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Denver, CO

Alright, I have managed to completely confuse myself.

I have a sprinkler that will fill a 5 gallon bucket with water in 70 seconds.

In my patch, I have two of these sprinklers, connected to the same single water source described above.

How long (in minutes) would I need to water to get 1 inch of water on my patch using these two sprinklers at the same time?

Thanks in advance!

8/13/2009 10:25:28 PM

Owensboro, Ky.

g, simplify things...take two or three tuna cans, place them at different places in your patch. Run sprinklers for a while, measure water in cans...water some more...repeat as needed until 1" is in cans. Hope this helps. Peace, Wayne

8/13/2009 11:56:25 PM

Williamsburg,KY

Agree with Wayne. It depends on how long the hose is and how far the water has to go. I filled up a 5 gallon bucket in 10 minutes with my pump. Then I used the pump to put ferts on the patch, it took over one hour.

8/14/2009 9:28:09 AM

Denver, CO

Thanks Wayne but I am looking for how to do the math. Tuna cans can give me an apporximate output, but with spray patterns, leaf interfernce and whatnot, that dont tell me as much as the math would.

My math is telling me that it takes about 620 Gallons of water to get 1 inch on my 1000 sq ft patch.

So 5 gallons divided into 620 is 124 units x 70 seconds for each unit = 8680 seconds/ 60 = 144 minutes. Divide that by 7 and its a daily watering time of 20 minutes. That would be 40 minutes a day for 2" of water.

But this seems like an outrageous amount of time??

Is my math right? Does two spriklers instead of one matter?

My flow rate without sprinklers is 10 gallons a minute.

8/14/2009 11:31:44 AM

disregard the old addage about 1" or any number of inches per week

the buzz currently is 85-100 gal/day/per plant with well drained sandy loam during the fruit growth spurt esp...

heavier soils you need to keep a constant high (but not saturated) moisture content at the 6" depth

8/14/2009 12:43:34 PM

Windsor, Ontario, Canada

40 minutes is nowhere near long enough...It takes at between 30 minutes and 40 minutes for me to empty my 250 gallon holding tank with 3 whizheads and a 3/4 hp pump. The pump can defninitely push the water faster than a city supply.

144 cubic inches for a square foot 1" deep (12" x 12" x 1")
1000 square feet x 144 cu in = 144,000 cu in of water
144 000 (cu in) = 623.376623 US gallons
@ 5 gallons in 70 seconds, it should take (624/5 = 124.8) ... 124.8 * 70 = 8736 seconds

8736 seconds is 2.4 hours. Not 40 minutes.

2" would take almost 5 hours...

JUST SEE IF THE DIRT 3-4" DOWN IS MOIST...IT IS ISN'T, WATER SOME MORE. MUCH EASIER.

8/14/2009 12:57:41 PM

Windsor, Ontario, Canada

Maybe I should read better, lol, 40 a day would be right...

8/14/2009 12:58:45 PM

Oklahoma State Record Holder

I water for 4 hours a day here. from 10:00 to midnight and 10:00 to noon. Plus I mist for 15 sec every 5 minutes from 1 until 3:00 p.m.

Being 90* here everyday i have found this is about right.

8/14/2009 1:27:03 PM

Colorado

greg,

i use one of these which is in line in the system before my sprinklers. Like dan said, go for about 80 gal/plant/day. you can then work out a sprinkler program until you are set right around 80-100 gallons per day. no math needed!

http://www.groworganic.com/item_WMX700_Garden_Water_Meter.html?welcome=T&theses=5437349

8/14/2009 2:22:06 PM

Fresno, CA

ghopson

I think what peace wayne is saying about tuna cans is right on if all you want to do is make sure you have 1". In that case you wouldn't need any math, because enough tuna cans in the right places would tell you exactly how long you need to get the closest to 1" in all the cans. That would take into account real differences in canopy, spray pattern, etc which the math would not.

My question to Amigatec is what type of watering do you have for the 4 hours a day? I'm assuming that is drip and not sprinklers.

8/14/2009 8:43:44 PM

Oklahoma State Record Holder

I use overhead whizzers. So far I am not having any problem with PM.

8/14/2009 9:28:46 PM