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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] wandering drip tape

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  • From: Barking Cat Farm <barkingcatfarm AT mindspring.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] wandering drip tape
  • Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2012 11:28:55 -0500

On Mar 23, 2012, at 10:50 AMMar/23/12, Richard Robinson wrote:

> I'm a novice with drip tape, and have a problem I wonder if there is a
> simple solution for. I use black John Deere T-tape, laid on the surface in
> my hoophouses, about 40 feet long. The problem is that the pieces move,
> quite a bit, presumably from expanding and contracting in the heat and cold
> (no doubt exacerbated by cold well water). I've got ground staples every
> 4-6 feet, but I can't say as it has solved the problem. I'd rather not bury
> the tape, though I suppose I could. Any other solutions to wandering drip
> tape?

Hi Richard,

We have the same problem for the 6 years we've been using JD T-tape (both
8mil and 15mil), but it seems to be worst when it's new off the spool. It
has been our experience that it doesn't seem to contract much, only expand
when exposed to heat and sun. I'm all ears if anybody else has found a
solution. But for us, we just pull out the slack for the first couple weeks
and from then on it is usually much better. Since we are able to re-use our
tape for several years -- contingent upon thirsty, marauding armadillos, grrr
-- it's not a huge effort for us, albeit there are much more fun tasks than
walking up and down 24 300' rows bending and pulling slack every 20' or so.
;-) We also use staples every 10', mainly to keep the wind from blowing the
tape off the beds. We have the same problem with emitter pipe and poly pipe.
I guess we've just learned to live with it.

Cheers,
Laurie
Barking Cat Farm
Heath, Texas
barkingcatfarm AT mindspring.com
www.barkingcatfarm.com
http://www.facebook.com/barkingcatfarm
https://twitter.com/#!/barkingcatfarm



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