8/15/2013

Irrigationbasicsforhomeand smallscalemarketgardens

Whydoweirrigateatall?
Foodproduction
Orchardsandgardens

Or Howmuch HowOften and Where?

Waterconservation
Investmentin technology

Terminology
Spray
Popups,stationary heads,microspray

PartsandPieces
Tubing Solid Builtinemitters orspotemitters Emittersandminisprays GPHrating Fittings Compressionvs.threaded Controllers Batteryoperatedhoseendvs.Fullyautomated Backflowpreventer Homeownerliability Pressurereducers Optimumoperationofsystem

Rotors
Impact,geardriven,spiral

Drip
Inlineemitters,soaker, spotemitters

Homeownerorprofessional?
Licenses
Connectiontoapublicwatersystem

Notonesizefitsall
The need to customize irrigation systems has led to the creation of many methods and products. Often combinations of several products will be used in production gardens drip , poly pipe, rotors, etc.

Liability
Contaminationofyourwatersupply
Privatewell

Ability
Complexityofsystem Physicalrequirements

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Typicallayoutforbasicdrip

T TapeandPolypipew/emitters

T Tapeandplasticweedblock

T TapeandPolypipew/emitters

Emitter diagram slits go up!

Photo credit to www.davesgarden.com

Poly pipe and T-tape are designed to emit a specific amount of water at a certain pressure simply punching a hole in a garden hose will not give you the same result.

Minirotors,spraysandspotspitters
In some applications the need to cover larger areas such as ground cover or orchards can be done with mini rotors and sprays. In certain applications like potted plant shade houses using Roberts spot spitters is a convenient way to provide water just to the pots.

Pressurereduction,backflowandfilters
Licenses
Connectiontoapublic watersystem

Liability
Contaminationofyour watersupply
Privatewell

Ability
Complexityofsystem Physicalabilities

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Pressurereduction
Pressure reducers are recommended for drip irrigation systems they help to provide the water at the rated pressure which relates to the actual flow rate from each emitter. They are available in both hose end type and pipe thread for more permanent applications.

Backflowprevention
Backflow preventers are REQUIRED for both hose bib type systems and in ground irrigation systems They prevent contaminated water from being sucked into the drinking water lines in your home or into the public water supply.

Dripirrigationinlinefilters
In line filters are important to the performance of your system Supplying filtered water to the emitters in both poly pipe and T-tape will help prevent clogging and reduce sediment buildup. The filters are easily removed and cleaned they can be either stainless steel, or fine mesh plastic or media disks. Usually the screens are referred to as micron size or lines per inch (mesh). 150 mesh screens are the usual recommendation for drip systems.

Timersandcontrollers
TurnitONorturnitOFF
Automaticvs.manual

Onceaweek?
Insomecasesitmaybe everyday

Itjustrained nowwhat?
Raingauges
Placementandtype

Moisturesensors

Timersvs.Controllers
All irrigation timers or Controllers are basically clocks. They can be as simple or complex as you wish. Basic battery operated timers that attach to hose bibs can operate drip systems very effectively. They are available from 1 to 4 zones Protection from the elements is important . batteries do corrode and go dead. Life expectancy ???

Timersvs.Controllers
Irrigation controllers are used in combination with zone valves and do require wiring both for the low voltage zone valves, and also for the operation of the controller. They can accept rain or moisture sensors and have great flexibility for programming both start times and run times. Protection from the elements is important . batteries are to maintain program memory 110 VAC power is required. Life expectancy many years.

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Wheredoesthewatergo?
When we talk about irrigation, we are talking about replacing the water used by the plant. There are other considerations that effect the plants ability to use that water effectively. Soil type and slope are just two of the challenges that we have. Deep sandy soils will not hold water and irrigation has to be scheduled more often. Heavy clay soils will tend to absorb water more slowly and perhaps runoff before reaching the root zone.

Raisedbedsandshape
Drip irrigation work best when it is combined with raised beds and a shallow bowl to hold the water both from rainfall and irrigation.

Heavymulchanddripirrigation

Striptillrowcropfarming
It looks a little like raised bed gardening plant the seeds, side dress with fertilizer .. add T-tape irrigation and youre ready to go.

Howmuch?
Whatdoes ascrewdriver, atunacan, andyourfinger haveincommon?

HowmuchdoIhavetospend?
The easiest way to determine the available water that you have to run your drip system is to measure the gallons per minute at the source hose bib or main water line after all pressure reduction and filters. Open the hose bib completely or start the timer place the 5 gallon bucket under the water flow and time how long it takes to fill the bucket. GPH = (3600 / Time in sec. X 60) Volume in gallons

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Howmuchiseachemittersupplying?
You can trust the suppliers published rates or we can use a simple catch cup and measuring device to determine the actual flow rates in gallons per hour. Poly pipe is usually .9 GPH per emitter , T-Tape is usually .27 GPH per emitter.
GPH Flow rate = Volume in ounces / Time in minutes X 60 128 (Ounces per gallon)

HowmanyfeetoftubingcanIuse?
Now that we know how much water we have to spend and how much each emitter uses and we know the emitter spacing we can calculate the total area or total linear feet we can supply.
Example: Emitter spacing GPH per emitter GPH available 12 1 600 (10 gpm.)

Total tubing in zone = 600 feet

Reducing this by 20% will provide a margin of safety in performance.

HowMuchdoIneedtowater?
Oneinchperweek?
Rememberyourshadowinthegarden?

Formulasforcalculating waterneeds
Squarefeetoftotalzone Precipitationrateofsprayordripsystem ETValueforyourlocation Plantcoefficient basedonplanttype Waterrequirements=((ET/PR)*60)/30
ETdividedbyPrecipitationrate,times60minutes dividedby30days givesyouhowmanyminutes perday.

Soiltype
Soilstructure sand,clay,loam

Plantsweat ET(Evapotranspiration)
Evaporation Transpiration Publishedvaluesforeachmonth
TexasETnetwork(http://texaset.tamu.edu/index.php)

Letskeepitsimple
1 12 12 1 of water per square foot equals .62 gallons of water. So to give your plants one inch of water a week you need to apply .62 gallons of water per square foot of root zone. In July, the average water requirement (ET) in Houston, Tx. is 6.57 inches of water. This is based on a cool season turf grass vegetable crops will be different. This does not account for rainfall. That means for every sq. ft. I need to apply 4 gallons of water per month (6.57 X .62 = 4.07) or 400 gallons per 1000 sq. ft.

WhatcanIdotomakethemostofmywatering efforts?
Conservation
Nativeandwelladaptedplants

Mulch
Thinkoftheforestfloor

Minimizerunoff
Whyarewewateringthestreetsandsidewalks?
CycleandSoak

Passiverainwaterharvesting
Swagsandswales
Slowitdownusewhatyouaregiven

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Resources
TexasETNetwork
http://texaset.tamu.edu/index.php

Dripworks
http://www.dripworks.com/

TexasA&M
http://water.tamu.edu/

TexasA&Mpublicationforsoilmoisturesensors
https://agrilifebookstore.org/publications_details.cfm?whichpu blication=2411&orderby=pubnumber&SIMPLESEARCH%3Dirrig ation&criteriastring=SIMPLESEARCH%3Dirrigation