I think I'm going no-till

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

Do you mean Hozon? I got it to work with the drip when I had a big field of melons going. It was at least 1,200' of row. I'm going to have almost 900 feet, so it will be close.

Yes the Hozon.
They say water flow but it is really velocity in the venturi that cases the suction just like a carburetor.

This is why when you have an engine idling with too big of a carburetor it bogs down when you hammer it.
The area opens up the velocity drops and the engine stumbles until it can catch up.
I am thinking if a person could make the outlet hole smaller on the Hozon the velocity would be greater at a lower flow rate.
It would take some sort of long bushing.

Worth

[Cole_Robbie]

Morgan County Seed sells an injector they make. It has an adjustable flow rate. I wonder if they are using a valve to accomplish flow rate adjustment, so the injector will work for any size of drip system.

[Marcus1]

Cole Robbie, the syphon jet I use is just one of those cheep brass ones that screws onto a garden hose. Like Worth says its the velocity of the flow going through that creates the suction. My well puts out about 20 gal per minute, the syphon jet flows about 3.5 gal pm. I open enough valves off my header line to equal the 20 gpm and still maintain the 10 psi I run my drip at, which is about 2000 ft of tape. The flow through the syphon jet is always at full flow since it feeds in after the pressure reducer, and the pressure reducer equalizes the the flow to keep my header line at the 10 psi.
Marcus

[Worth1]

If it adjusts the flow rate for the fertilizer it will still have to have the same amount of water flow or velocity to get it to suck.
Just like the jets on a carburetor on an airplane that can richen or lean out the fuel at altitude.

Like this.

[Worth1]

I have a design going that will inject fertilizer into a system at any flow rate at any pressure at any amount you want.

Worth

[zeuspaul]

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

One of the many intriguing uses for humic acid is to neutralize chloramine from tap water.

I use Vitamin C because it is very fast acting.

My irrigation water is 17 psi gravity fed so siphon injectors won't work for me. I use a Mixrite injector. Next time I'll get a Dosatron.

[FourOaks]

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

I have big bales of hay that I could use to mulch the walkways, but I am a little scared I am going to get mice and snakes living in it. I may just buy the $300 DeWalt cordless string trimmer I have been wanting, and then weed-eat everything.

I can't attest to hay, but I have used wood mulch. Plain wood mulch that I get from the city. I get it for $20 for a truck load. I have a full size pickup, so for $20, its a deal to good to pass up.

I lined my walkways in my garden to keep the weeds at bay. I didn't see hide nor hair of a snake. No mice either. They seem to live in my crawl space.. Over the season the wood mulch packs down pretty tight with regular walking on it.

[Cole_Robbie]

The places in the cow field where I scraped up dirt are prime bovine sunning locations. The dark ground heats up in the sun, making a nice warm spot to lay down:



The little black spot on the upper right is a baby calf.

[Scooty]

In the dead heat of summer, do you pull up the black plastic mulch outside the tunnels? You mentioned leaving them there for the tunnels all winter.

[Cole_Robbie]

Nope. I use drip irrigation, and drip without mulch is a weed explosion. The land is infested with Johnson Grass and Horse Weed, aka Mare's Tail. Large plants shade the plastic from getting direct sun, anyway, so the heat aspect isn't really an issue.

My grandparents never did well with black plastic mulch and pumpkins, I think because they get planted later, in June. Small plants and hot summer sun don't mix well with the black plastic. White plastic would have worked better, I think.

[Worth1]

Johnson grass what a nightmare that isn't native to the US.
The movie The New World I think has some in it and it wasn't even here at that time.

Worth

[Scooty]

Presumably you leave the drip irrigation in during the winter? Just pull out collectors and drain before frost?

[Cole_Robbie]

After I cover the new ground with plastic, I think I can get two years out of the plastic and drip. My dripline from last year was re-used from the year before. I'm going to toss it and put down new stuff.

Today I pulled up some old black plastic from last year. The way that the Johnson Grass roots grow under the plastic is incredible. I'm glad there are no white snakes here, because I wouldn't be able to tell them apart from the Johnson Grass. I was yanking up 3-4' sections of it that looked like big snakes. Even deprived of light, it will still grow under the plastic, at least the roots.

The Horseweed is native, but it is wicked nasty stuff, too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conyza_canadensis
Horseweed infestations have reduced soybean yields by as much as 83%. It is an especially problematic weed in no-till agriculture, as it is often resistant to glyphosate and other herbicides.Farmers are advised to include 2,4-D or dicamba in a burndown application prior to planting to control horseweed.

[bower]

Cole, that pic of the cows is wonderful. They look like they're growing out of the ground... it reminded me of that myth about the dragon's teeth.
This is a great thread, I have to follow now and see what happens in 2016.

[greenthumbomaha]

I was going to start a weed block thread (anyone?) , but think this might help you. Dewitt makes a UV resistant weed block called Sunbelt that is said to block weeds for 5-7 years without covering. It comes in 4 or 6 foot 300 foot rolls, around 100 for the former. I doubt it would stand up to hoof traffic but might keep your weeds in crop areas at bay.

- Lisa