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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] Drip Tape

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  • From: Willie McKemie <mf AT austinfarm.org>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Drip Tape
  • Date: Wed, 8 Feb 2006 16:48:02 -0600

On Wed, Feb 08, 2006 at 04:26:05PM -0600, Bill Bradshaw wrote:
>
> I am getting ready to order 8 mil, low flow T-Tape on 12" spacing. I
> have 20 beds that are 5' X 100' and I will lay 4 to 8 lines of T-Tape per
> bed. The tape is laid on top of the bed, rows are marked and then seeded
> or transplanted.
> I usually dispose of the tape at the end of the season. From an
> ecological and economical view this seems to be a tremendous waste.
> I am looking for an easy way to roll up the T-Tape at the end of the
> season so that it is out of the way, but ready to be reused the following
> spring. What I had in mind is a small spool that would be placed at the
> barb or fitting off of the main line. At the end of the season the 100'
> length of the T-Tape would be rolled up and left over winter. In the
> spring one could then easily roll the tape back out.
> Has anybody experimented with this method or another way to roll up the
> T-Tape so that it can be reused?

YIKES! Four (or more!) runs of tape on a single 5' bed? Each run of
tape should wet a strip of soil about 2' wide.

> David, we find that it is not worth the labor cost to reuse 8 mil. tape.
> We use about 30 7500' rolls. It is not very strong and damages very
> easily. I think if one was going to reuse the tape the thicker tape would
> be best. Maybe 10-15 mil. I know the cost would be greater but you might
> have better usage. TexasBill

I agree with Bill, 8 or 10 mil is just too light and fragile to
consider re-using. I have gone to 15 mil and I sometimes re-use it; I
pull it out of the fields from one end (no folds) and lay it along a
fence. My runs are typically 500-600'.

--
Willie, ONWARD! Through the fog!
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