Somebody Tell Me About Outdoor Drip Irrigation

[ChinaVoodoo]

I see a lot of kits on amazon. They seam inexpensive, but I'm thinking it still might be overkill. How to keep it simple?

I was thinking running pvc out to where the rows are, then running that thin tubing down each row with above ground sprayers or drippers staked at the base of each tomato, tobacco, and cucumber plant.

Is my plan a decent one? What sort of dripper or sprayer is recommended?

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Could you just run tube and drill holes in it?

 

[skychaser]

Could you just run tube and drill holes in it?

No. You couldn't control the flow or pressure down the line. I did over 1000' of drip line when I put in trees along the road frontage years ago. I used the cheap 1/2 black pipe. You get an emitter in the gallon per hour size you want and punch a hole in the pipe with a little tool. Then push the emitter in. A small 3/16 tubing goes on the end at what ever length you want it. Mine were 10' apart and put out 1/2 gallon per hour. Worked good as was cheap.

Drip lines are the most efficient way to water, and the only way to go on a long row of trees like I have. The only downside is your irrigation water needs to be very clean. Any tiny bit of debris or sand in the water will eventually find its way to an emitter and clog it. And if you don't notice it soon enough, you and your plant are sad. :/

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

No. You couldn't control the flow or pressure down the line. I did over 1000' of drip line when I put in trees along the road frontage years ago. I used the cheap 1/2 black pipe. You get an emitter in the gallon per hour size you want and punch a hole in the pipe with a little tool. Then push the emitter in. A small 3/16 tubing goes on the end at what ever length you want it. Mine were 10' apart and put out 1/2 gallon per hour. Worked good as was cheap.

Drip lines are the most efficient way to water, and the only way to go on a long row of trees like I have. The only downside is your irrigation water needs to be very clean. Any tiny bit of debris or sand in the water will eventually find its way to an emitter and clog it. And if you don't notice it soon enough, you and your plant are sad. :/

Could you use gravity and a sort of grease trap system?

 

[skychaser]

yah, that would work. As long as you have enough drop to create a little pressure in the line. And any cheap water filter should work in a large micron size. My old well used to suck up some sand now and then. We dug a new well a few years ago. Now instead of changing the filter at the house once a month, I do it once a year if I remember. And it really doesn't even need it then.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

Next question. Do I even need irrigation in Edmonton, given that we rarely get over 75°?

I was reading about tobacco in Italy and drip irrigation was significantly better than sprinklers. That's what made me think of this.

 

[Alpine]

Where in Italy? Because there’s a world of difference between north and south. The maximum daily temp we reach here during summer equals mid spring temps in the south. Up here, I just need to water after transplant. But I agree the drip irrigation is way better than sprinklers which are, in turn, better than watering by hand using a hose.

pier

 

[Knucklehead]

Next question. Do I even need irrigation in Edmonton, given that we rarely get over 75°?

I was reading about tobacco in Italy and drip irrigation was significantly better than sprinklers. That's what made me think of this.

My tobacco survived a drought so bad that many Red Oaks and all my Dogwood trees in my woods died and didn’t recover. The pasture grass died and the cattle farmers had to buy hay that winter. The grass did recover that winter (fescue). I didn‘t water the tobacco and it would wilt down during the day and stand back up in the evening. The plants were short, but had big, closely spaced leaves of an average number of leaves. It turned out to have a normal size harvest, the plants were just short. The leaves were great.

 

[Knucklehead]

I used drip irrigation my first or second year using 1/2 gal. per hour emitters at 2’ spacing and put a plant at each emitter. I laid out the drip first and then put in a plant at each emitter. I wouldn’t do it again unless it was to save a whole lot more plants than I care to grow. I used 400’ of the thin black plastic tubing just to get water from the house faucet to the patch. It was a lot cheaper than garden hose. I had to keep patching it because squirrels would eat holes in it. I would give the tobacco a chance first, that stuff is tougher than boiled shoe leather once it gets going.
Here are some sources I used.

Drip Irrigation, Irrigation Supplies and DIY Kits for growing Vegetables in Fields, Gardens and High Tunnels. Plastic Mulch Laying Equipment. Raised Bed Irrigation for homeowners.

Irrigation for all size Growers. DIY Drip Kits for Raised Beds, High Tunnels and Gardens. Frost Protecting Cloths. Plastic Mulch, Laying Machines and Planters. Filters, Fertilizer Injectors, Irrigation Kits and Hose.

www.berryhilldrip.com

DripWorks.com - Drip Irrigation Supplies & Systems

Shop quality drip irrigation supplies for your farm, garden, deck or landscape. Tubing, timers, emitters, filters, pond liners, kits and more.

www.dripworks.com

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I only had to water my tobacco for the first week after transplant last year. I live relatively close to the river and I think it's more humid. Maybe weather is simply unpredictable. I'm also thinking about my tomatoes. Maybe they would be bigger if I watered. I don't know.

Maybe I should avoid extra work and cost and just use my watering can this year, and really contemplate how the soil moisture is throughout the season.

 

[Danny M]

Could you just run tube and drill holes in it?

Water follows the path of least resistance. While those lines may only be dripping, they’re still pressurized. Water has to travel to the end of the pipe before it builds enough back pressure to begin dripping. I’ve never seen it done out in the open. Usually it’s done in greenhouses. Probably the best method for you would be to get a few of those yard sprinklers, build some podiums and irrigate that way. You’ll have a lot less time and money involved.

 

[deluxestogie]

tomatoes

My tomatoes seem to do best with regular watering. If there is a dry spell, and I do not water the tomatoes, then the next rain will cause them to split.

Building infrastructure (i.e. drip lines) where none is required feels like a modern alternative to simplicity. I vote for the hose or watering can.

Bob

 

[skychaser]

Tomatoes need a lot of water. We often go 100 days with hardly a drop of rain here starting in July with temps in the 90 to 100 range. If I didn't irrigate I couldn't grow anything. Some tomatoes are prone to splitting after a heavy watering, especially some of the cherries. I grow several hundred pounds of tomatoes to sell each year and I learned long ago to pick first, water second with the cherries. Watermelons and cucumbers need a lot too. Tobacco needs the least of everything I grow and is very drought tolerant. I give it about 4 hours of watering every 10 days with big impusle sprinklers on 6-8' risers.

I have 2 wells. One is a shallow hand dug well which is actually an improved artesian spring. The water flows down hill for a couple hundred feet to the pump house and comes in at about 10 lbs of pressure, then gets pumped up to the house. It was put in over a hundred years ago and ran a hydraulic ram back then to pump it up. It had filled with sand and sediment over the years and became nearly useless a decade ago. My wife and I dug it all out by hand and rebuilt it. We dug an enormous cone shaped hole, lined it all with filter fabric and filled in around the 6' round block well in the middle with gravel, capped it with heavy plastic and added another foot of gravel on top. It took us 2 months of hard muddy work to get it done. Now we have crystal clear cold spring water for the house again and it should last another hundred years. I can pull 12-15 gallons a minute from it.

Well no 2 is a 250' deep drilled well and hits a huge aquifer below us. The well will put out well over 200 gallons a minute and currently has a 50+ gallon a minute pump in it. And I have recorded water rights to pump 12 acre feet per year. So water is abundant here and I can run up to 14 big impulse sprinklers at a time and irrigate about 5 acres all summer. It keeps everything nice and green around here during those hot summer months and gives me a big green zone around the house and barn during fire season.

 

[Oldfella]

Could you use gravity and a sort of grease trap system?
View attachment 35432

Thats all I use. I'm on tank water that I keep full from the well, when rain is not around. Works great. Here's a pic. The green lines are the dripper ones. How long you leave it on for depends on your water pressure. Be careful if you're using a pump, it may cycle too much and burn out the capacitor.
Cheers Oldfella

 

[Brown Thumb]

I did it for a few yrs. under the plastic mulch.
I went back to overhead sprinklers on 6 ft. Poles