Dripline Help

[profire31]

A little help is needed from you experienced growers out there please. Since I'm tired of fighting weeds and water problems I wanted to try plastic and drip this year. I will have 3 ac. of pumpkins. They will be on approx. 30 rows each 300 feet. Here's where help is needed. I talked to a couple drip line dealers and told them my story and asked for what I needed to make this work. They are telling me I need in the area of 8000 gallons of water a day to make this system work. I just can't see it being that much but never using drip before makes me wonder. I am thankful for any and all help. Cliff

 

[paul]

I live where we need to tile the ground to get it dry enough to grow a crop, so I'm no help.

That's 5.6 gallons a minute from your well, 24hr a day.

Hope you have a good well!

Does sound like a lot of water for 3 acres! But if I do the math right - and that's questionable with me - that would be less than an oz per square foot. That doesn't sound like much.

--->Paul

 

[barrybro]

I grow 3-5 acres of pumpkins on drip irrigation. I run it off of the house water pump from the spigot by the barn. It will not generate enough flow to the entire field at the same time so I just set up 3-6 different zones. I am not very precise with my watering. When it starts to get dry (I have sand for soil) I run each zone for 24 hours.

 

[greenbeanman in Kansas]

The average needed for vigorous vegetable growth is considered 1 inch of water per week from irrigation or natural means. Less when plants are small and more later in the season but an overall average of 1 inch per week.

An acre-foot of water which is the amount of water required to cover one acre 12 inches deep is 325,851 gallons. Since you only need 1 inch of that we divide by 12 which yields 27,154 gallons per acre per week.

However you are not going to cover the entire surface with 1 inch, only a portion of it.

30 rows 300 feet in length yields 9,000 linear feet. Assuming that each row has 3 feet width of roots you have 9,000 linear feet X 3 feet of roots or 27,000 square feet which is roughly 2/3rds of one acre.

Since you only need 2/3rds of the aforementioned 27,154 gallons per week we divide by 3 and multiple by 2 for a need of 18,102 gallons. Divide that by 7 days for a need per day of 2,586 gallons.

I assumed a lot and you will need to do your own figuring. Consider your soil as to whether sandy, clay, etc. Sandy soil will need a higher flow rate whereas clay will need a lower one so that the water can soak in.

I figured just the roots under the plastic at 3 feet width and a person probably needs to actually figure the top growth width/spread instead, which may actually be close to the full 3 acres instead of a fraction of one.

Expect you can tweak the rough figures to achieve a more accurate figure if you think it through.

If all else fails you can call the sales place below and see what they have to say and to learn if they agree with the other figures already given.
Drip Works.

 

[barrybro]

Your methodology makes sense. The only thing I would add is that the drip is not the only source of water. I still need the moisture stored in the soil and for rain to come. If I had a drought I am not sure I could keep up with the water needs of the pumpkins with my setup.

Barry

 

[profire31]

thanks for the opinions. I"m gonna try something but I don"t know how right it will be. Just need to see how it work out. thanks again.

 

[profire31]

thanks for the opinions. I"m gonna try something but I don"t know how right it will be. Just need to see how it work out. thanks again.

 

[profire31]

thanks for the opinions. I"m gonna try something but I don"t know how right it will be. Just need to see how it work out. thanks again.