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Subject: Market Farming
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- From: "Wyatt Jones" <wyatt_jones AT netzero.com>
- To: <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
- Subject: Re: [Market-farming] irrigation
- Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2009 08:22:00 -0400
I've had a lot of problems with mice
eating my drip tape this year, every I turn around there is another gusher
LOL. Mice seem to love chewing on it and I've had the neighborhood dogs
tear it up when they get loose. Most don't bother with it but some seem to
be attracted to it around here. Maybe because they are used to
plastic chew toys or something.
I tried using drip
lines with sweet corn and I'm not satisfied with it there, I need better
coverage. besides it creates problems with cultivation. I'm thinking
some sort of sprayer irrigation but that does use a lot of water. I had a
pretty good well, 260 ft deep, drilled and got the best 3 phase
constant pressure pump with a computer control though so I have enough
water. I had to drill a new well anyway so I decided to spend the extra
money to allow for expansion. Cost me about $1500 more but by the time I
spent almost $8,000 on a deep well and had to go 180 ft anyway I decided it
wasn't much more and was cheaper than drilling another well down the line so I
had them drill down to the shale, which doesn't have any water in it.
Anyway I haven't had any problems. I was told I would probably
only get 30 GPM but I've pulled more than twice that with no problems over a
fairly long period of time. I don't plan to do that all the time
though That flow rate is only an estimate as I don't have a flow meter on
it but I've irrigated almost 10 acres at once with drip line and it
handled it just fine but I also put the pressure regulators as far down the line
as I could and made sure I distributed them widely to avoid pressure drop
issues. The 3 phase constant pressure pump also saves a lot of
electricity and it creates its own 3 phase from 220VAC That all
depends on your local geology though. and about 15 miles to the SW of here
they only get 2 or 3 GPM and have to use a cistern to have enough water
for houses. 20 miles NW of here some people get over 300GPM out of the
same size well. the average here but the geology here is different from
people only 1/4 mile away who had gravel wells less than 100ft. My old
well was only a couple hundred ft from the new one and only produced 10
GPM I didn't hit water till the limestone at 180 at my new well but the
natural pressure brought it up to about 15.
What do other people use
to irrigate sweet corn? Besides drip lines that is. Some of these
newer sweet corn varieties seem to need a lot of water, especially at
germination, drip line doesn't seem to cut it and I had poor germination in some
spots. They also make cultivation more difficult.
If you have any weed problems drip
lines can be difficult to take up. I use them extensively but they aren't
trouble free and I seem to be fixing them a lot. I have some thicker drip
lines and they seem better but not perfect. I got some drip tape with the
emitters built in, not sure what you call that type but you can see where
the emitters are though they are built into the tape whereas the other type has
a fold in and you can't tell where the emitters are till the water drips
out. The fold type I
have is turbulent flow drip tape but not sure all the fold type is
turbulent flow, that's my guess but I haven't looked into it I got
the exposed emitter type at auction and it seems to blow out a lot.
I use 15 psi regulators everywhere so pressure isn't it, probably why it
was at auction. It's problem might be just that it is cheap stuff.
Seemed like a good buy at the time but I won't buy that type again. Make
sure you use turbulent flow type drip tape if you have any sort of incline, even
a slight one or the water won't distribute evenly and some areas will be
too wet and others too dry. I think most drip tape is turbulent flow these
days but not all. I've bought a couple of off brands, I think one was
called Plano, wasn't impressed with them so I would say buy the good stuff, its
worth the extra money to save work..
If you bury the tape much make
sure you run it for a while fairly soon after you lay it to expand the
tape and set a channel in the soil. It can collapse and be difficult to
get enough water through it if you don't and you probably won't be able to
expand it if you wait very long . It a real hassle digging it up
and starting over so its worth the effort. Longer lines will make this
even more important. Might not be as big of a problem in lighter
soils but in heavy clay it might and that is what I have. Also taking
it up will be harder. Of course if something happens to it it will be
a lot harder to fix. I buried some deeper with my mulch layer and it seems
to be doing better in that it hasn't been chewed on and it seems to work ok, but
I haven't had to take it up yet so I can't say about the problem with
removing it yet. My bet is that I'll have to plow it up
with my furrower..
Nolts sells two brands, Aqua-traxx
and Chapin. They only stock the 4" spacing in Chapin. I've
asked around and most people I've asked prefer the Aquatraxx. Personally I
haven't been able to tell the difference between that, T-tape and Chapin but my
experience is limited.
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-
Re: [Market-farming] irrigation
, (continued)
- Re: [Market-farming] irrigation, Wiediger, Alison, 08/20/2009
-
Re: [Market-farming] irrigation,
Etienne Goyer, 08/20/2009
-
Re: [Market-farming] irrigation,
Road's End Farm, 08/20/2009
- Re: [Market-farming] irrigation, Marcy Nameth, 08/21/2009
-
Re: [Market-farming] irrigation,
Road's End Farm, 08/20/2009
-
Re: [Market-farming] irrigation,
Bill Shoemaker, 08/20/2009
- Re: [Market-farming] irrigation, Wiediger, Alison, 08/20/2009
-
Re: [Market-farming] irrigation,
Bill Shoemaker, 08/20/2009
- Re: [Market-farming] irrigation, Garth & Kim Travis, 08/20/2009
- Re: [Market-farming] irrigation, jay sleichter, 08/20/2009
- Re: [Market-farming] irrigation, Barbara Link, 08/25/2009
-
Re: [Market-farming] irrigation,
Wyatt Jones, 08/21/2009
-
Re: [Market-farming] irrigation,
Bill Shoemaker, 08/21/2009
- Re: [Market-farming] irrigation, Roots Farm & Karen Sutherland, 08/21/2009
-
Message not available
- Re: [Market-farming] irrigation, Richard Stewart, 08/23/2009
-
Re: [Market-farming] irrigation,
Bill Shoemaker, 08/21/2009
-
Re: [Market-farming] irrigation,
Wyatt Jones, 08/23/2009
- Re: [Market-farming] irrigation, Willie McKemie, 08/23/2009
- Re: [Market-farming] irrigation, Wyatt Jones, 08/23/2009
-
Re: [Market-farming] irrigation,
sunnfarm, 08/24/2009
- Re: [Market-farming] irrigation, Bill Shoemaker, 08/24/2009
- Re: [Market-farming] irrigation, Wyatt Jones, 08/24/2009
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