What kind of Irrigation do you use?

[wolffman]

I am interested in what types of irrigation setups y'all use. I have been using drip tape irrigation for the last many years, and it has worked well for us. It has it pros and cons which I'll list below.

Pros:

Can water a very large area with low GPM requirement
Very efficient, almost all the water goes to the roots
Fairly easy to set up, but does take some time.
No water on foliage
It's repairable with cheap parts

Cons:

Storing the tape can be messy. It wont roll up nicely after use
Rats will chew holes in it
Moderately expensive initial investment
Tape must be fairly close to the plant base. May have to run 2 parallel tapes on wider rows.

We buy our stuff from https://www.berryhilldrip.com/. They have the best prices I could find.

 

[w_r_ranch]

I put in a totally new in-ground system (utilizing 1" pipe) 2 or 3 yrs ago, complete with an EZ-Flo injection system. The main garden has 4 zones & each sprinkler head has custom nozzles installed to balance the amount of water each puts out. Each riser is insulated & wrapped in 'F4' tape to prevent freeze damage & I have the ability to drain the entire system when needed.

This system services not just the garden & flowerbeds, but all the fruit & oak trees as well.

 

[wolffman]

That's really nice Ranch! I assume you are on well water, do you ever have problems with the EZ flow and well water? I have looked into them in the past but was worried about stuff clogging up the venturi on the injector.

 

[w_r_ranch]

No problems at all with it...

I use it to apply water soluble fertilizer (15-30-15), fungicide (copper crystals) & insecticides (when needed). Additionally, I use it to apply Bio-Stimulant Soil Conditioner (with 6% Iron) once or twice a year.

I highly recommend them as they are real time savers.

 

[ErnieCopp]

After trying different types of low volume irrigation, seeing my problems and the ones the other nurserymen were having, I finally settled on Netafim drip tube, and wound up with thirty miles of the stuff so i am using it again down here. It has self cleaning emitters, not perfect and does not last forever, but i thing it is better than anything else of that type.

The type of soil you are dripping needs to be taken into account, because if it drains too good, the water will go on down as fast as it is applied so that larger emitters and closer spacing are sometimes needed so the moisture will spread to the plant before soaking away. And of course, vice versa.

Netafim are also pressure regulated so the high spots get about the same water as the low spots. Pressure needs to be kept above 20 pounds. There are probably other brands now that pressure regulate, but back then, Netafim was the only one, but that is a very important item unless your ground is totally flat.

Ernie

 

[Ella Rollins]

I use sprinklers.. They are easy to use and every plants will get equal amount of water..

 

[StuartGrows]

I am floored by how awesome your system is w_r_ranch!

 

[cobra1]

I'm using a drip system