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Watering Needs for Various

11 years ago

I'm planning to put in a drip irrigation system for my vegetable garden. Nothing too unusual various tomatoes, summer and winter squash, bell peppers, cucumbers and beans. Is it safe to water them all about the same amount or will I be over-watering one of those listed? Oh, there's also a strawberry patch next to the vegetable garden that will be on the same circuit. You can use different emitters that vary on how many Gallons Per Hour the put out, but the kit only comes with 1 GPM emitters. I can buy other sizes if you believe necessary.

Comments (5)

  • 11 years ago

    I have drip tape not emitters but I think in general you can water those about the same. I cut the water off to most fruiting crops before harvest especially melons and berries. If you grow root veggies, corn, green crops such as broccoli, you will need more water than the ones you mentioned.

  • 11 years ago

    That sounds like a lot of trouble to set up a drip system to put different amounts of water on different crops, and really discourages much crop rotation in subsequent seasons. As long as the drainage in the bed is good (such that you don't end up with a permanent puddle under your peppers) I think you're good to go with watering them equally. Depending where you are, squash may wilt in summer mid-day heat, but as long as they recover in the evening, everything will be fine.


  • 11 years ago

    Bell peppers would be the exception in my opinion. Peppers prefer to dry out moderately well between watering and are less tolerant of over-water than the others. Over-watering peppers results in shedding leaves. Cucumbers would require consistent soil moisture levels to avoid bitterness and tomatoes require it to avoid BER and splitting. As Minnie said decrease water to fruiting crops, especially tomatoes where the flavor can be noticeably diluted, shortly before harvest to improve flavor.
    Dave


  • 11 years ago

    Watering is crucial here and I do drip with two circuits: a short durtation one and a long one, if that makes sense. Each bed has a cheap PVC ball valve for each circuit to shut off the whole bed if wanted. It's easiest for me to group plants together that can get along
    with similar watering schedules, and as plants grow larger just
    increase the duration. That compartmentalization is one of the big advantages of the raised bed (not SFG) schtick.

    Seldom do I pop one emitter off and replace it with a looser or tighter one; there are too many to be poking around all the time with. Errors of timing and clogging can be touched up pro tem with the hose, but clogging is a chronic problem that's hard to notice with heavy mulch and frugal watering.

  • 11 years ago

    We made a set up in our raised beds with soaker hoses. We bought one of those splitters that have 4 different spigots that can be turned on and off independently, got some hose at the flea mart, bought some adaptors at the hardware store, connected them to the soaker hoses. Then I could snake the SH through each bed and water as needed.

    It makes it easier for house sitters too! "turn spigot #1 on for 1/2 hour on Mon/Wed, #2 1x per week......"

    It takes a little set up, but works for us! Nancy

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