Irrigation thread. - Page 2

clkeiper · December 15, 2011

We use the flat tape because we have a different layout for the garden every year. The product is very economical, therefor we are able to just dispose of it and not have the system to work around while cleaning up the garden and getting it tilled. ( This was not the year to be working in the garden keeping the weeds out, due to the continual rainfall all summer long. It was wet, wet, wet. We could hardly get into the garden to harvest let alone try to weed it. So the tape was hardly needed for the season. mostly it was needed in the high tunnels.)

recruiterg · December 15, 2011

Suze, thanks for posting the picture. Very helpful. Do you need pressure regulators with drip lines, or can you connect directly to the spigot (I realize you are using a well)?

VC Scott · December 15, 2011

This year I am experimenting with a deep watering method I saw on the internet somewhere. Beside each tomato plant I am burying a two foot length of 1 inch PVC that has been drilled with 3/32 inch holes up and down the length of the PVC, except for the top 2 inches. The top two inches will be above ground. A 3/4 inch black flexible irrigation line will be run down each row and a 1/8 inch flexible line will run from the main irrigation line down into each of the buried PVC pipes. I will probably have to use duct tape or something to keep the 1/8 inch lines in place, otherwise they will pop out when the pressure is turned on.

After the tomatoes are established they will be watered once per week, with much of the water being directly delivered two feed deep. In hot weather, or as needed, I might water twice a week.

The goal is to maximize delivery of water deep and encourage a deep root system. The system will also allow the delivery of liquid fertilizer directly to the deep roots.
Another advantage is that there is no splash of water on the foliage.

In my part of Southern California we are likely to go from June to October with just a couple of days of rain. I will probably use plastic mulch around the plants to prevent weeds and limit evaporation of the water delivered to the plants.

hornstrider · December 16, 2011

I use the flat soaker hoses. They seem to work rather well, but they do not last more than two years at best. I have installed a timer system that runs off of my lawn sprinkler system. I have to turn on the station to the garden, and I have 8 stations in the garden that runs off of that one lawn station. I have recently installed a 250 gal. converted rain barrel. I would like to hook up my rain barrel to my garden water system. I will need a water pressure pump to do that. Can someone recommend a good water pump to do the job?
Suze......where did you purchase the plastic tubing?
http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/w...r22/Soaker.jpg

http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/w...kerbarrell.jpg

http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/w...erbarrell2.jpg

Suze · December 17, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by recruiterg

Suze, thanks for posting the picture. Very helpful. Do you need pressure regulators with drip lines, or can you connect directly to the spigot (I realize you are using a well)?

I'm no expert on this, but I think a pressure regulator is generally recommended.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hornstrider

Suze......where did you purchase the plastic tubing?

http://www.longhorninc.com/austin.htm

mcsee · December 17, 2011

I use a slightly different technique (see photo) and fit the dripper into this tube which gives greater control over deep watering. In the photo you can see 50mm slotted drain pipe which is cut to about 50cm long and buried beneath the seedling at planting time. The roots from the tomatoes actually seek out the water through the holes in the pipe, so it is effective. This same idea works for pots/buckets also.

bigbubbacain · December 18, 2011

Suze,

Your setup for growing looks awesome! So glad to see other folks using
EZ-FLO too. What do you like to use in your tank for fertigation? I'm always looking to try new brands.

This and my 1/2 inch drip lines have been one of the best investments I ever made, and I bought all of this seven years ago.

For any of you wanting to bring a drip system into your garden:
The following is some of the best advice anyone ever gave me about switching to drip irrigation.

Advice #1) Get a large note pad and "draw it out". Diagram your growing area, the location of your water source (spigot, valve box, etc.), zones in your growing area which might require more or less water. These changes in watering can be can be handle with drip lines that have a different output rating, manually monitoring the growing areas yourself, or with one of the many faucet mounted timers that handle more than one zone. I've seen some of these at Lowe's and the Depot that will accomodate up to four different valves and time intervals.

Advice #2) Don't get overwhelmed by your options (like I did). I have 2 big boxes of dripper paraphenalia that I'll never use because it was less than ideal. Keep your plan simple because it's easy to "over design" your setup and having a 50' roll of drip hose and a box of fittings can be like having too many Legos or Tinkertoys. Most of these material aren't expensive unless you make a mistake. I finally decided to just settle with the 1/2" roll with emitters mounted every 16" and I run the hose down the length od my beds. This works great for my row crops in the fall and I just remove a few of the lines when I switch to tomatoes in the summer.

sprtsguy76 · December 18, 2011

I use strictly drip irrigation for ground watering in my garden. My container part of the garden gets hand watered but I'm hoping to change that next year. I've been looking at these http://www.sprinklerwarehouse.com/Ra...-360ts-025.htm for a couple months now and I think they would perfect for my container part of the garden.

Because my container garden is just as big as my in ground garden I think I will have to add a water outlet or two. As long as I can do that I think having drip through out the garden would be ideal. I'm planning also to have everything on timers. I just dont have the time anymore to hand water.

Damon

Suze · December 18, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigbubbacain

Suze,

Your setup for growing looks awesome! So glad to see other folks using
EZ-FLO too. What do you like to use in your tank for fertigation? I'm always looking to try new brands.

Bigbubbacain, thanks for the kind words! Thus far, my EZ-FLO tank for the raised/veg beds has mostly been used to apply anti-root knot nematode treatments (like Nemacure - mostly highly refined sesame oil + molasses + emulsifier) for example.

I'll admit I'm pretty clueless thus far on what, if anything, to use for feeding/fertigation, though. What do you, or have you used?

(Btw, we do also have another EZ-FLO tank for the sprinkler system for the turf/ornamentals - and in that we use Grow More) which we order from Sprinkler Warehouse.

Also, do you use or find the need to have a pressure regulator in place? I'll also ask this question of Carolyn K or anyone else who uses tubing or tape as well. My understanding is that a pressure regulator is generally recommended, but as I said earlier in the thread, I'm no expert on it.

Water pressure from our well is very high - it's a good, deep well, so I definitely need one in place.

Edit/add - Sprinkler Warehouse is a great resource for irrigation equipment and many other products, IME - and I just noticed that Damon mentioned them in his post above.

VC Scott · December 18, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcsee

I use a slightly different technique (see photo) and fit the dripper into this tube which gives greater control over deep watering. In the photo you can see 50mm slotted drain pipe which is cut to about 50cm long and buried beneath the seedling at planting time. The roots from the tomatoes actually seek out the water through the holes in the pipe, so it is effective. This same idea works for pots/buckets also.

McSee:

Very similar to what I am doing. You use a slotted drain pipe, whereas I drill holes in 1" PVC. The same idea though. An efficient way to deliver water.

bigbubbacain · December 19, 2011

Pressure regulators are always something to consider. I can see that you would have one considering that you run your EZ-FLO from a well. When I had my first EZ-FLO in a horiz. tank setup (like yours) I didn't need a pressure regulator because my water pressure was strong enough to remain constant on the line and tank and I never issues with backflow. Nowadays I don't use one because my drip tubing has pressure compensating drippers and my current EZ-FLO is the above-ground model that connects to a 3/4" hose spigot. Any backflow from the timer shutting off is sent through the tubing and drippers.

I've also been using the Grow More products in my tank. It's a challenge to use organics in a slurry tank especially when it won't all be used at once. The combination of heat and lack of air can create a problem with anerobic bacteria. More than anything, I use either Medina Soil Activator or a humic acid concentrate which I have pre-screened to remove sediment. The nice thing about humic is the effect that it has on what my soil already contains- freeing up nutrients and such.

You probably do fine with organics in your tank because you have it in the ground and it's not exposed to sunlight.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Suze

Bigbubbacain, thanks for the kind words! Thus far, my EZ-FLO tank for the raised/veg beds has mostly been used to apply anti-root knot nematode treatments (like Nemacure - mostly highly refined sesame oil + molasses + emulsifier) for example.

I'll admit I'm pretty clueless thus far on what, if anything, to use for feeding/fertigation, though. What do you, or have you used?

(Btw, we do also have another EZ-FLO tank for the sprinkler system for the turf/ornamentals - and in that we use Grow More) which we order from Sprinkler Warehouse.

Also, do you use or find the need to have a pressure regulator in place? I'll also ask this question of Carolyn K or anyone else who uses tubing or tape as well. My understanding is that a pressure regulator is generally recommended, but as I said earlier in the thread, I'm no expert on it.

Water pressure from our well is very high - it's a good, deep well, so I definitely need one in place.

Edit/add - Sprinkler Warehouse is a great resource for irrigation equipment and many other products, IME - and I just noticed that Damon mentioned them in his post above.

Worth1 · December 19, 2011

Im glad to see this thread is now a sticky thannks. I also see some great information being passed along. At work now but will be home soon to start seeds and hopfuly get some new beds started. See you guys then.

erlyberd · December 29, 2011

Eventually when I get to it I'd like an automatic irrigation system for my garden and greenhouse beds. The main issue is making it all drain to the lowest point so I can continue to water when temps are below frezzing. At least for the GH anyway.

December 29, 2011

Regarding "pressure regulators" for automatic watering systems, I use the regulators available for drip systems which limit line pressures to 20 psi for the drip systems. They have normal male and female hose threads on the ends and are fairly inexpensive at Lowes big box stores. Since my drip system and soaker hoses are attached to the same main line, I use the regulator on the drip system and "flow discs" on the soakers. The flow discs have sized orifice holes in them which limit flow, but not pressure. I don't want to limit pressure on the hoses because they are designed to operate at 60 psi pressure. Since my beds are located different distances from the main water line, I have to use the flow discs to guarantee equal potential volume to each bed. The flow discs cause the water in the feeder lines to build up to equal pressure and volume.

Ted

Dewayne mater · December 30, 2011

I'm not sure if this is really the place for this comment, but, today the City of Dallas water utilities said that they may go to stage IV water restrictions in January, as the drought is expected to last. That will mean zero lawn watering, except by hand. Our situation has been compounded by the devil's spawn known as zebra muscles that have invaded Lake Texahoma, which is 25% of our water supply. It has plenty of water, but, they way it gets down here is through water releases and they aren't doing any because they are hoping to stop the spread of this evil critter. It is really an awful, invasive pest, without enemy that procreates at viral rates.

So, even good planning can be foiled by unexpected problems like this. Water issues in this state are not new, but the vast population increases, extreme drought and now this, threaten to force real changes in north Texans irrigation practices, right now.

December 15, 2011	#16
clkeiper Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: ohio Posts: 4,350	We use the flat tape because we have a different layout for the garden every year. The product is very economical, therefor we are able to just dispose of it and not have the system to work around while cleaning up the garden and getting it tilled. ( This was not the year to be working in the garden keeping the weeds out, due to the continual rainfall all summer long. It was wet, wet, wet. We could hardly get into the garden to harvest let alone try to weed it. So the tape was hardly needed for the season. mostly it was needed in the high tunnels.) __________________ carolyn k

December 15, 2011	#17
recruiterg Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Edina, MN (Zone 4) Posts: 945	Suze, thanks for posting the picture. Very helpful. Do you need pressure regulators with drip lines, or can you connect directly to the spigot (I realize you are using a well)?

December 15, 2011	#18
VC Scott Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: San Marcos, CA Posts: 352	This year I am experimenting with a deep watering method I saw on the internet somewhere. Beside each tomato plant I am burying a two foot length of 1 inch PVC that has been drilled with 3/32 inch holes up and down the length of the PVC, except for the top 2 inches. The top two inches will be above ground. A 3/4 inch black flexible irrigation line will be run down each row and a 1/8 inch flexible line will run from the main irrigation line down into each of the buried PVC pipes. I will probably have to use duct tape or something to keep the 1/8 inch lines in place, otherwise they will pop out when the pressure is turned on. After the tomatoes are established they will be watered once per week, with much of the water being directly delivered two feed deep. In hot weather, or as needed, I might water twice a week. The goal is to maximize delivery of water deep and encourage a deep root system. The system will also allow the delivery of liquid fertilizer directly to the deep roots. Another advantage is that there is no splash of water on the foliage. In my part of Southern California we are likely to go from June to October with just a couple of days of rain. I will probably use plastic mulch around the plants to prevent weeds and limit evaporation of the water delivered to the plants.

December 16, 2011	#19
hornstrider Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Hutto, Texas Posts: 230	I use the flat soaker hoses. They seem to work rather well, but they do not last more than two years at best. I have installed a timer system that runs off of my lawn sprinkler system. I have to turn on the station to the garden, and I have 8 stations in the garden that runs off of that one lawn station. I have recently installed a 250 gal. converted rain barrel. I would like to hook up my rain barrel to my garden water system. I will need a water pressure pump to do that. Can someone recommend a good water pump to do the job? Suze......where did you purchase the plastic tubing? http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/w...r22/Soaker.jpg http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/w...kerbarrell.jpg http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/w...erbarrell2.jpg

December 18, 2011	#22
bigbubbacain Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Zone 9 Texas, Fort Bend County Posts: 436	Suze, Your setup for growing looks awesome! So glad to see other folks using EZ-FLO too. What do you like to use in your tank for fertigation? I'm always looking to try new brands. This and my 1/2 inch drip lines have been one of the best investments I ever made, and I bought all of this seven years ago. For any of you wanting to bring a drip system into your garden: The following is some of the best advice anyone ever gave me about switching to drip irrigation. Advice #1) Get a large note pad and "draw it out". Diagram your growing area, the location of your water source (spigot, valve box, etc.), zones in your growing area which might require more or less water. These changes in watering can be can be handle with drip lines that have a different output rating, manually monitoring the growing areas yourself, or with one of the many faucet mounted timers that handle more than one zone. I've seen some of these at Lowe's and the Depot that will accomodate up to four different valves and time intervals. Advice #2) Don't get overwhelmed by your options (like I did). I have 2 big boxes of dripper paraphenalia that I'll never use because it was less than ideal. Keep your plan simple because it's easy to "over design" your setup and having a 50' roll of drip hose and a box of fittings can be like having too many Legos or Tinkertoys. Most of these material aren't expensive unless you make a mistake. I finally decided to just settle with the 1/2" roll with emitters mounted every 16" and I run the hose down the length od my beds. This works great for my row crops in the fall and I just remove a few of the lines when I switch to tomatoes in the summer.

December 18, 2011	#23
sprtsguy76 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2007 Location: Santa Clara CA Posts: 1,125	I use strictly drip irrigation for ground watering in my garden. My container part of the garden gets hand watered but I'm hoping to change that next year. I've been looking at these http://www.sprinklerwarehouse.com/Ra...-360ts-025.htm for a couple months now and I think they would perfect for my container part of the garden. Because my container garden is just as big as my in ground garden I think I will have to add a water outlet or two. As long as I can do that I think having drip through out the garden would be ideal. I'm planning also to have everything on timers. I just dont have the time anymore to hand water. Damon

December 19, 2011	#27
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	Im glad to see this thread is now a sticky thannks. I also see some great information being passed along. At work now but will be home soon to start seeds and hopfuly get some new beds started. See you guys then.

December 29, 2011	#28
erlyberd Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: CT Zone 5 Posts: 186	Eventually when I get to it I'd like an automatic irrigation system for my garden and greenhouse beds. The main issue is making it all drain to the lowest point so I can continue to water when temps are below frezzing. At least for the GH anyway.

December 29, 2011	#29
tedln Guest Posts: n/a	Regarding "pressure regulators" for automatic watering systems, I use the regulators available for drip systems which limit line pressures to 20 psi for the drip systems. They have normal male and female hose threads on the ends and are fairly inexpensive at Lowes big box stores. Since my drip system and soaker hoses are attached to the same main line, I use the regulator on the drip system and "flow discs" on the soakers. The flow discs have sized orifice holes in them which limit flow, but not pressure. I don't want to limit pressure on the hoses because they are designed to operate at 60 psi pressure. Since my beds are located different distances from the main water line, I have to use the flow discs to guarantee equal potential volume to each bed. The flow discs cause the water in the feeder lines to build up to equal pressure and volume. Ted

December 30, 2011	#30
Dewayne mater Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2008 Location: DFW, Texas Posts: 1,212	I'm not sure if this is really the place for this comment, but, today the City of Dallas water utilities said that they may go to stage IV water restrictions in January, as the drought is expected to last. That will mean zero lawn watering, except by hand. Our situation has been compounded by the devil's spawn known as zebra muscles that have invaded Lake Texahoma, which is 25% of our water supply. It has plenty of water, but, they way it gets down here is through water releases and they aren't doing any because they are hoping to stop the spread of this evil critter. It is really an awful, invasive pest, without enemy that procreates at viral rates. So, even good planning can be foiled by unexpected problems like this. Water issues in this state are not new, but the vast population increases, extreme drought and now this, threaten to force real changes in north Texans irrigation practices, right now.