permaculture

[Claudia Joseph <permie@earthlink.net>]

On Dec 4, 2005, at 9:53 AM, Marjory Glowka wrote:

> Hello Everyone,
>
> We have a large rain-water collection system on top of a hill which  
> gravity
> feeds an orchard a bit down the hill.  The water pressures we get  
> at the
> orchard vary a bit from 4.3 - 8 psi.  We sucessfully tested and  
> have been
> using some drippers that worked well enough even though they are  
> not spec'ed
> at that low of a pressure.
>
> Our soil is very sandy and we've notice that drippers only cause a  
> stream of
> water to drip pretty much straight down - the water does not soak  
> around and
> spread like we had hoped - probably because of the soils low  
> organic matter.
> So we are now thinking about perhaps using a sprayer jet instead of
> drippers.  I know we won't get much of a 'spread' with only 4 psi,  
> but it
> seems anything would be better than nothing.
>
> Does anyone have any experience with low pressure gravity fed  
> irrigation
> systems?  Can you recommend a source for emitters/sprayers that  
> works under
> low pressure situations?
>
> We are considering buying a solar pump and pressure tank to get the  
> psi up,
> but we are trying to keep the whole project as 'low tech' as  
> possible, so I
> am hoping to find another solution.
>
> Any help or suggestions greatly appreciated.
>
> Cheers,
>
> marjory.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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