Tag: drip irrigation best practices

Growers Talk Success with FlowControl Drip Irrigation

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FlowControl drip irrigation is taking the ag irrigation industry by storm, creating an entirely new class of tapes. It is the only tape on the market that is a true flow-moderating drip tape.

Up until now, growers accepted the worries and woes of farming uneven terrain. Growers were forced to either accept the poor uniformity and lower yields, avoid the uneven areas altogether, or buy costly pressure-compensating driplines that limit growers’ control over the system application rates. But not anymore!

Toro FlowControl drip tape gives you the best features of a pressure compensating tape, and standard tape: More uniform irrigation for any terrain, and the flexibility to control the overall system flow rate. With FlowControl drip irrigation, you truly get the best of both worlds.

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WEBINAR: Drip Irrigation System Operation and Maintenance

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Drip irrigation technology provides tremendous benefits if the system is operated and maintained properly. Tune in to this Friday’s webinar about drip irrigation system operation and maintenance for helpful hints on how to use Toro Micro-Irrigation’s Owner’s Manual to establish baseline readings, monitor system parameters, schedule irrigations and perform system maintenance.

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Drip Irrigation Best Practices: Optimize Your Irrigation in 5 Easy Steps

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July is Smart Irrigation Month, and to help promote drip irrigation best practices in ag and farming, we put together this small list of ways you can optimize your irrigation system.

Don’t make the mistake of wasting irrigation water. Do your homework and learn about crop water requirement, the maximum precipitation rates of soils, soil water holding capacities, irrigation system application rates and irrigation system uniformities.

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Farmer Solves Water Woes with Subsurface Drip Irrigation

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When Jim Bahrenburg looks across the land he’s worked in the Monument and Kimberly areas, he sees buried treasure.

That treasure isn’t gold, but water.

Drawn from the North Fork John Day River, this water flows through small underground tubes to gradually irrigate blocks of land for crops. Starting on the North Fork Ranch in the Kimberly area, Bahrenburg said he first planted rye to choke out the thistles on what was just a neglected pasture, and then continued the transformation by planting row crops.

Today the land produces corn, onions, beets, peppers, squash and dill.

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How Drip Irrigation Best Practices and Management Improves Irrigation Efficiency for Florida Vegetable Growers

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plasticulture on strawberriesVegetable growers in Florida are using plasticulture and drip irrigation best practices to improve water and nutrient management on more than 5,000 acres of production. And the effort is paying off, according to one Extension official familiar with the practice.

Bob Hochmuth, Extension agent for the University of Florida (UF), made a presentation at the Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable & Farm Market EXPO in Grand Rapids, Michigan that focused on the management of drip Irrigation. He described a process of securing adequate moisture in the root zone without over-filling.

“The increased concern over the impact of agricultural practices on water quality in Florida has resulted in the grower’s need to adopt best management practices (BMPs),” Hochmuth said. “The successful adoption of BMPs in plasticulture production of vegetables in north Florida has been greatly facilitated by Extension programs in conjunction with industry and other agency involvement.

“Growers are more likely to adopt BMPs when they can evaluate them on their own farm,” he said. “Long-term educational program efforts – including hands-on teaching workshops at a research facility combined with on-farm demonstrations – proved to be a very effective strategy in helping vegetable growers using drip irrigation and plasticulture improve water and nutrient management practices.”

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