Irrigation thread.

[Delizzy]

Originally Posted by Dewayne mater

...I note that Howard Garrett, the self styled Dirt Doctor is against drip irrigation, having previously supported it. http://www.dirtdoctor.com/Drip-Irrig...ter_vq3889.htm

Originally Posted by Dewayne mater

Basically, he says plants like to be watered from above and drip irrigation isn't consistent....

From Drip Irrigation - The Wrong Choice Newsletter @ the link given above by Dewayne mater:

Q: Not a fan of drip irrigation? Why? I am confused. I was under the impression that it was the most efficient watering method.

A: In my opinion, drip irrigation works in one situation – row crops where there are emitters at the bases of plants.

Dr. Dirt does say drip irrigation works well for row crops (most of what we plant in gardens, right?) I find it ideal for my garden.

I used soaker hoses for a few years but switched to drip irrigation over a period of 3 years. Last year my garden was 100% drip irrigation. I find it uses less water than the soaker hoses, and soil moisture for each plant was more consistent, and the garden was more accessible because the paths between rows stayed drier. To me the tomatoes and peppers appeared to be happier because the water flow at each dripper was consistent (I use 1 GPH pressure compensating drippers).

With soaker hoses, I had a complicated system of splitters and valves to equalize the soaking rate as each hose was different, and there were even variations in sections of the same hose.

I use one timer for my garden and another one for my fruit trees (which currently are all about the same age and size.) Early in the season, I set the garden timer to run for 4 hours every 7 days, and as the temperatures increase, I decrease the interval as needed so that the soil moisture is nearly dry when the next cycle starts.

For both my tomato and pepper rows, the emitters are spaced 3 feet apart on ½” tubing about 65-70 feet long. I lay the 10 lines of tubing with emitters down each spring and if the soil is dry, water once a few days before I plan to transplant. I then make a hole next to each emitter and put a tomato or pepper plant in the hole and water in by hand, and that is the only hand watering I do.

Our water is very hard here, so I do keep an eye on the condition of plants as we approach the next water cycle, especially later in the season. If I find that a plant is showing signs of lack of water before the cycle (a single plant, not multiple plants) I’ll take a couple of identical containers and lift the hose at the stressed plant, and one that is not and place the drippers over the containers. If the stressed plant’s container fills more slowly than the other container, I will swap out the dripper for a new one and drop the old dripper into a jar of vinegar to clean out any hard water buildup. After a few days soak, I will test the dripper again and if it is OK, put it back to be used again, otherwise it gets tossed into the recycle bin. If multiple plants are droopy, that’s when I shorten the timer interval.

It works for me. YMMV.

Betsy