Irrigation system recommendations

[zeuspaul]

And yes dripline is good for rows, that is all I use.

I was preparing one of my tomato rows by digging deep with an auger. The intended use of this row is for a summer planting in an attempt to extend my season. I noticed that the water from the dripline did not have much lateral spread. This will depend on the type of soil. I classify my soil as sandy loam. After about a foot it is compacted/dense.

I modified the drip system in the rows. Now I have a pair of driplines, one on either sided of the plants. The two lines are about 12 inches apart. Considering tomato root systems I think this will give me better results for all the plants with the wider water distribution.

[Sue_CT]

That is why I don't like drip lines. I used soaker hoses years ago and there was no spread of the water into the soil around the plant. It went directly down and into the sandy soil beneath the topsoil and drained away.

[zeuspaul]

From an old Garden Web thread (now houzz).

From what I understand with drippers is that the water dispersing is dependent on the type of soil you have. I have a heavy clay soil too. Water tends to disperse wider that deeper with our kind of soils. Where as sandy loam type soils will drain deeper than wider. I think you will be fine. However I prefer a longer less frequent watering schedule. Good luck.

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/21991 ... irrigation

[zeuspaul]

from Michigan State University Extension

waterspread.png

https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/soil_type ... n_strategy

[Yak54]

I have been trying to come up with an automated system where I could use a pump in my 55 gal drum of nutrient mix to water (Feed) six to seven 15 gal grow bags 2-3 times per day. One of the problems for me is the output pressure of most pumps is not high enough after traveling thru 40 ft.of pvc pipe to feed most of the emitters that provide a large enough spray area to wet down a 15 gal size grow bag. I would have to set a timer to turn on the pump 2-3 times per day. And the other limitation is I don't want to spend $1,000 bucks to accomplish it.

Dan

[worth1]

I have been trying to come up with an automated system where I could use a pump in my 55 gal drum of nutrient mix to water (Feed) six to seven 15 gal grow bags 2-3 times per day. One of the problems for me is the output pressure of most pumps is not high enough after traveling thru 40 ft.of pvc pipe to feed most of the emitters that provide a large enough spray area to wet down a 15 gal size grow bag. I would have to set a timer to turn on the pump 2-3 times per day. And the other limitation is I don't want to spend $1,000 bucks to accomplish it.

Dan

What is the pipe size of the 40 feet of pipe?

[Yak54]

When I can shovel the snow away from the garden shed I'll measure it. I want to say it's 3/4" but I'll let you know in a couple of days when I can check it.

Dan

[worth1]

When I can shovel the snow away from the garden shed I'll measure it. I want to say it's 3/4" but I'll let you know in a couple of days when I can check it.

Dan

Yoy mentioned pipe length causing pressure or flow loss.
Not for sure it would help in this situation but the cheapest thing you could do is up size the pipe to reduce friction loss.
That is if you think the pipe length is the actual problem.
I have a 3/4 water meter and up sized my irrigation line to 1 1/2 pipe right after the meter then ran it for about 100 feet to the back flow preventer.
By doing this I gained about 20 gallons a minute.

[Yak54]

Wow! 20 GPM is a huge gain !

[worth1]

Wow! 20 GPM is a huge gain !

I had the original copper pipe running from the meter to the house and to the nearest hose bib.
I had 50 psi and 10 gallons a minute.
Then I cut into the 3/4 line and came out with a 1 inch tee to a full opening non restricting ball valve then jumped up to 1 1/2 inch PVC.
out of that I got really close to 30 gallons a minute at 50 psi.
At that pressure there was minimal friction loss in the 1 1/2 pipe.
The industry standard for feet per second in water flow in pipe is around 7.
Mine with a calculator dropped down to almost 1 I think because it's been several years.
I had several so called experts say I was wrong and you couldn't do what I did.
None of them had any kind of degree in hydraulic engineering.
The other thing I did was to buy 1 inch control valves and I never ran anything smaller than 1 inch pipe to reduce friction loss and keep the velocity down.
Only going to 1/2 inch at each head.
I got all this information from a web site called irrigation tutorials.
The guy knows what he's talking about.
The other information came from my experience with deluge systems made for fire protection.
Total pipe in my yard is close to 1000 feet.
I ran all control wire with 16 and cable tray direct burial but I ran it underground in pvc conduit.
Conduit and pipe was buried 18 inches underground.
The minimum is 6 inches.
Put it all in by myself with 3 city inspections and approved drawings I made myself upon completion.
The city inspector said it was the best irrigation system he had ever inspected.
Needless to say I saved untold thousands of dollars.
What I'm poor at is pump calculations.
They make so many different kinds for different uses it boggles the mind.

[Yak54]

Most of the spray emitters I've seen require 15 psi or more to work properly. So I have to find a pump that will give me at least that downstream at the grow bags going thru approx. 40 ft. of plastic pipe. Most of the systems I've seen use a small size (1/4") of tubing put into the main feed tubing which is usually anywhere from 1/2" to 1". My main issue seems to be being able to have enough psi at the emitters to make them work correctly. For my grow bags I would need these emitters to provide around 3-4 gph.

Dan

[zeuspaul]

@Yak54 Have you considered 1/2 gph drip emitters instead of the sprayers?

[Yak54]

ya I have.

[Cole_Robbie]

ya I have.

15 psi is a tough number to hit. Well pumps make about 35 and transfer pumps make hardly any pressure, usually 1 to 2 psi.

[Yak54]

Ya that's what I'm finding out.

[worth1]

What you need is a small booster pump running through a regulator.
Maybe even a discharge valve running water back into the barrel.
Keep in mind this water will get hot.
The only kinds of pumps I know about are big irrigation pumps fire water pumps and jocky pumps..
Transfer pumps as mentioned won't build head pressure.

I have another question do you live below a hill of any kind.
For each 10 feet of elevation you gain 4.3 psi for free.

So 100 feet of elevation will get you approximately 43 psi.
This is how we watered our garden with a big constant level spring fed pond on a hill above our gardens growing up.

[Yak54]

Worth1---As usual you contribute meaningful info...like psi increasing as elevation decreases !

Dan

[Rockporter]

Can anyone recommend a simple but reliable irrigation system for pots? Never put one together before but I will be doing this for Mom for Mothers Day. 20 pots should be plenty. Needs a timer. Currently looking at a Raindrip system on Amazon. Thanks!

Sue, I know you are having the time of your life right now(NOT), and I hope you come out on top of it all and that you are feeling much better. But did you ever figure out the water line setup for your mom? I want to set my containers up and I came across a video by garden answer on her youtube channel. She lays it out prettly straight forward and I know I am definitely setting mine up and I will have at least 3 if not four zones in my garden. I already have some of what is needed for the project, I have the 1/4 and 1/2 inch (brown) tube with emitters in them. I also have plenty of 1/2 solid hose, and quite a few connecters and things. We bought this stuff a very long time ago and I found it in the shed when we emptied it before hubby redid it for me. I need more things but I am at least half way there so I am going to get started on laying out the solid hose to decide how my zones will work out. Anyway, you can find her many videos here at this link. https://www.youtube.com/@gardenanswer/s ... containers

In all seriousness though, I hope you are feeling better and come back when you feel up to it.

[Rockporter]

Have you seen this system? Could you do this using a separate tube for each container?

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cnzq2gwM ... NzVkMjY%3D

I am thinking about adding this somehow to my garden, the issue I have is how to collect the rain water and get it over to each zone I am setting up for regular irrigation in my pots. But to have this for a secondary and using free rainwater looks great to me.

I would modify it though, I would make the holes closer to the bed and not shoot so high into it so I could keep the water off the plant leaves, I would also turn the water on slower than at full speed like it looks he did. I would also put a couple lines down the middle of that bed to so I could spread the water further out. Having containers like I do I would have to modify the whole system but I think I could make it work even in containers.

[Sue_CT]

I bought a bunch of supplies and plan to try it this Spring/Summer. I bought the Supplies from Sprinkler Warehouse, an online supplier. I can't tell you how it will work out yet, but I found a lot of good information on this site: https://school.sprinklerwarehouse.com/d ... n-install/