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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] irrigation

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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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