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Category: Drip Irrigation News

Types of Drip Irrigation Systems & Applications

Drip irrigation is a technology widely used in agriculture, landscape, greenhouses, and nurseries to apply water directly where it is needed. Drip irrigation minimizes the use of water and enables the injection of fertilizers through the drip irrigation system while at the same time growing healthier plants that have less disease. Click on the following links to learn more about the various applications of drip irrigation: Agriculture Landscape Greenhouse / Nursery Drip Chemigation

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Drip Irrigation Payback Wizard

In as few as four steps, this drip systems wizard: Drip Irrigation Payback Wizard will quickly provide an estimate of how long it will take to recover the costs of investing in a drip irrigation system and estimate how many additional acres could be irrigated with the conserved water. Click here to access the online Drip Irrigation Payback Wizard.

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Irrigation Drip Tape Calculator

Now, you can easily calculate irrigation drip tape application rate and run times at variable pressures.  Here’s how: Click here to access the online drip tape irrigation calculator Choose your drip tape model Enter tape inlet pressure Enter tape lateral spacing Enter drip system emission uniformity Results will automatically appear or change when new information is provided.  It’s that easy!

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Drip Irrigation Scheduling

Drip Irrigation scheduling is the process of deciding when to run the drip irrigation system, and for how long. It is a complex topic but of utmost importance because it influences whether the crop gets the right amount of water and nutrients, and whether valuable water is wasted to runoff or deep percolation. Irrigation scheduling combines data and agronomic expertise in that the irrigator must balance known facts such as weather, chemistry, stage of plant growth and farm cultural operations.

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Troubleshooting

To help farmers, dealers, and manufacturers recognize and understand some of the problems that have been experienced with drip tape (problems that are quite different from manufacturing defects), the Irrigation Training and Research Center (ITRC) published a drip tape problem guide called “Diagnosing and Avoiding Damage to Drip Tape.” Problems that are quickly detected and properly identified can often be remedied, or be avoided in the future.

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Drip Irrigation Guide: Owner’s Manual

The Drip Irrigation Owner’s Manual was developed by Toro to be a comprehensive drip irrigation guide for both new and existing row, field, and permanent crop growers. The manual helps growers take full advantage of the precise, efficient, and practical benefits of a drip irrigation system. Topics include drip irrigation system overview, starting-up your drip irrigation system, basic system operation, fertigation, chemigation, salinity management, system maintenance, and maximizing your investment. The Drip Irrigation Owner’s Manual heavily references both government and academic sources, is beautifully illustrated, and is simply written in lay terms.

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Drip Irrigation Definitions & Best Practices

Drip irrigation may be defined according to a number of performance parameters including flow rates, wetting pattern, pressure rating and construction material. Regardless of the specific type, make, or model the following are drip irrigation definitions, characteristics, and best practices. Water is applied at a low flow rate – Emission device flow rates are typically measured in gallons per hour (GPH), resulting in low application rates. Water is applied for long periods of time – Irrigation duration may be hours rather than minutes when the application rate is low. Water is applied frequently – Irrigation events may occur daily, or even muliple times per day, when the application rate is low. Water is applied at low pressure – Operating pressures typically range between 10-30 psi, rarely exceeding 60 psi, for most emission devices. Water is applied directly to the soil and the plant’s root zone – Water drips, or sprays,

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Farm Irrigation for Food Safety

Agricultural water quality and food safety issues are important, and growers are finding that drip irrigation is a valuable tool to help solve their problems. Drip Irrigation Avoids Runoff – In fruit and vegetable row crop production, significant runoff often occurs during the first couple of weeks of production when sprinklers are used to germinate seed or set transplants. Much of this runoff is wasted and creates water quality problems in surface water supplies or in ground water supplies. Some producers are eliminating the need for sprinklers during the first few weeks of production by paying close attention to soil preparation techniques and drip tape selection to successfully germinate and/or set the crop with drip irrigation system that is typically only used for in-season irrigation. This practice prevents runoff and deep percolation, saves water and reduces sprinkler pipe and movement costs. Farm Irrigation Utilizing Drip Irrigation May Reduce the Presence

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Financial Benefits of Drip Irrigation

It is a common misconception that a drip irrigation conversion will take several years to pay for itself.  In fact, farmers and landscapers converting to drip irrigation have realized quick drip irrigation benefits, payback and substantially improved profits. For example, a corn and soybean farmer in Nebraska installed a drip irrigation system originally believing that the conversion would take over 5 years to pay for itself. But to his surprise, it took less than two years!  This is partly because corn prices rose, yields were better than expected and government EQIP funds contributed $330/acre towards the system’s cost.  In addition, costs dropped an estimated $160/acre due to reduced fuel, labor, chemical, fertilizer and cultivation expenses.  Even without subsidies, these benefits would have paid for the system in a little over three years. The drip irrigation payback chart below depicts 3 different “payback” scenarios based on actual results: Drip Irrigation Payback

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Advantages of Drip Irrigation

Today it is more important than ever to use water resources wisely and to irrigate intelligently. Consequently, many farmers have turned to drip irrigation and have enjoyed improved profitability by increasing crop yield and quality while at the same time reducing costs from water, energy, labor, chemical inputs and water runoff. Many landscapers have also enjoyed significant water and capital investment savings using drip irrigation, while simultaneously improving plant vigor by delivering water and nutrients directly to the plant roots and avoiding unnecessary wetting of plant leaves. Drip irrigation is the targeted, intelligent application of water, fertilizer, and chemicals that when used properly can provide great benefits, such as: Increased revenue from increased yields Increased revenue from increased quality decreased water costs decreased labor costs decreased energy costs decreased fertilizer costs decreased pesticide costs Improved environmental quality Click here to learn more about the advantages of drip irrigation. Click this

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