central - east central Minnesota -From those of you experenced with drip tape irrigation -
Read in our Farmer Mag of a couple guys in Nebraska, that bury drip tape in the corners, where piviot doesn't hit.
Got me to wondering, if drip could work if layed out after planting, between rows ? Then wound up, before harvest and reused next season ?
How does drip tape work - in general?
How many GPA/Pressure does it take for such a system or how much does it put on and in what time frame?
Does it work on rolling ground ?
What other considerations are there to such a system ?
Can you point to any resources to look at ?
TIA !
Chester, GA and Griffith, INIt depends upon the type of tape you bury, pressure is very low but the flow can be moderate. The pressure ranges from 4-15, some get up near 20 PSI but that's rare in most cases.
The gallons needed is dependent upon the tape you put down, most give a flow rating per 100' of tape, again this can be as low as 13 gallons per hour per 100' and up to 40. So it is up to how much water you need to get down and how quickly and how long your runs are.
It works pretty well on rolling ground but pressure can come into play if you have a lot of spikes in height.
The initial costs of the system can be expensive due to you need a primary line that the drip tape connects to as well as the valves to turn off certain sections of the drip irrgation system. Most of these will last a few years if properly taken care of so that's one thing to consider. Some will lay the tape each year as pulling it out of the ground can be difficult, there are some doing that on the forums so I'll let them comment on how they are doing that. Some are burying it and letting it stay there for two years then replacing after that.
Not saying buy from this site but this was the first link that came up with the chart of different types of tapes.
http://www.dripworks.com/category/ttape1
Edited by cib 1/7/2013 15:16
WC MNWe use Netafim in our vineyards. We installed about 7 acres last year and have another 7 to go next spring. Basically the tape has an emitter co-extruded so many inches and then you can lay the tape so many feet apart. We plow ours 4-12" depending on the vineyard. Row crops I think they like to get deeper than 12" because of implement weight, tillage, etc. It does wick up but you don't want the surface wet anyways because the weeds germ easier. The way we have ours set up we can irrigate 1.5 acres on 20 gpm @ 65 psi well pressure. The vacuum breaker, filters and fertilizer pump eat up about 15 of that. Each zone is set to 43 psi (regulated ) and as long as we have 10 at the end of the run we get uniform flow because they are pressure compensating. They work well on rolling hills but keep in mind you lose pressure going up hill and gain some going down hill. You just need 10 for the particular tape we use One our vineyards actually goes across a hill so it's up about 15 feet and back down 15 feet. So far it seems to be working well. That run is 850' long from the feeder line. I was told that is "pushing" it for that particular tape. The tape for row crops is very similar to what we use. However, we are at 8 foot spacing between tape and 30" between emitters. I'd imagine that for 30" corn you would probably be 60" spacing. So, the tape alone is going to run you well over $800/acre. You still have to add a well, piping, regulator, filter, etc. Plastic is not cheap these days. "Plastics" is part of my day job and it's not uncommon for materials to be 4x what they were 8-10 years ago. The tape does have a limited life just like anything.
There are guys here that lay poly down and pull it up every year. That's not exactly precision drip and a heck of a lot of work. Sure beats nothing in an arid climate though.
Keep in mind an acre inch is still an acre inch. Even though the tape is more efficient than over the top you still need to apply 27,000 gallons to the acre to get an inch. So, you still need a sizable well to do pivot corners. The vineyard for us isn't so bad because we only trying to wet 2 feet on either side of vine and down so realistically 25% of the area. That's why we get by with a 20 gpm well. That being said, it ran pert near 24/7 this summer just trying to keep up.
http://www.netafimusa.com/files/literature/agriculture/other-litera...
http://www.netafimusa.com/agriculture
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKku-CG8ZSo
If you want to talk nuts and bolts email me for the factory rep's contact info. The distributorship is out of the Twin Cities here at a place called MIDC in Roseville. Scott there is pretty good too. They make the tape to order in the California facility and drop ship to keep costs low.
SE NebraskaHere's another source.
http://www.irrigationdirect.com/irrigation-products-and-supplies/dr...
We use 1/4" emitter tubing in our garden. Just lay it down the rows and roll it up at the end of the season. I priced it at dripworks, and found this place to be less expensive.
37172 / 42202It is alot of work to lay it out and alot of work to remove it as well .. We grow tobacco and have done this where water is scarce , but i much prefer the hard hose traveller if we hava ample water.. Start up cost is fairly expensive and its not nearly as simple as it sounds and if you " kink " the tape when re-rolling , it can become a weak spot the next time you use it .. It works really well though , but its a little tricky somestimes .. If you decide to do this in rowcrop , i would like to hear your results .. And we use netafim as well
Central NebraskaWe have buried tape in the corners of couple of our pivots. Probably wouldn't do anymore because it limits some the tillage abilities, like can't chisel clear through. This year one corner didn't do well because we couldn't get any water on it. If i had another square quarter I would put a swing arm on the pivot. I'm not sure how unrolling the tape and then rolling it back up would work in a corn/soybean setting. We put all Toro regular or pressure compensating tape in.
Malheur County OregonHere is lotsa reading material for you.
http://www.cropinfo.net/drip.php
And if you want to poke around on this site
http://www.cropinfo.net/
"Here" on good ground drip irrigation doesn't really help with yield but it allows the growing of a good crop on what we refer to as "goat ground"
Pluses: Way less fertilizer, Less water use vs furrow, better insect control, Less heat stress, healthier plants
Minuses: Pretty big learning curve, potential of having higher rot issues, expensive to install
"Here" all tape is a one year use only.
We do not do any drip irrigation....... Keep thinking about it but haven't done any yet
Edited by Brian in E Ore 1/7/2013 19:48
West Chazy, New YorkYes it can work, but the labor will surprise you. Most all seed corn is grown on tape here, but no one that I know of has a permanent deep placement; in our heavy clay soils that isn't very practical because the ground will compact around it and it won't deliver water properly. If you leave it on the ground surface most tape will blow around in the wind and make a rats nest. If you staple it to the ground with wire clips you run the risk of damaging tires. If you set it a few inches deep, as most growers here do, it will stay where you put it but it is hard to retrieve it for anything but disposal. The strain of lifting and reeling it generally damages the tape and it will leak when you put it back. One company used to plant with tape on every other row (the tape is generally applied with the planter ). They would water that row, then move the tapes by hand to the other row and water it , then move the tapes one more time to the middle of two rows and leave it there to grow out the crop. It was surprising how fast a good crew could flip ten acres, but it was still an expense. They felt the labor made up for the savings in tape, but a new manager changed the system and they don't do that anymore. Tape is expensive. Here, an acre will run about $350, including oval hose and the tape connectors. In addition there are always some additional hoses and valves. I'm sure your prices will be less. One more thing; tape will absolutely not tolerate anything but very clean water. If it isn't filtered there will be little chance for it to make it through a season without the emitters plugging. The holes are very small and it only takes a little bit to stop one. Algae will also plug it up in a hurry if you try to use water from surface storage without chlorination. Ants will eat around the holes to get to the water, rats will chew it and so will pigs. Lots of challenges. It generally is best suited for very high value crops that can justify the investment.farmerboy50
Posted 1/7/2013 20:51 (#2806717 - in reply to #2805769)
Subject: RE: Irrigation - Drip Tape, type irrigation ? ? ?