Friday, August 9, 2013

How To Install A Drip Irrigation System

By Andrea Davidson


As the name describes it, drip irrigation system is a way of watering plants which allows water to drip slowly onto the soil or deep into root zone. This kind of irrigation method was created because of the need to control the amount of water taken up by plants. Too much water for plants causes them to be water logged and the will not grow while little water causes the vegetation to wither.

This system transmits water onto the ground and in the root zones using tubes, valves, emitters and pipes. Before installing this structures, first an individual must have a suitable plan for irrigation for his garden or farm. The size of garden and type of vegetation are crucial factors to consider when thinking of a watering method.

There are many kinds of plants and they all have different requirements for water. For his reason, one should ensure to have planting zones if planning to use drip as a way of watering plants. Creation of the different zones make it possible for one to know what kind of plants require water at what time and to which amount. Examples of planting zones can be; trees, front lawns, containers, shrubs, rear lawns and food gardens.

After determining the various sectors, an individual then decides on the location of irrigation controllers will be located. It is usually advisable to have automatic valves with this drip watering method and these valves are usually controlled by the irrigation controllers. These gadgets can be stored inside the house or outside connected with control wires which run from controller location to the valves.

Creation of lateral or feeder lines then follows after the main line has been set up these feeder lines run from major line to particular zones. They are made using small tubing and after they are set up, emitters are installed and they emit water in gph. The same gph should be allocated for plants in same zone.

Upon installing all the connections and ensuring that they are alright, one should then turn on the water from the pump. The pressure of water should be enough to supply water to all the necessary places. A person will get many advantages by using this process. First will be the reduction of fertilizer and nutrient loss, second is reduction in soil erosion, the individual will also save on labor costs and many other benefits.

As we all know, no man made item is perfect. Therefore there are certain disadvantages of this process. First is the high initial cost of set up, clogging of pipes and tubes can also be experienced especially if system is not well maintained. There is also the problem of rodents entering the pipes. But these issues can be minimized by maintaining the structure well and regular checking of normal functioning.

All in all, to have a good drip irrigation system, the above components should be available with the zone being the core of all the components. Planning the water channel should also be done before installation. As for the crops or plants that can be grown using this technique they include; flowers, cereals, nuts, vegetables, and spices among other vegetation.




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