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  • From: Bill Shoemaker <wshoemak AT illinois.edu>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] irrigation
  • Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2009 08:51:48 -0500 (CDT)

Many of our mixed vegetable growers in northern Illinois use drip for most of
their crops, but in their sweet corn and pumpkins they use traveling gun
irrigation. These are units that hook into high volume sources, usually
wells, and have long hoses on a reel. The hose has a cart with a very large
sprinkler at one end, which is reeled out. Once the water is turned on the
sprinkler works like any other sprinkler but the radius of the pattern can
run from 20' to almost 100'. The reel slowly draws the cart back in, so the
sprinkler is constantly encroaching dry ground and leaving wet ground behind.

They usually do a good job, but you need high volume and high pressure. You
also need to be aware that the stream of water is heavy and can beat down
tender plants. The wind can also be a problem with these units, shifting the
spray pattern leading to lack of uniform watering. They come in different
sizes and capacities.

Many growers think of irrigation as a "rescue" technique. Thats the wrong way
to think about it. To make it pay, it must be a quality control technique.
Water is the key ingredient in producing quality products, and quality is the
key to establishing premium prices. Consistency in the market is the key to
maintaining premium prices. Irrigation is critical to achieving quality and
consistency in the market. If you use it this way, it becomes clearer how it
pays for itself.

Bill


---- Original message ----
>Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2009 08:22:00 -0400
>From: "Wyatt Jones" <wyatt_jones AT netzero.com>
>Subject: Re: [Market-farming] irrigation
>To: <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
>
> 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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William H Shoemaker, UI-NRES
Sr Research Specialist, Food Crops
St Charles Horticulture Research Center
535 Randall Road St Charles, IL 60174
630-584-7254; FAX-584-4610




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