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#1
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pvc irrigation ?
What can you use with a pvc pipe layout as the nozzles for a vegetable
garden ? I have tried various sprinklers and last year even tried the smaller diameter black plastic hose drip irrigation system with the little plastic flow regulating drippers spaced along the hose. The hose kinks, the drippers clog and fall out, etc. Also the regular drip irrigation hoses are cost prohibitive since a 50 ft. hose is $25 or so whereas an equivalent length of pvc pipe is $10. And I have about 300 linear feet of garden and don't want to spend $150 for drip irrigation hoses or the drip irrigation systems with the regulators (that are also about $1 a piece). Is there some clever thing to do to pvc every 4 feet or so to simulate these drip irrigation systems with the drippers, like simply drilling a 1/32 hole periodically and loosely taping over it to avoid the erosion effect and running the system shorter periods of time. Or is there some regulating dripper made for pvc layouts instead of those little ones for the black plastic hose system ? Or maybe drilling the periodic holes in the pvc and putting a pressure reducer at the faucet ? Bottom line is pvc is so inexpensive and has so many inexpensive T's and valves to make it very easy and cheap to build a pvc layout for my garden. The only problem is how to deliver the water to each plant. Thanks for any suggestions. Bob |
#2
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pvc irrigation ?
How about soaker hoses? If/when they clog, just run hot water through them.
.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. TAKETHISOUT budysbackagain(@)THAT TOO a-oh-ell dot com |
#3
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pvc irrigation ?
That is what I do. I use the PVC to get the water to the garden, but attach
soaker hoses and run them on top of my raised rows and plant my goodies next to the soaker hose. It works very well, waters evenly, and is a lot more economic than any other method I know. Putting a lot of holes in your PVC will just lower the water pressure so you don't get much water to the plants, and then it wont be evenly. I have used your idea to water trees, but found that if the water pump isn't really strong, you will get water out of the first 20 holes, and cant even get it to the end of the pipe. If you have a very strong pump, it will work alright for trees, but will dig holes in the dirt if you use it for other plants. Have fun. Dwayne "TakeThisOut" wrote in message ... How about soaker hoses? If/when they clog, just run hot water through them. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TAKETHISOUT budysbackagain(@)THAT TOO a-oh-ell dot com |
#4
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pvc irrigation ?
Your drippers are probably clogging up because you need a filter.
When I lived in Central Texas, I made a drip irrigation system using a manifold that I made of 3/4" PVC rigid conduit, and plastic irrigation tape. I drilled a hole every couple of feet in the manifold, tapped it, and screwed in nylon hose thread adapters so I could attach the drip tape (you could also attach soaker hose this way.) I used a cheap fixed pressure regulator (about 15 or 20 PSI) to feed the garden hose that ran to the manifold. Then a filter, and a valve that I used to regulate the manifold pressure to about 9 PSI. I drilled a hole in a coupling and screwed in a water pressure gauge. The whole thing was really cheap, and it worked great. The key pieces were the filter and the pressure regulator. I used conduit instead of water pipe because the conduit is UV stablized so the sunlight won't rot it. It cost about the same as schedule 40 water pipe. The irrigation tape was thin black plastic tubing about 5/8" diameter with drip emmiters drilled in it every 18 inches. It came in big rolls, and was cheap enough to throw it away after a few seasons. I don't remember where I bought it -- some irrigation supply place out in West Texas, I think. That was a long time ago, and before the Internet. It should be easy to find now. Maybe this will give you some ideas. Best regards, Bob bob carwell wrote: What can you use with a pvc pipe layout as the nozzles for a vegetable garden ? I have tried various sprinklers and last year even tried the smaller diameter black plastic hose drip irrigation system with the little plastic flow regulating drippers spaced along the hose. The hose kinks, the drippers clog and fall out, etc. Also the regular drip irrigation hoses are cost prohibitive since a 50 ft. hose is $25 or so whereas an equivalent length of pvc pipe is $10. And I have about 300 linear feet of garden and don't want to spend $150 for drip irrigation hoses or the drip irrigation systems with the regulators (that are also about $1 a piece). Is there some clever thing to do to pvc every 4 feet or so to simulate these drip irrigation systems with the drippers, like simply drilling a 1/32 hole periodically and loosely taping over it to avoid the erosion effect and running the system shorter periods of time. Or is there some regulating dripper made for pvc layouts instead of those little ones for the black plastic hose system ? Or maybe drilling the periodic holes in the pvc and putting a pressure reducer at the faucet ? Bottom line is pvc is so inexpensive and has so many inexpensive T's and valves to make it very easy and cheap to build a pvc layout for my garden. The only problem is how to deliver the water to each plant. Thanks for any suggestions. Bob |
#5
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pvc irrigation ?
zxcvbob wrote in message ...
Your drippers are probably clogging up because you need a filter. When I lived in Central Texas, I made a drip irrigation system using a manifold that I made of 3/4" PVC rigid conduit, and plastic irrigation tape. I drilled a hole every couple of feet in the manifold, tapped it, and screwed in nylon hose thread adapters so I could attach the drip tape (you could also attach soaker hose this way.) I used a cheap fixed pressure regulator (about 15 or 20 PSI) to feed the garden hose that ran to the manifold. Then a filter, and a valve that I used to regulate the manifold pressure to about 9 PSI. I drilled a hole in a coupling and screwed in a water pressure gauge. The whole thing was really cheap, and it worked great. The key pieces were the filter and the pressure regulator. I used conduit instead of water pipe because the conduit is UV stablized so the sunlight won't rot it. It cost about the same as schedule 40 water pipe. Thank you all for taking the time to reply and for your helpful suggestions. I was not using "soaker hose" because of the expense (I think I was referring to it as drip irrigation hose, but I know what you're talking about- its the black stuff that looks like garden hose that sweats). It's the stuff that was running about $25 a roll and to cover my whole garden would be $150 or so which is why I was wondering about cheap PVC in the first place. It sounds like some combination of conduit and spaced soaker pieces might be the ticket. Thanks again and happy gardening ! Bob The irrigation tape was thin black plastic tubing about 5/8" diameter with drip emmiters drilled in it every 18 inches. It came in big rolls, and was cheap enough to throw it away after a few seasons. I don't remember where I bought it -- some irrigation supply place out in West Texas, I think. That was a long time ago, and before the Internet. It should be easy to find now. Maybe this will give you some ideas. Best regards, Bob bob carwell wrote: What can you use with a pvc pipe layout as the nozzles for a vegetable garden ? I have tried various sprinklers and last year even tried the smaller diameter black plastic hose drip irrigation system with the little plastic flow regulating drippers spaced along the hose. The hose kinks, the drippers clog and fall out, etc. Also the regular drip irrigation hoses are cost prohibitive since a 50 ft. hose is $25 or so whereas an equivalent length of pvc pipe is $10. And I have about 300 linear feet of garden and don't want to spend $150 for drip irrigation hoses or the drip irrigation systems with the regulators (that are also about $1 a piece). Is there some clever thing to do to pvc every 4 feet or so to simulate these drip irrigation systems with the drippers, like simply drilling a 1/32 hole periodically and loosely taping over it to avoid the erosion effect and running the system shorter periods of time. Or is there some regulating dripper made for pvc layouts instead of those little ones for the black plastic hose system ? Or maybe drilling the periodic holes in the pvc and putting a pressure reducer at the faucet ? Bottom line is pvc is so inexpensive and has so many inexpensive T's and valves to make it very easy and cheap to build a pvc layout for my garden. The only problem is how to deliver the water to each plant. Thanks for any suggestions. Bob |
#6
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pvc irrigation ?
bob carwell wrote:
I was not using "soaker hose" because of the expense (I think I was referring to it as drip irrigation hose, but I know what you're talking about- its the black stuff that looks like garden hose that sweats). It's the stuff that was running about $25 a roll Earlier this year (they're sold out now) Costco had 100' soaker hoses for $13. Home Depot still has 75' hoses for $13, and 50' hoses for $10. -- Warren H. ========== Disclaimer: My views reflect those of myself, and not my employer, my friends, nor (as she often tells me) my wife. Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is coincidental. No animals were hurt in the writing of this response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants to go outside now. |
#7
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pvc irrigation ?
Dwayne wrote:
That is what I do. I use the PVC to get the water to the garden, but attach soaker hoses and run them on top of my raised rows and plant my goodies next to the soaker hose. It works very well, waters evenly, and is a lot more economic than any other method I know. Putting a lot of holes in your PVC will just lower the water pressure so you don't get much water to the plants, and then it wont be evenly. I have used your idea to water trees, but found that if the water pump isn't really strong, you will get water out of the first 20 holes, and cant even get it to the end of the pipe. If you have a very strong pump, it will work alright for trees, but will dig holes in the dirt if you use it for other plants. System I'll be trying this year (3 rows) will use 25 foot lengths of black sponge soaker hose branched off a garden hose manifold, each junction made with a cheap wye-valve. If one branch lacks pressure, it can (hopefully) be brought up by reducing flow to the other branches. |
#8
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pvc irrigation ?
Dwayne wrote: Putting a lot of holes in your PVC will just lower the water pressure so you don't get much water to the plants, and then it wont be evenly. I have used your idea to water trees, but found that if the water pump isn't really strong, you will get water out of the first 20 holes, and cant even get it to the end of the pipe. If you have a very strong pump, it will work alright for trees, but will dig holes in the dirt if you use it for other plants. Oh no, here we go again. Whenever the discussion reaches this juncture, the thread takes on a life of its own, and the arguments go on and on for weeks. Your problem was, you were operating at too high a pressure instead of too low. At very low pressure, the flow rate approaches zero, the amount of water lost at each emmiter becomes insignificant, and the amount of water dripping out of each hole from end-to-end of the pipe is approximately equal. Best regards, Bob |
#9
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pvc irrigation ?
Dr. Rev. Chuck, M.D. P.A.
System I'll be trying this year (3 rows) will use 25 foot lengths of black sponge soaker hose branched off a garden hose manifold, each junction made with a cheap wye-valve. If one branch lacks pressure, it can (hopefully) be brought up by reducing flow to the other branches. Shouldn't be a problem. If you look at the head end of the soaker hose you'll likely notice a small piece of plastic with a small hole in it to regulate the water pressure in the hose. If you don't have enough water pressure to power 3 of these, you'd know it! If you hook two of these hoses in series, it may be a good idea to remove that pressure regulator from the top of the second hose. But if you pick-up your hoses, and put them away for the winter, make sure you remember which hose that is. -- Warren H. ========== Disclaimer: My views reflect those of myself, and not my employer, my friends, nor (as she often tells me) my wife. Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is coincidental. No animals were hurt in the writing of this response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants to go outside now. |
#10
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pvc irrigation ?
I put together a system for a friend needed to top up 100s of lotus pots and all I
did was dry fit PVC and drill a hole for the water to drip not forcefully shoot out of the hole. it works great. when she has sold enough plants she can take a 10' section off, cap the end and water the rest. I use soaker hoses made from recycled tires, also on very low pressure. Ingrid zxcvbob wrote: Your problem was, you were operating at too high a pressure instead of too low. At very low pressure, the flow rate approaches zero, the amount of water lost at each emmiter becomes insignificant, and the amount of water dripping out of each hole from end-to-end of the pipe is approximately equal. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List http://puregold.aquaria.net/ www.drsolo.com Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the endorsements or recommendations I make. |
#11
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pvc irrigation ?
zxcvbob wrote in message
... Your drippers are probably clogging up because you need a filter. When I lived in Central Texas, I made a drip irrigation system using a manifold that I made of 3/4" PVC rigid conduit, and plastic irrigation tape. I drilled a hole every couple of feet in the manifold, tapped it, and screwed in nylon hose thread adapters so I could attach the drip tape (you could also attach soaker hose this way.) I used a cheap fixed pressure regulator (about 15 or 20 PSI) to feed the garden hose that ran to the manifold. Then a filter, and a valve that I used to regulate the manifold pressure to about 9 PSI. I drilled a hole in a coupling and screwed in a water pressure gauge. The whole thing was really cheap, and it worked great. The key pieces were the filter and the pressure regulator. I used conduit instead of water pipe because the conduit is UV stablized so the sunlight won't rot it. It cost about the same as schedule 40 water pipe. Thank you all for taking the time to reply and for your helpful suggestions. I was not using "soaker hose" because of the expense (I think I was referring to it as drip irrigation hose, but I know what you're talking about- its the black stuff that looks like garden hose that sweats). It's the stuff that was running about $25 a roll and to cover my whole garden would be $150 or so which is why I was wondering about cheap PVC in the first place. It sounds like some combination of conduit and spaced soaker pieces might be the ticket. Thanks again and happy gardening ! Bob I just picked up a 2-pack of 2x 50' hoses as BJs wholesale for 10.00. Cosco has it too but it's 1 single 80' hose for 12.99. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. TAKETHISOUT budysbackagain(@)THAT TOO a-oh-ell dot com |
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