drip lines

14 years ago

I have my garden all planned out to have t tape drip lines over the whole thing. What I am wondering is - I will have the mainline laid out along the front of the garden and the tapes coming off of it. 78 tapes to be exact. These tapes will extend to the other end of the garden down all the beds. In the middle of the garden, running along the whole middle, will be a weed fabric covered path. The drip tape would go under the fabric. I will use this path to go up and down the garden to reach all the beds. Do you think it will compromise the tapes underneath to walk on them? If I can't walk on them I will have to put two mainlines in and put 78 or so tapes off each to meet in the middle so the middle path would have no tapes running through it. That would add cost- 150 feet of mainline and 78 barbs and 78 sleeve ends.

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Comments (6)

jrslick (North Central Kansas, Zone 5B)
14 years ago
Do you have enough water to run 78 lines? How big of a header line did you put in? Do you have valves on your lines? I know that I could not run 78 lines of drip off our well at once. I would consider running several header lines, if you don't have valves for the drip tape. You can walk over the drip tape, it won't matter. Maybe bury it with some dirt. I would be more concerned about it being soft and muddy along this path.

Just my thoughts.

Jay
little_minnie
Original Author
14 years ago
There is tremendous pressure coming out of the pump. It is an irrigation pump. It will have the pressure regulator on it.
I don't want a muddy path but I will have fabric over it. I wouldn't want to sink in!
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henhousefarms
14 years ago
You should be OK walking on the tape - it is pretty resiliant - but would want to make sure there are not sharp things on your paths for it to rub on. What size mains are you running for 70+ lines? You might figure out the total GPM of all that tape and verify it is correctly sized. What Marla says about zoning is a good point unless your monocroping there are times that you may want to water some of the crops and not others.

Tom
little_minnie
Original Author
14 years ago
The main is an irrigation pump capable of a large irrigation system.

I am figuring when I want to turn a line off I will pull it and use the 'goof plugs'. Like when a bed is done and just cover cropped for later in the season.

Maybe I should do the math on how much cost it would add to put to mainlines, one on each end.

It seems like last year they had a free planning service but now I cannot find it.
jrslick (North Central Kansas, Zone 5B)
14 years ago
Speaking from my experience, While that idea will work for a while, I have found that taking out the line and putting goof plugs in and out will work, over time the hole will get larger and they have a tendency to leak. A little at first, then more and more.

Maybe others have done this and it worked for them, but for me it doesn't.
little_minnie
Original Author
14 years ago
There are also barbs with a shut off. Those cost a bit more than goof plugs. Or a person could put the sleeve end right at the beginning and fold it over a bunch.

Looks like another 150 feet of mainline and double the barbs and ends will be around $85 extra- plus shipping of course. That isn't bad. I emailed Dripworks to ask about help planning. They like to tack on extra stuff.

BTW. The whole reason I would like about 78 t tape lines is because my beds will be 3.5 feet or so. Some of them will have root crops or baby greens seeded over the whole width. I figure with sandy soil I will need 4 t tapes down those beds. For beds with larger transplants I am figuring 2 t tape lines. For the row of squash and rows of melons I am figuring 1 tape down the row which is what I did last year.

I have about 1000 feet tape from last year which is low flow, drips every 8 inches. I am thinking I want to order 7500 feet tape high flow , drips every 4 inches for my crops that need more water- such as onions, root veggies, greens, corn. I will use last year's low flow for squash, melons, sweet potatoes.

I will see what the company says I guess. Last year I ordered Fedco's starter kit and they gave no help whatsoever but the price was very good. I am very glad I did some last year so now I know how to install it myself pretty easily.