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  • From: <sunnfarm AT netscape.com>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Irrigation Question
  • Date: Mon, 2 Mar 2009 06:53:23 -0800

Brian, You might want to try a sprinkler head called the mini wobbler. They are used in the nursery industry to water areas the size of yours. They are plastic and cost under 5 bucks they have interchangeable nozzles and built in pressure regulators and operate at under 2gpm. Set them on a pvc line every 20 feet. I would use a 5hp pump. Attach a tee at the output and run one leg to the sprinkler line and the other, attach a shutoff valve and run it back to the tank as your bypass line. Adjust the bypass shutoff valve to regulate pressure to the sprinklers. You also might want to pray for rain a lot... Bob.
Sunny Meadow Farm
Bridgeton, NJ.

--- bcluton AT aol.com wrote:

From: bcluton AT aol.com
To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Irrigation Question
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 2009 10:15:08 -0500

This is still being hashed out.  300 gallons in reality isn't a lot of water especially going on overhead.(27,000g/acre inch)  So if I look at doing 150' x 20' which could be pretty easily done with low pressure sprinklers then in reality each 300 gallon tank is going to be only applying about a 1/6th of an inch.(if my quick math suits me correctly)  Going any smaller doesn't really make much sense for our planting.   Going any bigger doesn't seem to have any impact.  At-least at that rate I could use this water as a means to get blocks of small seeded stuff germinated and keep the soil from crusting.  It's not really that feasible for putting on much volume though.  Running the system to drip tape certainly improves that efficiency a bit but in reality you've got to water deeply with tape to have any impact so who knows.  Maybe a few hundred feet at a time.  I'm not sure?!

I spoke with a guy about pumps the other day and apparently a centrifugal pump will operate under backpressure up to a certain PSI that would then trip a pressure switch.  It appears that a small gas pump with a two stage filter system on the intake and idled per the necessary outgoing pressure would probably work alright.  I still haven't sketched out the system but a pump running about 20-30 gpm with a range of 10 - 30 psi ought to cover the bases.  I'll keep crun ching but appreciate any thoughts!

Brian

 

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