Please Recommend A Sprinkler For A 20x40 Plot!

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by dipchip2000

Worth

You may or may not find this humorous but I just remembered a time during the early 70s when gas prices had spiked and long lines at every station. I ran an ad in Popular Science for instructions on how to turn water into gas. For 10 dollars cash I sent the information. I wont comment the responses but they were really a lot of them. I had totally forgotton doing this

ron

I think it is as funny as all get out.
In the 80's a friend of mine going to UT engineering school ran an add in the paper.
All it said was send a dollar and gave a post office address.
He made over 100 dollars.

Worth

[Cole_Robbie]

Free Report! How to Get 1,000 Idiots to Send You $5.

Just send $5 to _____

[Cole_Robbie]

Mazzei made me give them my info to let me use the selection tool on their site. Now I get their emails. I would be complaining, but some of the stuff is pretty cool.

I had never heard of air injection: http://mazzei.net/irrigation-airjection/

Plant roots need air to breathe — without it, soil can become anaerobic, inhibiting plant growth and yield. Mazzei AirJection® Irrigation technology improves crop yields, water use efficiency and fertilizer inputs by getting just the right amount of air into the root zone. It uses patented, high-efficiency Venturi AirJectors™ that are simple to install and maintain in subsurface irrigation systems. When added to the drip line, these Venturi injectors incorporate atmospheric air into the irrigation water optimally blending air and water so the right mixture is delivered to the root zone. Commercial on-farm use showed yields increased from 13% to 35% due to improved plant and soil conditions.

I wouldn't get that for my tomatoes, because the soil they are in now is already so light and airy. But for our field crops grown in a clay soil, air injection might be ideal The soil has a low organic matter and is prone to compacting.

[Cole_Robbie]

My Mazzei arrived. It's a tiny piece of plastic that fits in the palm of my hand. It looks like it costs 29 cents to make, compared to the $29 I paid. It's got male pipe threads at either end, so to convert it to garden hose threads will require a few fittings.

[Cole_Robbie]

Well, the Mazzei works...sort of. Mine is the lowest flow model they make. I had to play with their injector selection tool, and for my .75 gpm flow rate, tell it that I was suspending the bucket 7' in the air. Upon closer inspection, even though the hook is 7' in the air, the bottom of the bucket is closer to 5'.

As of now, the Mazzei does not yet work for just the high tunnel like I want it to, but as soon as I turn on just 50' more of row, it starts working. I'm sure if I get the bucket up another 2' in the air that it will work.

Here's a pic of the Mazzei with the two brass fitting I bought to attach it between two garden hoses:

[MrSalvage]

Did you get it working? The hozon wouldn't correct?

[Worth1]

Looks like someone is in need of my MG adapter.
I made another one yesterday just to see if I could do it twice.
I made it about 20 times faster than the first one.

Worth

[Cole_Robbie]

The Hozon works, but requires 3 gpm flow rate. The Mazzei will run at about a third of that flow. If I hang the bucket up another 2' in the air, I'm sure the Mazzei will work for my .75 GPM high tunnel rows.

Every time I use the injector with either cal nitrate or 4-18-38, my plants show leaf curl stress and act over-fertilized, even though I am using a very small amount. I posted on my soil-building thread that I think I have such a high humate content that nutrient uptake is highly accelerated. That's great, but it is making it more of a challenge to use the injector.

I used molasses when testing the Mazzei. I will probably just run a little sugar through the line every time I run the drip. It's hard to find organic fertilizers to inject that are not so goopy that they clog the line. I would like to get 2-3 seasons out of my drip tape, so I'm scared to experiment too much.

Another observation on the injector, my over-fertilization experience marked the most-affected plants with leaf curl. It's like the medical technique of injecting dye into veins. I could literally see where the injected ferts were flowing, and they are not evenly distributed at all. My flow comes into the header in the middle of the system. The row that is a straight shot from the intake is the one getting most of the fertilizer. It takes the path of least resistance. This observation certainly detracts from my enthusiasm to fertigate. It's not working nearly like it is supposed to. I don't know if moving the intake to the end of the header line would make the fertilizer distribute more evenly. That would probably be the next thing to try. But if I'm only injecting molasses, it's not going to matter.

[MrSalvage]

Originally Posted by Worth1

Looks like someone is in need of my MG adapter.
I made another one yesterday just to see if I could do it twice.
I made it about 20 times faster than the first one.

Worth

I know i am...

[Worth1]

Cole why not spend the money one time for a long time and not once very two or three years.
This way you can run what you want without clogging up the lines.
Your not tilling anymore so you dont have to worry about digging it up.
There are some really good long term options out there today.
Drip tape is not one of them.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by MrSalvage

I know i am...

You will be getting a PM as soon as I go to the store and get some good SCH 80 pipe.
It totally slipped my mind the other day.
Worth

[Cole_Robbie]

Good points. I'm sure I am headed in that direction, especially since I am about to give up on injecting any more chem salt ferts. I had no idea they were going to be impossible to use. It's the first year this has happened.

Another wacky idea of mine it that I would like to have a spray system where I could run pipe with misters down the top of my trellises, plumb it to a tank and a well pump, and spraying would get a lot easier.