USDragoon
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Hello Everyone!
I really need some expert advice on setting up drip irrigation for our existing vegetable garden, and our new vineyard we're starting this year.
We are drafting up a plan to install a gravity fed drip irrigation system. We've never done this before, andwould like help/ advice from any experts/ knowledgeable folks out there.
I can email pictures of everything upon request.
Our location is Westcliffe, Colorado at9200 feet. (where the house and well head is) We have a domestic well, which allows us to only irrigate one acre of our 40 acre farm.Therefore, I'm setting things on square foot watering, instead of sprinkler area watering.
We have our main garden area with over 7800 square feet of actual gardening area. (expansions to include strawberry bed and raspberries) This is broken down into 24 rows, 4 feet wide. The lengths range from 50 feet to 105 feet.
We've experimented over the past six years in growing all sorts of stuff, and we installed an 8 foot elk fence last year to keep the “rats” out. (Mule Deer)
Hand watering does not work well. We spent 12 hours/ day watering- spread out amongst the family. Very inefficient!
This year, we have money available to get serious on improving our situation.
I'm buying a 1,500 gallon concrete septic tank, that will be made to drain from the bottom. The tank will be near my well head- some 600 feet away from the garden and vineyard spot- which is about 80 feet lower in elevation. A stock tank float valve will be installed in the tank, connected to the well.
The reason for the distance, where the garden is, I have top soil that averages from 2 feet deep, to 4 feet deep, and a worm colony that's over 80 years old now. (worms are not native here) Plus, the way the land slopes, we have a high water table down there. There is no electricity available down at the garden.
What I want to do from the tank, is have a buried main line to the garden of 4” pipe, with a branch of line to the vineyard area. (start area with the tank is north of the garden 600 feet away and 80 feet higher than the garden)
At the garden, where the 4” pipe will end, I was thinking of running a 2” line running east and west along the width of the garden. (the width is 200 feet). Using a 4” x 2” tee reducer, to connect the 2” pipe to the 4” pipe.
I want to hook 2” by 1/2” tee reducers onto the 2” pipe for each row where there will be pressure reducer, filter and timer for each row.
The timer I like (through much reviews reading) is the DIG Corp 9001EZ, 9 volt battery operated timer.
From the timer, I was thinking of laying the 1/2” irrigation tube out through the center of each row,with manifolds for the various plant species, using the ¼ tube with emitters.
The cool thing about the timers is that I plan on night time watering, starting at 9pm, and spreading out the watering over the whole of the night, perhaps in 30 minute cycles per X amount of rows, so I'm not dumping all my pressure at once. Also,with appropriate mulching, the water retention in the soil should increase, reducing evaporation from our intense sun and wind during the day. From there, we can monitor and tweak things for better efficiency.
All comments and thoughts are welcome!
Thanks,
Randy
I really need some expert advice on setting up drip irrigation for our existing vegetable garden, and our new vineyard we're starting this year.
We are drafting up a plan to install a gravity fed drip irrigation system. We've never done this before, andwould like help/ advice from any experts/ knowledgeable folks out there.
I can email pictures of everything upon request.
Our location is Westcliffe, Colorado at9200 feet. (where the house and well head is) We have a domestic well, which allows us to only irrigate one acre of our 40 acre farm.Therefore, I'm setting things on square foot watering, instead of sprinkler area watering.
We have our main garden area with over 7800 square feet of actual gardening area. (expansions to include strawberry bed and raspberries) This is broken down into 24 rows, 4 feet wide. The lengths range from 50 feet to 105 feet.
We've experimented over the past six years in growing all sorts of stuff, and we installed an 8 foot elk fence last year to keep the “rats” out. (Mule Deer)
Hand watering does not work well. We spent 12 hours/ day watering- spread out amongst the family. Very inefficient!
This year, we have money available to get serious on improving our situation.
I'm buying a 1,500 gallon concrete septic tank, that will be made to drain from the bottom. The tank will be near my well head- some 600 feet away from the garden and vineyard spot- which is about 80 feet lower in elevation. A stock tank float valve will be installed in the tank, connected to the well.
The reason for the distance, where the garden is, I have top soil that averages from 2 feet deep, to 4 feet deep, and a worm colony that's over 80 years old now. (worms are not native here) Plus, the way the land slopes, we have a high water table down there. There is no electricity available down at the garden.
What I want to do from the tank, is have a buried main line to the garden of 4” pipe, with a branch of line to the vineyard area. (start area with the tank is north of the garden 600 feet away and 80 feet higher than the garden)
At the garden, where the 4” pipe will end, I was thinking of running a 2” line running east and west along the width of the garden. (the width is 200 feet). Using a 4” x 2” tee reducer, to connect the 2” pipe to the 4” pipe.
I want to hook 2” by 1/2” tee reducers onto the 2” pipe for each row where there will be pressure reducer, filter and timer for each row.
The timer I like (through much reviews reading) is the DIG Corp 9001EZ, 9 volt battery operated timer.
From the timer, I was thinking of laying the 1/2” irrigation tube out through the center of each row,with manifolds for the various plant species, using the ¼ tube with emitters.
The cool thing about the timers is that I plan on night time watering, starting at 9pm, and spreading out the watering over the whole of the night, perhaps in 30 minute cycles per X amount of rows, so I'm not dumping all my pressure at once. Also,with appropriate mulching, the water retention in the soil should increase, reducing evaporation from our intense sun and wind during the day. From there, we can monitor and tweak things for better efficiency.
All comments and thoughts are welcome!
Thanks,
Randy
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