How much water for a 1 acre garden?

[EddieWalker]

We are clearing and leveling an acre for our veggie garden and I'm curious how much water I will need on a daily basis to keep it going. The reason this is a concern is that I am going to either drill a well, or have one drilled for me. The size of the pump will decide if I have to go 4 inches or 6 inches. We also want to go solar on this and have the pump run off of solar panels when the sun is up. Just start pumping all day long and fill up a storage tank.

The size of the storage tank is why I'm asking this question. Is 2,500 gallons enough? From what I've read, I can get that much water in a full day pretty easy with what's available. It's not cheap, but it's doable. Is that enough for an acre? not enough? or too much and I can save by going smaller?

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[cqaigy2]

That sounds like a very interesting project!

I'm not sure where you would get the info, but i remember listening to the radio to see what the evaporation rate for the previous day was and running the irrigation to replace that amount. I imagine your Cooperative Extension has records that would give you a good idea how much water you'll need to during you growing season.

 

[randy41]

most veggies call for 1" a week. an acre is a very big garden. you'll need 27,000 gallons of water to irrigate 1 acre with 1".

 

[charlz]

It all starts with some basic questions you need to answer up front. What crops are you going to grow? How are you planning on watering: sprinklers, drip, flood? How many rows are you going to have and how long will they be?

Different crops have different water needs and different spacing. I haven't worried much about it since I run my garden system off my pond. I like to use the 2gph emitters as it is easy to see if they are working. Each spring when I lay the lines out I turn them on and replace emitters that no longer work... kinda like checking Christmas lights. In my raised bed area I have 8 rows 50ft long. This year 3 beds are single line 12inch space emitters, 2 are fallow and 3 are triple line 12inch spaced emitters (corn which likes its water). So that is 12 lines at 50 feet each for a total of 600 feet, I know I have an emitter every foot so that is about 600 emitters. At 2gph that means I need 1200 gallons to water for an hour. I actually water 45 minutes twice a day during the hottest part of summer. If your squash, pumpkins etc go limp during the day you know you are not watering them enough.

A one acre garden is a lot bigger than that. In fact, it is pretty dang big unless you are truck gardening maybe you can look at a smaller garden but use it more intensely.

 

[EddieWalker]

The area being cleared is an acre. There will be paths, a chicken coop, green house, deck area with a small koi pond and raised beds for herbs. There will also be some fruit trees along the one edge of it without a ton of native trees already. Our plan is to get it cleared, then graded for everything, fenced and then start using part of it the first year and expanding it every year up to that.

To get the water to the plants, we are thinking PVC pipe to center points and drip hoses to the plants. I'm also thinking of open ditches, but I have my doubts on how well that will work. Seems like I need more water for all that.

Eddie

 

[charlz]

For the drip it will make your life a lot easier if you run everything off a sprinkler timer(s). Something to think about when siting garden versus your well, solar, sprinkler timers, valves etc.

 

[brucew44guns]

An acre of ground for garden is very big. Canning, eating fresh, and giving stuff away---all that will have to be substantial to be able to use that much produce. Believe me, I am a garden nut, I plant hundreds of trees bare root on my farm, and undertake many projects that some would slink away from because of the extra work. But I caution you to measure and consider your project here, it will take a ton of water, and tons of hard work just to keep that area weeded and fertilized if you do it organically. Im 68 now, still an able bodied soul, but a 60X120 foot area is about all we can give away, can, freeze. and eat fresh. And yes, my excellent well runs thousands of gallons of water regularly in this drought.

 

[hunterridgefarm]

The area being cleared is an acre. There will be paths, a chicken coop, green house, deck area with a small koi pond and raised beds for herbs. There will also be some fruit trees along the one edge of it without a ton of native trees already. Our plan is to get it cleared, then graded for everything, fenced and then start using part of it the first year and expanding it every year up to that.

To get the water to the plants, we are thinking PVC pipe to center points and drip hoses to the plants. I'm also thinking of open ditches, but I have my doubts on how well that will work. Seems like I need more water for all that.

Eddie

Eddie,

I have a set up very similar, greenhouse, raised beds for herbs, fruit trees, blueberry and blackberry. I have a 1200 gallon tank set up for this. The plan was to put power to the greenhouse and garden shed this year and run a small electric pump on a timer for the raised beds/greenhouse/fruits. Due to the extremely wet year there has been no need to do this.

This will be our winter project for next year. I plan to use PVC with misters for the greenhouse and drip for the raised beds and fruits.

This is a good source however I am sure you have someone more local. Berry Hill Drip Irrigation

My garden is 2-3 acres and I pump out of a river. Sprinklers are not the most efficient way to water. Remember sprinklers water the weeds as well as the crops. Drip or T tape is usually the best for getting water and nutrients to the crop/plants. You also can use less fertilizer this way. You can bury it, leave it on top of the ground, or put it under plastic mulch.

Drip also keeps water off the leaves which helps prevent some of the fungus garden plants sometimes get. Even pumpkins don't like water on there leaves.

Our plan was to use drip tape this year in the garden but again due to excessive rain there was no need this year. The only time I irrigated this year was when I hooked my system up to blow the lines out. I think it has rained everyday since.

Depending on your set up a holding tank would be good to use. Depending on you gallons per minute on the well you may not need a holding tank. Most drip tape runs at 10psi or less and usually 2-3 hours depending on size irrigated would work every other day. Of course it is a little hotter in Texas so a local Aigr Extension service should be able to help.

If there is a local produce farmer around he could be a wealth of information.

David

 

[jinman]

Eddie, I'm going to suggest that you go ahead and clear and fence an acre, but put in 1/4 ac the first year to see how it goes. Jumping into a full acre is a big expense, and maintaining it while in the learning mode can be awfully tough. During the first year, you'll learn what crops need to be planted early like onions, potatoes, beans, turnips, and leaf crops. Those will need very little watering because they grow during our cool/wet season. It's the later crops that need more water like melons, squash, corn, peas, okra, cucumbers. Row crops work well with soaker hoses. Vegetables that you plant in hills like melons, squash, and cucumbers will be better served to be watered with drip irrigation as will your tomato crop. I suggest using wide spacing on the tomatoes so you can get around them when they become mature and to keep disease from spreading between plants. My opinion is that you'll have plenty of water from a regular well for the whole acre. A larger storage tank will help, but it's not necessary. 10 gpm is equal to 600 gph. That's a huge amount of water if you are applying it directly with soaker hoses or drip irrigation. The info David and Charlz are giving is spot on.

I think maintenance of the garden and weed control during the early growing is one of the hardest things to do. For your plants to grow, you have to keep the soil aerated and weeds under control. Mulches, poly, and other ground covers can really aid in this. My ground can be nice and fluffy, but turns hard as a rock on top when it drys and gets sun-baked. Mulching will help keep moisture in the soil and reduce the amount of cultivation and aeration you have to do. Poly row covers are a lot of work to install, but save far more work later on in the growing season.

With a full acre, one of your biggest problems will be harvest. When produce starts to mature and produce fruit/veggies, you can get covered up in a hurry. You'll need a good plan for processing lots and lots of veggies or build yourself a fruit stand out by the highway to sell produce. You can do some timing of crops and spread out your harvest, but it is a ton of work to pick, sort, and cull veggies. Just remember, to sell, it has to be pretty as well as fresh. We used to keep the culls for ourselves and sell the rest. The culls are just fine, but they won't sell.

 

[RobertN]

Local Ag extension and Master Gardeners are a great resource. You kind of need to go to them with what you want to plant though.

Drip works great; my wife has it throughout her garden. you'll use less water, and get the water you do use, exactly where it is needed.

When using drip, remember it does not take much pressure. Regulate it down to 10-15psi. All the drip buttons are sensitive to debri in the water and will clog; make sure to filter the water(we filter at the pump, and filter at each circuit).

Don't use cheap 1/2" tube and components from the box stores. They do not last, and will give you grief. Valves can be finicky about operating at low flow; Rainbird, Hunter, and Irritrol make valves for this purpose(not found at box stores). You are a contractor; get an account at John Deere Lanscape or similar. And get a good controller with lots of expandability. I really like the Hunter "Pro" controllers. Reasonably priced, easy to use, and expandable. FWIW, we have 24 stations at home; every bed is on different times and zones, as well as fruit trees and other yard area's.

Get the Hunter, Rainbird, and Netfim catalogs. Lots of good design info in those.