salesperson to get plastic bucket because of water pressure. My question is a bucket a bucket ? Looking at buying 5 gal bucket for most plant and a 6 gal bucket for a few plants. I can get the bucket cheaper locally then buying them thru a organic store. Do i need some type of filtration system between the 55 gal drum , controller and the plants ? to prevent algae build up.