Got water???????

Junkman · Aug 3, 2005

Don't know about the rest of the country or the county, but around here the ground is so dry that plants that have been in the ground for 5 - 10 years are starting to fail from lack of water. I just laid out 1000 feet of 1" black plastic to get water to some of them that are in desperate need, but I am not sure that it might be too little too late. How are the rest of TBN land doing in the irrigation department? Seems that all the rain is going either above or below where I live. Haven't cut the grass in 3 weeks and even though it is still green, the neighbors that have cut theirs the grass has turned brown. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
I would like to put a drip irrigation system under the more delicate plantings, but am not familiar with this type of irrigation. Any suggestions as to brand, installation, or where to buy it, would be greatly appreciated. For now, I am just going to flood the plants with water every day hoping to save them.

RobertN · Aug 3, 2005

Those are typical condidtions out here. I always found it interesting, that when I called friends and business associates in Ct during the summer, it would be dry and hot here, but it would be raining there.

We use a lot of drip irrigation around our place...

Leave the grass tall... Short nad it will burn, not only the leaf, but the root...

Bird · Aug 3, 2005

Junkman, I had the highest water bill this past month that I've ever gotten, ran two sprinklers all morning again this morning, and the grass and the wife's flowers still look like they're starving for water. And most of our neighbors' lawns look even worse; brown as if it were early December.

And to make matters worse, it's so hot the electric company is having troubles. Our power was off for 40 minutes (1 p.m. to 1:40 p.m.) Sunday afternoon, and an hour (2:37 p.m. to 3:37 p.m.) today; outside temperature 96 at the time. Several neighbors didn't get power restored Sunday for a couple of hours after ours came back on, and now today, several are still without power this afternoon, more than 2 hours after ours came back on. So at least we've been luckier than our neighbors. Right now the power company has two big bucket trucks and one pickup sitting in front of our house. Hope they knock our power out again while trying to restore the neighbors'.

boustany · Aug 3, 2005

Up until a couple weeks ago we hadn't had rain in 3 or 4 weeks. The grass was all brown, etc..

Things picked up recently - as you may have heard about the plane crash caused by the weather in Toronto (about 20 minutes from me)

arthr31 · Aug 3, 2005

dry as dust in southern middlesex county MA - so dry oak leaves are turning brown and failing... linked to global warming??

jeffinsgf · Aug 3, 2005

Junkman, I just put in a sprinkler system and put a drip system on a section of newly planted rose verbena ground cover. The folks at Ewing irrigation sold me a flat brown hose with an emitter hole every 12 inches. You attach a pressure regulator to your piping then a fitting from the regulator to the drip hose. It was dead simple and the verbena looks fantastic even though we haven't seen more than 1/4 inch of rain since May. Ewing has a web site, though I didn't get it there. We have a retail location right here in Springfield. If you have trouble tracking downthe stuff, let me know and I will look up specifics of manufacturer and model. I know that there was also spacing of 6 inches and 18 inches.

txdon · Aug 3, 2005

"...they are starting condemnation proceedings to take my property by eminent domain." -Junkman 

So why are you watering other people's property? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

FL_Cracker · Aug 3, 2005

Well, my story is very different. At my place in Palm City, FL we get rain EVERY DAY... Don in OKEE will tell you about water....

As for BLue Ridge, GA it's been the raining for 8 months.... If I could bottle it and sent it to you I would pay the freight... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

RobertN · Aug 4, 2005

Some drip hints...

Get good stuff. The 0.50" stuff does not flow as much water, and is typically thin walled. It does not last well. Run over it twice with the tractor, and it is shot. Get 0.700, and get a good grade(usually at an irrigation/landscape place, not the box stores; there is a difference between consumer and contractor grade)

Get a single type of hose. It is a real pain if 1/2" and 0.700" is mixed together!You can use 1" too. But, keep it all one size.

Filter the water and regulate it. Drip emitters clog easily. Get a good "Y" filter. Even on city water, it is surprising the grit and junk that you find in the filters. Regulate it down to 20psi. Drip fittings are compression, and blow apart with higher pressure. Remember, you want water to drip over a long period so it is absorbed in the ground. Keep the filter clean too...

Keep emitters and sprayers on different circuits. They both have thier place. But, those little sprayers will put out lots of water and flood one area, while the emitters are still trying to get water out. Best to keep them on seperate circuits.

Not all auto valves work with drip. Make sure the ones you get are compatible. Some valves don't shut off very well with low flows.

Size the emitter to the plant. A good starting point is to think of a potted plant. A one-gallon plant typically would like a gallon of water.

Remember, as the plant grows, so does the water requirement. If you install drip now, you will need to adjust it next year as the plants have grown. That 1/2 gallon plant this year, will be a 1 gallon next year, and needs emitters adjusted.

Keep 1/4" tube less than 10', and minimize multiple connections. 1/4" hose can't flow much water. Over distance, performance is poor. Since it can't flow much water, mutiple taps on it will give poor results.

Use more than one circuit. Trees like a really deep watering, but less often. Some plants, like day lillies, may want water much more often. You may have one circuit for trees, one for plants with emitters, and one for plants with sprayers.
Leave it on! A 1gph emitter needs an hour to get that water out...

There are some nice in-line drip hoses, with emitters ever 6, 12, or 18". Netafim is pretty nice. You can get it in 1/4". Run the plain tube to the plant or tree. Install a "T". Use a small loop of the emitter tube to make a ring and connect to the "T".

Sunset books are a great reference, and are a book of reverence for gardeners in the west. They have expanded to many parts of the US now, and have great info on water, soil, and planting requirements. Do a web search for Sunset Garden Books.

PhilNH5 · Aug 4, 2005

I live in SE NH and consider this a relatively wet summer. My pond usually looses lots of water come August but this year it is as full as ever.
My grass is to high cuse I am having a hard time cutting around the T-storm schedule.

Phil

slowrev · Aug 4, 2005

Junk,
It is so hot and dry here that the weeds are having a hard time growing. Seriously. I guess the farm and home store is not selling much roundup at all this year. Corn is about half height and fully silked out. Large 50 year old trees look wilted...Just plain bad dry.

Ben

kensfarm · Aug 4, 2005

I hit the switch for my creek water pump Tues. night.. let it run until sun up.. then turn it off in the day. We have highs of the upper 90's this week w/ 3 digit heat factor #'s.

EastTexFrank · Aug 4, 2005

Good one Don. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Junk, it's been dry here too - high 90's and triple digit heat index. It sure makes it tough to work outside. Any rain that's going around seems to miss out place. I'm really glad that I drilled the deep water well and installed the sprinkler system when we bought the place. Otherwise it would be a never ending job dragging hoses over a 4 acre yard. The downside is that I still have to cut the grass every 5-7 days in all that heat.

I don't have a lot of experience with drip systems although I have one rigged up to water my wife's vegetable garden. It's connected to the water well too. I'm still experimenting with it though so you've got much better advice elsewhere than any I could give you but one thing that I have found is to stay away from the small diameter soaker hose. Even with an in-line filter, they "blind" too easily and need to be replaced every few months or at least once a year.

hobbyfarm · Aug 4, 2005

Shoot Junkman,
Around here, people are scavenging their A/C drippins! /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
After all, plenty of humidity in the air! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

slowrev · Aug 4, 2005

Junk,
When I lived in FL I bought a Rain Bird ? drip kit from Home Depot.
It had little drippers of varying rates of GPH delilvery. Was small tubing with an adapter to connect to a hose bibb. I connected mine to the sptinkler system so I did not have to mess with truning it on and off. You could also get little sprinkler heads and such for it.
Worked well, had a dripper in each large potted plant outside and around ground plantings as well. The small tubing was easy to route and hide in the mulch. The kit was sort of a starter set and you could buy the rest of the stuff to add on to it.

Ben

hobbyfarm · Aug 4, 2005

Boy, I'm happy /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif to know this ain't the only desert around here! /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

I think I've got you all beat, my cactus is wilting!

Junkman · Aug 4, 2005

( .................I think I've got you all beat, my cactus is wilting! )

Dilute one Viagra tablet in a gallon of water and pour around the bottom of the plant... If it stays straight for more than 4 hours, take it to the hospital emergency room or consult a whoarticultrist...../forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Junkman · Aug 4, 2005

/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gifThe rumor about town is the town wants to apply for a Federal Improvement Grant for blighted areas. My place is the closest to this that the town can find. As part of the overall plan, they are going to clean my place somewhat and then consider it a blighted slum. Now to my way of thinking, I have a grandfathered automobile salvage yard, Junkman repair facility for anything that might need repair-in, a cemetery with 6 permanent residents, museum of unknown miscellaneous artifacts from an era gone by, a butterfly and bumble bee refuge, and a natural wildlife preserve with all the deer, porcupine, raccoons, mice, rats, muskrats, beaver, bats, birds, bees, etc.. I, and the Lovely Mrs_Junkman are not going to leave without a hard fought fight, so we intend to pretty up the place a little bit to try to sway the Commission. The other thing going in our favor is that we are the sole remaining descendants of the long lost and rarely known Junkman Tribe of CT. This is our ancestral land and is covered with burial ground mounds of genuine junk. This is a picture of our home sweet home..... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif