irrigating a garden?

[Jbbies]

Ok, If this has been discussed point me to the thread, If not what are all your favorite types of garden irrigation? Last year I had a garden and used combo of soaker hose and sprinklers. It was ok but I feel there is something better. I am going to put in a 1/4 acre garden or so and I am gathering ideas on the best way to water it. flood, drip? what else?

Thanks for any thoughts.

 

[jinman]

We used these flat soaker hoses last year and found them to be quite good. They don't deteriorate like the rubber soaker hoses since they are made of a sun-resistant synthetic material. They also have more even water distribution.

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001IKVWVW/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B001IKU3QC&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1775MSVVF3FKTZQ5WVPG"]50-ft flat soaker[/ame]

 

[Bird]

Also depends on how much time you have and/or how much time you want to spend in the garden. I never used, or even wanted to use, a sprinkler since that makes too much mud in between the rows. So the soaker hoses seem to me to be a much better idea. But when we lived in Navarro County, I had plenty of time and I had a heavy steel stake driven in the ground at the end of each row, and I simply drug an ordinary garden hose up and down the rows (83' rows) and hand watered with an ordinary high volume, low pressure wand. That put all the water in the row, kept the ground dry that I had to walk on, and avoided encouraging weeds and grass between the row. The steel stakes kept me from dragging the hose across any of my garden plants.

 

[DennisArrow]

For me, I have a collection of soaker/drip hoses that I weave in, out, and around selected plants or rows. In addition TSC last year had the back and forth type sprinklers that fit on top of a "t" post.......I put up a few fence posts in selected places and this supplemented rain on the garden and then used the drip hoses for "dry" periods.........Worked well for me, even when we took a 6 week vacation and the neighbor got custody..........Was so easy to do that even she couldn't kill it..........God bless........Dennis

 

[Jstpssng]

My garden is about 1/4 mile from my house on a slpoe. I've always carried water in totes, parked uphill and watered direct with a hose; in really dry years I've run soaker hoses for my row crops.

Last year I brought home a 275 gallon oil drum and planned to fill it from a nearby lake; but the summer was so wet I didn't need it.



I don't need to worry about that right now, my garden's covered with snow.

 

[Jbbies]

Thanks guys, I was thinking about doing a pvc system and irrigate it like your standard flood? I want to be able to get down the rows with a small garden tractor and a cultivator for weeding. Anyone have any creative systems for something like this?

 

[groundcover]

These guys have a lot of good info : Drip Irrigation - DripWorks Drip Irrigation Systems & Supplies

 

[bp fick]

A lot depends upon your cost for water, as well.

I pump my own water, so there's only a very minimal cost for the electricity. Very, very reasonable. I irrigated an acre of garden last year and expect to do 2 acres this year. We must. Our rains are not timely and the soil is porous.

I use elevated rain-birds. If I had higher water costs, I would not. The investment in a drip system would then be cost effective.

 

[TRR]

As for drip irrigation systems: They work in some places and not so well in others. My neighbor tried drip irrigation on his pecan grove and told me it didn't work so well because the ants ate the drip tubing. I put in a small orchard last year and had to put in irrigation and the only practical one was drip. Within 6 months I had duplicated my neighbor's experience.

 

[Bird]

Thanks guys, I was thinking about doing a pvc system and irrigate it like your standard flood? I want to be able to get down the rows with a small garden tractor and a cultivator for weeding. Anyone have any creative systems for something like this?

I don't reckon it was very creative, but I spaced my rows to allow for that, and I changed the spacing when I traded my B7100 for a B2710.

 

[flusher]

Ok, If this has been discussed point me to the thread, If not what are all your favorite types of garden irrigation? Last year I had a garden and used combo of soaker hose and sprinklers. It was ok but I feel there is something better. I am going to put in a 1/4 acre garden or so and I am gathering ideas on the best way to water it. flood, drip? what else?

Thanks for any thoughts.

1/4" dripline with emitters built into the hose every 6-12 inches.

 

[Danno1]

.


Does anybody bury those porous black rubber soaker hoses? I thought I saw that mentioned on this site somewhere.


.

 

[jinman]

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Does anybody bury those porous black rubber soaker hoses? I thought I saw that mentioned on this site somewhere.


.

Yes, they work good for about 1/2 of the gardening season and then start having holes come into them or get brittle and break. They are about $7 each and last one season if you are lucky. That's why I went with the flat soakers I posted earlier in this thread.

 

[charlz]

In part of my garden I have 'permanent' drive-on raised beds with lawn grass in between. For irrigation I have a 1 inch black poly 'header' pipe buried beneath the top of the rows. Each row has a 1/2 inch riser that sticks out about a foot. To that I connect 1/2 inch poly that I have put drip emitters in. I have various ones made up, some with 4 foot spacing for say pumpkins and some with 12 inch spacing for smaller crops. For dense crops I have a header made out of the 1/2 inch pipe using T's and elbows so I can run 3 of the drip lines down the row. The drip runs off a timer and my irrigation system runs off my pond. Downside is everything gets the same amount of water whether it needs it or not.

When I go to till the beds with the tractor I fold the riser back and set a brick on it, that keeps it out of the tiller. Even if you do chop it off it is pretty easy to dig down a little and extend it with a coupling and new piece.

I have tried in the past but now tend to steer away from the drip line that has the emitters built in. They do clog after a while so with the built in emitters there is not much you can do. Instead I use drip line that I install the emitters in. Each year after laying out the lines I go down each drip line and change out the emitters that are clogged. Some also get broken or torn out when you pull the lines out in the fall before tilling.


We are set up for flood here and I do irrigate part of my garden via flood. Flood irrigation takes a lot of water. If you are not getting your water from a ditch or pond where you can get a lot of it in short order it probably will not work too well. You are definitely not going to be able to flood effectively from a well unless your running like a 1.5 inch hose. You would be better off walking down the rows with a hose and manually give each plant water.

 

[Paddy]

Here is what I did. I don't garden in a traditional way. I hate dealing with weeds and mud. I placed carpet up side down in strips 3-4' wide. Only dig the dirt where the plant is going. So imagine a nice trench of good dirt. then I have 18" long pc of black drain pipe stuck in like fence posts down the row. When I water, I just fill the black pipe. Gets the water right down to the roots, soil at top remains dry. also trains the roots down instead of up

works for smaller gardens

 

[Jbbies]

I tried the black soaker hoses last year and had trouble with keeping the mud from clogging up the pores, live in very clay soil and it sticks to everything when wet. I going to design something with maybe an underground main line out of poly and put pvc risers on it and floor irrigate the rows. Trying to decide if its best to irrigate between rows or on the actual row itself. Am I making any sense?

Thanks

 

[samhudson3]

groundcover has it covered, check out DripWorks. They have a great website, and they answer the phone when you call!

I have 8 to 10 60' raised bed rows, and use t-tape. Just mulch right over it, easy to get water to the roots and not on the plants, which prevents disease.

It looks like this: Drip Irrigation Kit - Row Crop Kit

A system doesn't cost alot, and will pay for itself in time saved and veggies produced.

 

[JoelT]

BP,

How much water do you estimate you pumped a day to irrigate that 1 acre garden?

 

[dmccarty]

I used a sprinkler for a couple of years then went to the black round soaker houses. The soaker hoses are easy to slice with a hoe when weeding. I have had them rip when moving them as well because weeds/plants had grown over them.

The year before that I did not have to irrigate since we got plenty of rain. :thumbsup: Last year we did not have a garden because the wifey had surgery and a long recovery.

I have looked at Drip irrigation, had the catalog, planned everything out but never spent the money. :laughing:

This year I will see what happens with rain. If the rain continues like it has been for months we would not need to irrigate.

Later,
Dan