Drip Tape Irrigation
 

Because of the drought in Texas, we are switching from pond to well irrigation, and also lowering our acreage substantially. I have an old 2" well that has plenty of water - flow rate of about 12 gals/minute. We have installed an air compressor on this well, but no pump or anything else.

I want to irrigate as much as I can with drip tape, using this well. I know very little about drip tape, except that it has to have a filter, runs on low pressure and is permanently buried in the ground under each row. I only know what I have read and have never actually seen a piece of "drip tape".

Before investing a lot of money on developing this well/system further, I need to do my homework. Any advice, links or, especially, personal experience with drip tape, or similar systems, would be greatly appreciated. We will be running 100 ft rows and and can adjust our machinery to work over buried irrigation lines as necessary.

We have always had abundant water around here and could afford to waste it by running sprinklers and furrow irrigation, but those days seem to be over - not just this drought, but increasingly drier for some years.

Thanking y'all in advance. Lots of data on the web, but no substitute for personal experience, They're all selling something.

Jack Ellis - Gardeners for Jesus, Hillister Baptist Church, Tyler County, Texas

I am acquainted with one of the developers of drip tape irrigation systems. He indicated that John Deere is the distributor for the design he worked on.

Check out:

[URL]http://www.deere.com/en_US/water/productsequipment/products_ttape.html[/URL]

I have seen the drip tape and attended a brief presentation about it, but have not yet used it myself - I would also be interested to hear from others who have used it.

I use Dripworks.com. One thing you need to do, especially with a well and drip tape, is to make sure you have a very good filter in place.

We use trickl-eez. They have an on line catalog, and they wil send you the book. We are such small potatoes but they have always solved our problems.
Jack, Which crops are you growing where you wil bury the lines? We are learning like you. With vegetables we use plastic with a line laid under except for the pumpkins where we simply lay a line along the newly emerged plants. Blueberries have a burried line. The strawberries are under plastic, but the line is not burried just under the plastic. I guess what I'm saying is that almost everthing we do uses drip irrigation lines that are redone on a yearly basis.
Our well takes care of about 10 acres. It runs 24/7 for 2 months producing 20 gal/min.
Yes, I know, I am in Virginia. I feel pain when I read about Texas. It is like the tight feeling in my chest when I hear of someone's painful accident.
We hope to see your progress notes. We are fairly new and would like to compare notes.
Hank

Hi Keith and Hank--

I found the dripworks site - that's where I've been looking.

Hank, we have about 15 acres in our project. It's all shut-down now and has been since July 1st. We normally irrigate with pond water supplying the sprinklers with a 4" submersible pump, but those days may be over. This is the first year we've actually run out of water, but it's been getting a little drier every year for a decade or more. Thirty years ago we got a thundershower nearly every afternoon - haven't had that for many years. Anyway, we used sprinklers and liquid fertilizer, applying the fert with a 100 gal trailer sprayer.

I am amazed that you water 10 acres with only 20GPM. VERY impressive! We wasted more than that with leaks. -)

So with my 12 GPM flow I should be able to irrigate several acres with drip tape? We're going to start, though, with only 10-12 100 ft rows of spinach and carrots, which we plant on Feb 15 here. I guess I'll leave it on top the ground, like you do with pumpkins, so I can learn how it operates. Question: there's two flow rates - do I want the high flow (0.67GPM/100 ft) or the low flow (0.34GPM/100 ft.).

There's no plumbing on this well yet - just the compressor and a 300 gal storage tank. So we'll install the pump and pressure tank as normal, right?, and then install the filter in the line coming out of the pressure tank and then the low pressure regulator - or vice versa? How much pressure do you run? They say 15# is max.

So I guess you take up the lines to cultivate. They say you can bury them permanently - but it's hard to believe the cultivator or tiller wouldn't grab them! I'll put them on top like you do. I assume you reuse the tape? Just pile it up out of the way, prepare/plant the field and re-install, right?

Thanks so much for "coming to my aid"?

Hank - How about fertilizer injection? I'm REALLY ignorant on that one but would love to be enlightened. Who said you can't teach an old dog new tricks! :-)

Keith - This well has quite a bit of sand - so I'm putting a trap in place to catch the sand as soon as it leaves the storage tank. There will likely still be some fine sand in the water
as it passes through the filter. So I need one with a fine mesh (I've read 200 micron minimum ?) filter. I would rather have one I can clean-out instead of having to buy filter elements all the time. Any specific recommendations on brands and models, Keith?

Jack

A few notes
The vegetable lines and manifolds are discarded after one year.
The water goes straight from the well to a carrier pipe to the area being watered to the manifold to the lines.
We use a valve on each line.
We do not use filters.
The lines may be as long as 1000 feet.
We have used different flow rate lines. We adjust the total length of line being used so that they are pressurized to the very end of each line that is on. With the lower pressure lines you can leave more lines on but it takes longer to wet the ground.
We constantly move the water to the area most in need, sometimes switching every 12 hours. Often we water several areas at a time.
Most fertilizer is broadcast or sprayed. We do have an old sprayer jerryrigged to hook into a manifold. We fertilize the raised bed strawberries with it. Here again, it is a matter of adjusting the number of lines to fill them with enough pressure.
The pressure from the well is 30 to 40. We have no other pressure regulator. We turn it on to area with open lines and adjust that number so that the lines are full and functioning. The pressure in each line is unknown.
I need to remind everyone reading this that I am in VA. I'm probably
clueless about Texas.
Hank

[QUOTE=JackE;234064]Because of the drought in Texas, we are switching from pond to well irrigation, and also lowering our acreage substantially. I have an old 2" well that has plenty of water - flow rate of about 12 gals/minute. We have installed an air compressor on this well, but no pump or anything else.

I want to irrigate as much as I can with drip tape, using this well. I know very little about drip tape, except that it has to have a filter, runs on low pressure and is permanently buried in the ground under each row. I only know what I have read and have never actually seen a piece of "drip tape".

Before investing a lot of money on developing this well/system further, I need to do my homework. Any advice, links or, especially, personal experience with drip tape, or similar systems, would be greatly appreciated. We will be running 100 ft rows and and can adjust our machinery to work over buried irrigation lines as necessary.

We have always had abundant water around here and could afford to waste it by running sprinklers and furrow irrigation, but those days seem to be over - not just this drought, but increasingly drier for some years.

Thanking y'all in advance. Lots of data on the web, but no substitute for personal experience, They're all selling something.

Jack Ellis - Gardeners for Jesus, Hillister Baptist Church, Tyler County, Texas[/QUOTE]

Quick question, why tape instead of a drip system?

Hank - I'm sure glad you shared that with me - it's very different from what I have been reading. Seems to be a lot more flexibility than I thought - with pressure, etc. I also thought it was permanent stuff that you keep using over and over. Discarding it annually could be costly? And everybody talks about filters. It's not as complicated as the suppliers make-out!

One more question - can you run it slightly uphill by adjusting the pressure or does the field have to be level?

***************************

Keith - For years and years we used a gravity drip system with a 300 gal supply tank, 2" pvc supply lines and manifolds, and 1/2" pvc feeder lines with 1/8" holes drilled at various distances apart. It wasn't really a drip system, just "leaky pipes" basically. The drawback was lack of uniformity (fields not level) and we couldn't run long rows. It was very inefficient even compared to sprinklers. We don't have the water supply for that sort of thing anymore.

I have no experience with real drip sytems, with emitters etc. I've always thought they were only used on very small gardens and required a constant water supply with consistent pressure 24/7. I have also heard that they are nightmare to keep open, even with clean municipal water. I have an open mind and would appreciate any links or info -I have the well up and running but I want to take my time in selecting this system - may have to live with it for a long time! May never rain again in Texas. LOL

Jack

i installed 3000 feet of netafim dripperline this spring and have been very happy with it... stuff is really easy to work with. cost was around 300 bucks for the line, filter, pressure regulator, fittings and shipping.

i have it laid out in 120 foot lengths with valves on each line.

netafim dripperline - I'm googling it right now - Thanks!

J

Just got back from Netafim dealer, SprinklerMart, website. Very impressed. I see that their driplines only have emitters at 12" and 18". In our sandy soil, water goes straight down and doesn't spread-out much - 12" might be a little too far apart for some crops.

The selection of fertilizer injectors and filters is outstanding and reasonably priced. Everything on th site is of commercial quality - no junk!

Which dripperline do you use, Bisgolf?

Jack

Jack
I use EuroDrip 5/8", 8mil, 12" spacing, low flow. About $ 175 for a 7500' roll.

Bud

Jack,

Just a few points that hopefully will be helpful:

- Drip Tape (T-Tape, John Deere, etc) and Drip Lines (Netafilm.etc) work similarly, but drip lines cost about 5-10 times as much as drip tape. The setup cost (filters. headers, pressure regulators) is probably about the same for each system, the difference is in the cost of the tape/dripper line itself. Dripper lines are a thick plastic tube with embedded (or individually installed) drippers, while drip tape is a thinner (commonly 8 mil) plastic tubing with holes in it. All of the flower farmers around here use the 8 mil drip tape w/ 8 inch spacing. It costs about $175 per 7500'. As a comparison, 7500' of Netfilm @ $68/250ft (from SprinklerMart website) would cost about $2000. Drip tape is rated for a single season (I get at least 2 years out of the cheapest T-Tape) while drip systems should last for years.

- You will have to figure your flow rate/supply to figure out how much line you can run. As an example, if you have a 12 GPM supply you could run about 17 100' rows using a high flow 8 mil .67 GPM /100 ' drip tape. Figure about 15 rows to allow for leakage, etc. So, every series of 15 rows would be run separately, either manually, or with a timer. A one-inch header poly pipe would be sufficient to supply the 12 GPM to the 15 rows. You could either use a pressure regulator inline, or adjust the flow with a manual valve. (what I do) Drip tape has to be run at low pressure (I believe 15 psi or less, check the specs), if it is under high pressure, it bursts. Too little pressure will give uneven water on fields with a slope, but I'm not sure what the recommended minimum pressure is. It is easy to adjust.

- With drip tape, expect to do repairs. I don't know how the varmit situation is in Texas, but here in So Cal I repair T-Tape holes almost every time I turn it on. Crows are so clever it doesn't take them long to discover there is water in the tape and they soon learn to poke holes in the tape to get a drink (usually at the end of the line). Coyote pups like to chew holes in tape just for the game. Similarly, if the tape is buried, gophers soon chew holes in it. If you incorporate a black plastic mulch it would take care of the crow problem. Also, black plastic mulch (or other mulches) are commonly used with tape to further conserve water and save on weeding labor costs. Repairs to the tape are easy and inexpensive. (except for the labor)

- If you use chemical fertilizers be sure to use a good pre-plant fertilizer. I use Apex slow release 14-14-14. You will also probably want an injector system to supplement fertilization as needed. However, soluble fertilizers, suitable for injector/tape systems are expensive, so use the pre-plant fert to cut down on this cost.

Good luck!
Steve

Thanks for all the invaluable info, Steve. The varmint problem is severe here. A couple years ago we built 4500 feet of hi-tension , 8 foot electric fence. Major project, but the deer were killing us. No more deer, but plenty of crows - who feasted this year when our lake pump started sucking air and 2500 tomato plants, laden with ripening fruit, withered and died in 100+ temps in late May. What a heartbreaker for our volunteers who had worked so hard with all that weaving etc! We got about 25% of expected yield.

Would the more expensive drip tape, with a harder wall, eliminate, or at least greatly reduce, the crow and gopher damage. The crows are so bad we can't grow melons anymore - they destroy every single one- and the covers didn't work-out very well for us.

*****************

Is this my old friend, Bud - from Bachelor, LA? I worried about you during the last flood on the Missisippi - Bachelor was ground zero according to TV reports! I think of you often - especially when weaving toms - you taught us so much about this business. The elderly volunteers hate the weaving system and want to go back to half cages- all that stooping is killing their backs. Some have quit. I myself have to walk on my knees - especially on that bottom run! All the younger members of our church have to work everyday!

We're finally being forced into drip tape :-)! Our 4 acre pond is virtually dry - the catfish have ticks on their backs! We were hoping for more rain from TS Lee, but y'all hogged most of it.LOL We did get a couple inches, which had no effect on the pond. And they are predicting a dry winter. We're completely shut-down - many volunteers have drifted away to other things and the church is losing interest in our project. We're just spending money now with no revenues! (mostly our personal money LOL - and Darlene is starting to apply the brakes). So, all in all, these are pretty tough times for market gardeners.

God bless you and your family - and thanks again for all your past help. Pray for rain over this way.

Jack

Jack,

I just noticed biscgolf's post above quoting a price of $300 for 3000' of the netafim system. That's a lot cheaper than the prices on the SprinlerMart website and puts it in competition with a drip tape system. I've never used the netafim system but the thicker poly pipe should be impervious to crows. The dealer should be able to tell you. Another option is to use a plastic mulch over the regular drip tape or bury the drip tape a few inches (I would use plastic mulch no matter which irrigation system I decided upon). The plastic mulch might, or might not, deter the crows - they are extremely clever and might soon learn how to find the tape through the slits in the plastic. Also, I'm not sure of the flow rate on the Netafim system biscgolf was referring to, so you would need to get that info to see how many 100' rows you can put on one header line. It sounds like your Feb. planting will give you a good opportunity to try either system on a small scale. Hopefully, biscgolf will post his source for the Netafim system - I might switch to it myself.

btw... I've never tested the thicker wall drip tape against crows or gophers. Might be worth a try.

Just another thought... you might contact the various companies and see what is involved in becoming a distributor for their respective drip systems. This would probably give you a huge price break and if there are more farmers in your area switching to drip systems it might be a good source of income for you. Of course, you would also want it to be the system that works the best for you.

We have never used plastic mulch, Steve, but we were planning on buying a mulch layer this year. I've tried laying that stuff by hand - never again! :-) We do have ample volunteer labor for hoeing and cultivating - we also us hi-tech herbicides that target specific weeds with little or no toxicity.

From what I read, we need to lay that tape real close to the seed line because water goes straight down in our sandy soil. That will work-out okay, because we normally "lay by" the new plants, as soon as they're big enough, with a half sweep plow - thus burying the weed seedlings and giving the plants a chance to form a shade canopy. This will bury the tape under a couple inches of dirt, thus protecting it from solar damage. We run the pathways once or twice with selective herbicides, but we never spray it "over the top", even if the product is labelled for that. We use chemicals judiciously and sparingly - but we are not "purists."

I was in the contracting business for 50 years - all I do now is, frankly, "play farmer" and spend money. I'm 75 and don't have too long to go. :-) The last thing I need is a job. :-) That's a good idea, though. I'm going to mention it to a younger friend who has a degree in agronomy and manages a 5000 acre cattle ranch next door to me. This year, he is running those huge "walking" sprinklers, from enormous 12 inch wells! You wouldn't believe the amount of water they throw out! I'm worried about him sucking down our water table.

Jack

J

Jack,

If you're planning on buying a mulch layer then you're farming on a much larger scale than I am.

I've never seen how the lettuce growers plant under the plastic mulch (or if they do) but I just assumed it was by growing the seeds in plugs and then plugging them in through slits in the plastic (and next to the tape). I've seen some field flower growers use this method - usually to keep the critters from eating the seeds before they germinate. And yes, if seeding in sandy soil I think it would be necessary to walk the line for the first waterings to make sure there are no dry/bare spots. For short season crops plastic mulch might not be a desirable or cost effective option. Maybe some "real" farmers will chime in on this.

Also, I seem to remember reading that the thicker wall drip tape was recommended if you are burying it more than a few inches. Not sure the reasoning there - I bury the cheap tape an inch or two by when I "lay by". Usually, though, I end up digging it out to repair the gopher holes...

The little mulch layer we were looking at is under 3K. It hills, stretches tight and buries the edges. It's for a smaller tractor and only uses 4' plastic.

There are three growers in our project with a total of 15 acres under irrigation (at least the plumbing is still there LOL). We each specialize - one guy does corn, potatoes and snap beans, another specializes in purplehull peas (#1 one veggie here - we never have enough. People fight over them at harvest). I grow the tomatoes, cukes and peppers plus some winter crops. I have 22 acres, but only use three for veggies.

Of course that was all pre-drought - things have changed so much here it's hard to say what our future is now. Our other two growers both had a lot of cattle to feed or sell and veggies were at the bottom of their priorities this summer. It's been a nightmare for everyone - farmers and ranchers alike. Except for the really big operators with heavy-duty wells to irrigate hay fields, all the cattle are gone now. West of here, many died of thirst and starvation, stuck in the mud of what was once their watering holes. And many animals were roasted alive in wildfires. And it's not over - they say next year will be the same!

I searched the web but couldn't find a Netafim hi-flow product with the 8" spacing I want. So I am ordering a 4100 ft roll of thick wall (15mm) from Dripworks for $270, minus a commercial discount.

Jack

[QUOTE=Heritage;234304]Jack,

I just noticed biscgolf's post above quoting a price of $300 for 3000' of the netafim system. That's a lot cheaper than the prices on the SprinlerMart website and puts it in competition with a drip tape system. I've never used the netafim system but the thicker poly pipe should be impervious to crows. The dealer should be able to tell you. Another option is to use a plastic mulch over the regular drip tape or bury the drip tape a few inches (I would use plastic mulch no matter which irrigation system I decided upon). The plastic mulch might, or might not, deter the crows - they are extremely clever and might soon learn how to find the tape through the slits in the plastic. Also, I'm not sure of the flow rate on the Netafim system biscgolf was referring to, so you would need to get that info to see how many 100' rows you can put on one header line. It sounds like your Feb. planting will give you a good opportunity to try either system on a small scale. Hopefully, biscgolf will post his source for the Netafim system - I might switch to it myself.[/QUOTE]

sorry, haven't been online for a bit- too busy making like a duck with all the darn rain... wish i could send it to texas...

i got my stuff from griffin greenhouse supply... griffins dot com is their website

We got the pump installed on the new well and plumbed it into the existing irrigation piping (all 2"). The pressure pump delivered water to all sections of the gardens - once it filled all that big 2" pipe, which took awhile!. I think, surprisingly, there may be enough water in that little well to run a lot of drip tape! All we'll have to do is to add some valves to make smaller zones. We installed a float switch in the 300 gal storage tank so the pressure pump won't burn-up if we pull more water than the well supplies.

I'm ready to order the tape and fittings now, along with the filter and pressure regulator. But I still haven't decided whether to go with fertilizer injection or not. I don't really understand how it delivers a uniform amount - I need to read-up on it. Do any of you guys have an injector? Or know anything about them?

Jack

Well, I read-up on the different kinds of injectors, how they work, etc. It still doesn't register in my very limited intellect - it has the smell of problems and trouble to me. :no:

I think, instead, that I'll leave tractor lanes between every six rows like I do now, and continue to apply the fertilizer with the trailer sprayer (100 gal tank, pto driven). Sitting on the tractor, using an ordinary garden hose nozzle with the pressure set at 20#, I can run 6 rows on each pass (three on each side) - applying exactly the right amount of fertilizer by just eyeballing it. That's what I've done for years.

On the other hand - I was a painting contractor, as was my father, and I remember as a teenager in the early fifties his refusing to use the new-fangled paint rollers and making us continue to use those miserable 12" wall brushes until the competition forced him to change. And I remember when airless sprayers first came out - backward like my father, I continued with the archaic, wasteful, unhealthy air sprayer until my best hands threatened to quit and the competition was killing me!

I guess I'm being the same way about fertilizer injectors! :? LOL

Jack

i decided it was not feasible for me to add an injection system at the time.

Well, I've done a lot more reading about fertilizer injection. I have learned this much - the electric units that inject a preset amount of fertilizer solution into the water are a lot better than the cheaper units that depend on water pressure alone (which work much like a Miracle Gro hose end feeder -VERY inaccurate.)

The Stenner electric pump unit looks good - pretty costly, though, at $455. You get what you pay for.

I don't want one that works on water pressure. The M-G hose-end applicator puts out an extremely strong, dark blue fert solution at first, and then it comes out almost clear! It's supposed to uniformly apply a solution of 1 lb of Miracle Gro to 50 gals of water. No Way! - it puts-out half the MG in the first 10 gals and virtually nothing for the last 40 gals! I ran a feeder-full into a 50 gal drum once to verify that.

As I understand it, with the electric unit you can apply a consistent solution regardless of water pressure. Is that right?

Jack

correct- as you say, you get what you pay for...

Thanks Bisgolf -- before I spend 500 bucks of our church's money, I'd sure like to talk to a few small growers that use injectors. I 've been to a few ag websites where big farmers hang-out - too technical for me - all math! Complicated equations, sophisticated electronics etc etc. Seems that modern farmers all have degrees in engineering!

Jack

@biscgolf - thanks for the griffins link...

Jack, the water powered injector pumps are extremely accurate and have nothing in common with a MG hose-end sprayer. I use both the Dosatron and the Dosmatic injectors and am happy with both.

Here is a link at Dosmatic that explains how to select an injector:
[URL]http://www.dosmatic.com/inj.php?lang=en[/URL]

and a link at Dosatron explaining how they work:
[URL]http://www.dosatronusa.com/how-it-works.aspx[/URL]

If you have a fertilizing method that works for you I would stick with it - you can always add an injector later if you find you need one. Good injectors are expensive and the soluble fertilizer for injecting is also expensive. I usually use a pre-plant slow-release fertilizer and only supplement with the injector system. Supplying all of the fertilizer with the injector system alone was getting too expensive. Of course, if you are a large enough grower you could get a lot better deal on fertilizer than I do. I'm a very small grower and buy my soluble fertilizer in 50 lb. bags and not by the truckload.

I just started using drip tape this year over in Dallas. I use the slow flow tape since our black clay holds water well. The company I ordered from, Dripworks, has a free design service. I emailed them with the dimensions of my garden, my water pressure, etc. and they gave me a rough design.

Pete