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Garden

Is there any way of combining the use of a flow meter to T-tape? I've only got about 1K sq ft,and you guys were saying about an inch/week of water. Doesnt seem like that kind of coverage is going to be enough flow to trigger a guage.
Thanks for any suggestions

David

3/25/2005 11:47:18 AM

Menomonie, WI (mail@gr8pumpkin.net)

Somebody Correct me if I am wrong..But with a t-tape or drip system you do not need to use as much water. This is primarily the reason commercial growers use it.

3/25/2005 11:52:03 AM

Eugene, OR

Hi David, I used t-tape last year and am using it again this year. According to Dripworks, the flow rate through the t-tape is not pressure dependent. In other words, it should deliver about the same amount of water at 10 psi as it does at 4 psi. This makes it a piece of cake to calculate just how long you need to leave your system on to deliver 1" of water per week without the use of a flow meter. It will all depend on whether or not you're using high or low flow t-tape, emitter spacing, and line spacing in your 1k sq. ft. plot. Calculate how many linear feet of t-tape you have in your patch, divide by 100 feet, and multiply by the flow rate given for your t-tape to know just how much water you'll deliver.

If you're using a gravity type system with a water tower and some sort of resevoir, it's much easier to just shut the system off when you've emptied about the right amount of water from the resevoir by volume.

1" of water per week over an area of 1000 sq. ft. is approximately 623.4 gallons. I went with the old "more is better" concept and used 2" per week without any issues. I think it depends a lot on your soil type.

Someone with more experience will surely chime in. Good luck!

Brian

3/25/2005 1:52:59 PM

Montoursville, PA

Two barrels on my tower deliver one hundred and ten gallons to a one thousand square foot patch in about one hour and twenty minutes at about five pounds of pressure, in the gravity system.

If mother gives us no rain I would use five or six one hundred gallon waterings a week to equal an inch of rain. I figure very low evaporation therefor a little less per inch of rain because of that factor.

I have a four inch piece of pipe set into my patch. Removal and sticking my hand down into the hole is a good dampness check down to about eighteen inches deep.

3/25/2005 6:19:17 PM