What are YOU feeding your Tomato Plants

[dcarch]

Originally Posted by TJS

Guys,
You are over thinking the pump. A centrifigal pump just needs a well point and a check valve. A wellpoint is a metal or plastic pipe with small hoizontal slits, and sometimes a screen that is made to catch crud and still not too much crud. The check valve keeps water from going down, therefore pump is always primed. -------Tim

I didn't think that was what Kelley was asking. A well is for the future, not now. Yes. A well would be ideal, I agree.

BTW, a check (vertical) valve to keep the pump primed is not reliable in dirty swamp water, any dirt will keep the valve somewhat open, and depending on the valve, it needs a good static head to keep it shut reliably.

Sorry to keep this topic going. I hate to see Kelley waste time and money.

dcarch

[TJS]

OK kellyville here goes,
See my drawing attached. Nevermind I can't figure out how to attach so I will e-mail it to you
My soil here is sandy so you may have to do this a little differently.
Materials: a 1 1/4 inch self jetting wellpoint,a pressure tank, a 1/2 to 2 HP pump with a pressure switch some 11/4 pvc pipe and fittings to make like attached drawing.

I would start by using posthole diggers and dig down as deep as you can with them. Here we go to about 10-16 feet down which is impossible with post hole diggers so we use a self jetting wellpoint wich you probably won't need since you are installing in a wet area.
Next run your 11/4" pipe from wellpoint to pump location. Keep this run as short as possible.
Install check valve between wellpoint and pump making sure arrow on valve points toward pump.
Connect this araingment to pump inlet.
Connect to pump outlet outgoing pipe and pressure tank (this is very important) with some kind of valve to shut off water and pump.
You will need a 15 or 20 amp receptical to plug pump into (to save more electricity hook up to 220 volt supply)
You may have to check with local government about whether this is legal in your location. Also when you dig hole you may want to put sand as a backfill to help filter water.
If you need any more help just ask!

[TJS]

kelly,
send me your e-mail address so I can send you the diagram.
dcharch could be correct about dirty swamp water clogging a flapper check valve but you need to use a spring loaded valve so you don't need a great deal of head pressure. I have had wells that pumped a great deal of sand through the check valve and that would probably do more damave to the valve. I would worry more about the wellpoint clogging than the checkvalve failing, therefore the sand suggestion. The pump is the most expensive part so maybe you can find a used one somewhere

[dcarch]

Most jet pumps come with a pressure switch and some with built-in check valve.
1/2 HP should be good enough for most people.

This is beyond most people's needs:

If you can hook up a heat exchanger (car radiator), you can get free air conditioning using ground water, which is normally very cold.

dcarch

[TJS]

dcharch,
Actually in this area hvac contractors do install Heat exchanger lines in the grownd and recirculate water or well water through the HVAC unit to pre cool or preheat air. I've never done this but I heard that it saves a lot of Ele.

[dice]

I think the idea was to put a more-or-less horizontal
intake into the creek or swamp, rather than dig a
hole straight down beside it (hence the "well screen
in a pile of gravel" suggestion). Note that "well screen"
and "wellpoint" mean the same thing here.

I've seen setups like this pumping from a nearby river
before, although the pump and pipe were a lot bigger
than what kelleyville is imagining. It was for watering
hay, and the crop paid for the equipment and professional
installation.

How much does the depth of water in the creek and
swamp vary over the course of a summer (how deep
does the intake need to be to always be wet and on
how long a pipe for the pump never to be wet)?

Something to consider.

TJS is probably imagining a shallow well beside
the swamp or creek to take advantage of water
that seeps into the ground. I wonder if it has
enough flow rate to keep the pump fed for more
than a few seconds at a time.

[kelleyville]

Let me try this again! Everytime I get my response typed my internet goes out ;O

Email is krsc@charter.net

These are all very good ideas! I am thinking only of something like a hose in the swamp connected to a pump to fill barrells or buckets at this time. But a shallow well might not be a bad idea either when money permits it! The only thing with the shallow well beside the swamp is that at any given time beside the swamp moves! When it rains good and hard the bottom of my yard is bog and the creek on the back left is deeper than the one on the right and flows much faster.

May as well pipe it to the back of the house if I dig a well though

Kelley

Since it has not rained really hard in so long it would probably be a good idea for me to get some long pants and rubber boots on and crank up the weed eater to clear a path to the closest edge of the swamp. I know its still there because I can see part of it from my deck.

I have been told the creek is spring fed but not sure that the bubbles along every so many feet are spring or just where water is ****ed up and flowing faster on other side. Been clearing an area to the creek so I can get down to a bubbly area with a shovel and find out!

[dice]

Usually that means that the source of the creek
is a spring, back where it begins. There may be
other springs feeding it along its course as well,
though.

If you wanted to really plunge and have a real
well put in capable of supplying what you get
now from the water utility, eventually it would
pay for itself (no water bill), and *you* decide
what to use it on and when. The height of a
drought is a good time to do it (so that you get
a well deep enough to handle drought conditions
without running dry).

[neoguy]

I know this thread has kind of taken a detour and I may be partially to blame, .....

I forgot to mention in my first thread that I've begun adding spent coffee grounds, free from Starbucks. I've scattered them twice and it does appear that the worms do like it, I'm seeing a lot of worm holes in the mornings.

[kelleyville]

That makes sense, a lot of sense!

[kelleyville]

I put coffee grounds in my compost pile. They are also good as mulch around acidic plants, not that you want to pile a weeks worth of coffee on any one plant! We drink so much coffee here that I keep an empty coffee can on the counter and after the days coffee is done I either toss it to the compost or mulch a shrub like my azaleas (which are drought dead) crepe myrtle, and blueberries! I think my compost will be well fed for next year which in turn will feed my small garden beds!

Kelley

[neoguy]

We also compost all our home brewed coffee grounds, filter and all.

[dice]

Worms like coffee grounds, and it is not nearly
as acidic as actual coffee, but some people
have reported that it made a barely penetrable
crust when piled on thick as mulch and allowed
to dry. If you have that much, it would probably be
good to mix it up in a wheelbarrow with something
else before mulching with it (compost, shredded
leaves, pine straw, kelp, etc).

[kelleyville]

I should a said more...I dont just pile it around the plants I scratch it into the dirt around the plants then recover with regular mulch! It most definitely will make a crust that if too thick will smother the plant! I had a friend who heard coffee grounds were good for plants and he dumped his every day into his spider plants....he did not have spider plants for long, and they grew mold and smelled horrible!

Kelley