September 10, 2015
For way too many years I watered my garden by hose. This made
for some other than hydrating the veggies exhausting and time wasted days.
A couple of years back I finally came to my senses and installed
a drip tape system.
My well is a steady but a very low producer and the drip tape
is very low volume. It distributes 20 gallon an hour for every 100 feet of
tape. Drip tape fits my needs. The idea is to water long, slow, and deep.
Just putting an irrigation system in, does not mean you can
walk away and all is taken care of.
Here in arid country, water is everything, vigilant and
continuous observation is important.
What follows are a few things that are important to do in
order to keep the water coming.
Drip systems have filters that need to be flushed on a very
regular basis to keep sediment from clogging the filter. It is wise to have a
second filter on hand so that you can regularly clean the filter and in case a
filter “dies” you have a backup. If you are on a well this filter needs to be
changed regularly too.
It is wise to have a few extra of all the different fittings
that connect your filter to your distribution tubing (drip tape).
Drip tape is not an irrigation product that can take much abuse
without developing leaks, couplings that can quickly repair the tape is
extremely important to have. I always have several couplings that I can perform
these repairs with.
Because you are not able to actually see all of your plants
being watered, it is very important to observe how your plants are doing. Are
the plants wilting or do the leaf margins look like they are burning? These are
signs of inadequate water. It is paramount that you find the cause, which could
be; the need for longer watering, clogged filter, broken fitting or even a
break in the tape to name a few things.
If you run your system at night it is important to at least
turn on the system in the day on occasion. Once the system is on, take a walk
in the garden and listen for any localized “geysers” to be repaired.
Recently I had a Javelina get into one of my sweet potato
beds and munched on the leaves. Lucky for me I found where it got into the
garden and that was rectified. What I did not see was where its hooves had cut
the tape in a few places. The plants at the end of the beds began to dry out
way too quick after each water cycle. Turning the system on and listening
quickly located the breaks and all was repaired.
Each irrigation system is different but doing some regular
maintenance and having some repair parts will surely keep the water going where
it needs to go.
Questions? I can be
contacted at markdirtfarmer@gmail.com. Or more
garden notes at redwagonfarm.blogsot.com
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