A farmer grower shared with me his favorite supplier of drip system supplies. It is Sprinklers, Lawn Sprinkler Systems & Irrigation Supply Store

One thing to note is that they sell drip fogger misters which I plan to use during the blistering dessicating heat wave of the summer when we sometimes go over 100 deg F for weeks at times. And the citruses and bananas would go dormant and the leaves partially burnt. The solution is simple by using fogger misters which I plan to install on long poles or hang strategically on the tree to release fog-like droplets around the canopy area and perhaps set it to automatically turn on in this coming heat wave. There will be more of this heat wave, call it global climatic change or not, but it is so better prepared than be sorry afterwards.

Here are the foggers that I bought and can be attached to 1/4" distribution PE tubes: Item 07-045 - DIG EXL Fogger with Barb, and Item 07-050 07-050 - DIG EXL Fogger 1GPH Barbed Elbow. I can't believe they only sell for $0.45 each, while normally they would cost more than $3 each at OSH or HD if you can find them.

Their adjustable drip emitters on a stake is only $0.53 each, while at HD, OSH and Ace Hardware, they are sold at least $1.99 each!

Their adjustable jet stream microsrpayer on stake are only $0.87 each while at HD and OSH, these are $2.99 each!

The barbed tee are just $0.10 each while at big box stores, these are $0.25 each!

The 1/4" distribution PE tubing, 100 ft roll are $4.94, and at OSH, they are $9.99

In other words, I ended up buying about $250 worth of drip supplies, with free complimentary shippping (free shipping for orders over $149 and if you are not from the same state, there are no sales tax to pay) to completely replace my old and worn-out drip irrigation system when I normally would have spent $1,000 worth of items when shopping from big box stores. So I've saved enough money to buy me a greenhouse, but then I really have no space for a greenhouse.

I hope you find them cheap also.
Sprinklers, Lawn Sprinkler Systems & Irrigation Supply Store

Thanks Joe! Looks like a good place.

Ned

I am about to start an irrigation project.
So I will go to their online "Sprinkler School".
The first two pages were right on!
Thanks, Joe.

Arrg, the page numbered 396 goes right back to itself,
instead of going to next.

I am presently in the middle of installing another 5 acres of underground drip irrigation. This system also has a 10 horse power compressed aeration unit attached to the drip system. The aeration unit was designed by the Grow-Air company. I used T-Tape's 20 mill thick drip tube, that carries a 20 year guarantee. The drip lines were installed 8 inches below the soil surface. When finished, this will bring our drip irrigation area up to 10 acres. Our farms goal is to add an additional 5 to 10 acres of drip each year. - Millet

Joe, thanks for the link. I want to install some foggers for some of my bananas (especially Ae Ae) when I plant them out here in the next couple of weeks and I may try these out.

Millet wrote:

I am presently in the middle of installing another 5 acres of underground drip irrigation. This system also has a 10 horse power compressed aeration unit attached to the drip system. The aeration unit was designed by the Grow-Air company. I used T-Tape's 20 mill thick drip tube, that carries a 20 year guarantee. The drip lines were installed 8 inches below the soil surface. When finished, this will bring our drip irrigation area up to 10 acres. Our farms goal is to add an additional 5 to 10 acres of drip each year. - Millet

Bob, what are you farming under drip?

I had read of research done at Fresno State's irrigation center using aeration with subsurface drip on grapes with some benefits, but I don't remember the details. Can you explain why you've chosen this system?

My chestnuts are farmed with micro-sprinklers. Weed control would be easier if I had a buried system but I don't think it's very practical for something with such a large root system (spacing is 28'). When I planted my test plot of pomegranates last month I did go ahead and bury the line between the trees but still left the line and drip emitter above grond for about 2' near the tree. Since my test plot has a random planting diagram of the 11 cultivars I will be crossing rows quite a bit when I eventually start harvesting fruit. I don't want to be tripping over lines and I wanted to be able to mow both directions. I may end up doing ths same with my chestnuts, though I'll have to be careful to avoid root damage on my established trees.

Harvey, Currently I am growing Aspen, Gamble's Oak and Cedar on the drip aeration system. We cut the branches, preserve and dye them, then market them to the wholesale florist, potpourri and Christmas wreath industry. We dye the Oak various fall colors and the Rocky Mountain Cedar Christmas green. We process approximately 5,000 pounds per week from May through November. I have a good friend that has his vineyard on aerated drip, his grapes do extremely well. I also grow Jack-Be-Little pumpkins on aerated drip and market them to Michael's Craft stores, in Colorado and Arizonia. Before I added aeriation to the system we normally got 3-5 mini pumpkins per vine, after aeriation the number rose to 5-8 per vine. On the very first crop of pumpkins that we grew with air added to the drip system, it was almost a disaster. The crop grew so well, and strong that they came in one mounth too early for Hollowween. It worked out OK, but was a hassle. The roots of all plants require oxygen to absorb water and nutrients. Without soil oxygen, the root cannot even take in water. The aeration greatly inlarges the soil oxygen and the root system growth, also the warm air is very beneficial to soil organisms. One unforseen benefit from the system was the disapearence of dirt clods from the fields. I don't know why for sure, but I assums it was from the rise of soil organisms. When air is compressed, the air heats up, and the compressed air sent down the drip lines heats the root zone of our plants. The current 5 acres that we are now working on will probably be drilled into wheat. Our goal is to install 5-10 acres of additional drip every year. How was your trip to see the Pope and DC ?

Thanks, Bob, for the info on the aerated drip irrigation. I was interested in it before and even more so now that you've provided your own personal testimony.

Okay, I've only been getting 2-4 hours of sleep for the past week due to my irrigating schedule, but I just broke down and posted an update to my Papal Mass thread at link

By the way, Harvey, the drip lines are on 30 inch centers. This gives complete coverage to the entire field. As each line waters approximately 15 inches in each direction from the drip tape, at least for our type of soil. - Millet

Thanks, it's something I've considered switching over to in my chestnut orchard. Besides the other obvious benefits, chestnuts drop over about a three week period (five weeks with the different cultivars I grow) and we hand harvest daily. Going to underground drip vs. my micro-sprinklers would make harvest much easier, weed control easier, and avoid getting any nuts wet.

I sent you an e-mail yesterday asking for more details but I am also wondering if you have had much rodent damage and, if so, how do you spot the damage in a timely manner.

Harvey I did receive your E-mail, and will answer it fully. Never have had even one incident of rodent damage. If any damage at all, it is normally done by an employee digging around out in the field and cutting a line. The drip lines are at 8-inches below the surface. The rule around here is, " if you break it you fix it." It generally only takes 5 -10 minutes to splice the line back together, using a connector that T-type makes for that purpose . - Millet

Harvey's concern are field rodents (gophers, squirrels, rats, etc) that makes lots of tunnels underground. They can gnaw on these drip lines. If there is a broken underground drip line, it won't be detected because the water will drain into the tunnels of these critters and there would be fewer clues of the underground leakages. thus it would really be harder to look for it and fix. If you can't find it, you can't fix it. Perhaps there are faster ways of detecting underground leaks when there are rodent tunnels.

One way is that you know that you have a leak if you have unusual pressure drop, either during pumping of compressed air or watering. It will only give you a clue of the problem, but finding where the leaks are would be a challenge. If there are no rodent tunnels, leakages are easily found, and fixed.

Is there a nasty chemical that can be applied on the lines to discourage rodents from gnawing it?

I can't offer any help about rodents problems with drip lines. I have never seen rats, voles, gophers anywhere around here. The only rodents we have are common mice and rabbits. It has been snowing hard all day today with nice heavy wet snow. It is forecast to continue until around noon tomorrow, I sure hope it does. These are million dollar snows for Colorado wheat growers. My wife talked me into going shopping with her as it is too wet outside to work. While in town, I was able to purchased $103.73 worth of the standard incandescent light bulbs, before the new energy bill ban on their production takes them off the market, and we are forced to use the florescent curly type bulbs. These should last the farm for a long time to come. I might buy a few more the next time I am in Denver. - Millet

I don't have gophers and very few ground squirrels but do have some voles, moles, and field mice. The rats I have are never a problem in my orchards or in my fruits. Still, I'd be a little bit concerned about rodent damage but it would probably be okay if eight inches or so below the suface. On the other hand, I hope my chestnut trees are around for another 80 years until my son is an old man and don't think it would be very easy to replace lines in 20 years from now.

I've also read about root intrusion. Do you inject any materials to prevent such problems? Or do you use a tape that has an imbedded chemical to resist such problems?

As I wrote by personal e-mail, I've been interested in such a system for a few years but can't find much information on it around here.

Harvey,

You can wrap geofabric root guard around the emitters. The root control geofabric are cheap, and you can order it from amazon. You can initially tape the fabric. But once it's buried, it should stay wrapped around the line.

Root Guard:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180156519110&ssPageName=ADME:B:EF:US:1123

I have underground drip that uses the inline drip emitters that are clog-free and have installed it on our rental property. It has been doing very well. The lines never become brittle. I don't have problems with root intrusion or blockages. The area has fewer weeds around the trees.

While underground drip system has many advantages, it has some major drawbacks. One of the biggest disadvantage of underground drip system that I see is that you effectively have stopped nutrient recycling that starts from the soil surface. This would mean more inputs to compensate, the input would be in the form of fertigation. That is why with citruses and blueberries, I stick with microsprinklers, and am switching all of my point source emitters to micro-sprinklers. Micropsprinklers covers wider area, and if you run it properly, it should encourage more root spread, minimize stresses during fruit filling time to minimize fruit drop.

It can be also achieved with the drip lines that has inline emitters buried a few inches deep, but this will require a lot of digging around my trees. I will keep that option open and may add it later. I would just bury the lines at 3" to 4" deep and not at 8". Installing at 8" deep could kill my existing trees. I would then just operate the microsprinklers from time to time and the buried drip system as the main irrigation to have the best of both types.

Joe

Joe, that may be practical in a yard but I would be installing 10 miles or so of underground line if I changed the system. I'd be giving you a call to do the wrapping! LOL

Reduced weed growth, eliminating interference with harvest and other cultural activities, avoiding wind affecing coveage, and avoiding workers breaking micro-sprinklers are all bit positives that offset the nutrient issue you brought up. Plus, I think much of that could be made up during he winter months. The benefits of aeration also seem very significant, though I still need to find out more about it.