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Post by hmoosek on Jun 20, 2022 19:12:44 GMT -6
After hearing Ron and George mention this, I’m quite intrigued. I have such a hard time with weeds/grass. Bermuda, Johnson, blood weeds, etc.
I have tried landscape fabric in the past without success. I had a bunch of old metal clothes hangers and I cut them up. I made “staples” to hold the landscape fabric down. The grass just grew and pushed the staples out the ground. I guess enough light was getting through to let the grass continue to grow.
I used to be able to keep my garden hoe’d clean, but my back says NO these days.
I’m wondering if the black plastic would work for me?
Could you guys that use this stuff give some info on how and what you use? I’ve never used drip irrigation before.
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Post by macmex on Jun 21, 2022 7:48:04 GMT -6
I will try to get back and add more images and info here. This is an excellent topic!
I wouldn't consider plasticulture and drip tape to be so important if I didn't live in an extreme environment. However, it does help with weeds, and more importantly, boosts production of the crops for which I use it.
I mainly use it for okra and sweet potatoes. I also have had excellent results with Roselle. I'm sure it would work with most crops. Essentially, using plastic mulch and drip irrigation makes kind of a greenhouse environment over the roots of the plant, optimizing soil moisture and minimizing waste through evaporation. I'd say it dramatically improves sweet potato production.
Here's a photo of the two rows I worked on for okra, this past weekend. This is when I had the T tape and hose all connected and was testing for leaks. After that I laid out the plastic mulch, which comes in rolls.
I purchased a kit from a company like Drip Depot (can't remember if it was them or not, now) some years ago. I've purchased some more pieces, here and there, but so far I think I've gone nearly 7 years on that kit. Ron discards some of his used T tape every year and often gives some to me. I understand why he discards it, as sometimes it has a number of holes and takes a lot of work to get right before covering. Still, I really appreciate the used tape. I'm CHEAP. This year I only had three or four leaks to repair, which is phenomenal.
One could use this system without the plastic mulch but I really like the plastic mulch because it conserves moisture so well. Now a days they even make plastic mulch which is 100% biodegradable. I'm still working on the original roll. But whenever I purchase more, it'll be the biodegradable kind.
Right after I purchased my kit, someone gave me a roll of this red plastic. Am still using it.
This year I dipped into the black plastic which came with the kit. It's only 3' wide, which is not as wide as I prefer, though 3' works. The red plastic is 4' wide. One uses soil to weight down the edges of the mulch and keep it from blowing away. It's very important to do this well. Sandhill Preservation Center had just put out all their sweet potato slips, last year, when they were hit with 100 mph wind which tore up the mulch AND most of their slips, rolling them up into giant balls. Before they could get to them the sun then baked and killed their slips. It was catastrophic.
Ron is much more sophisticated in his system. I just kind of cobble things together and go with it.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jun 21, 2022 16:39:15 GMT -6
I buy my irrigation supplies from whoever has the cheapest prices each year, but that usually ends up Irrigation-Mart. Their phone number is 1 (800) SAY-RAIN or 1(800) 729-7246
I buy 48" inch wide plastic mulch that's black on one side and white on the other. That way I can flip it over to white side up if I'm planting late. Only, this year, they messed up my order, sending me all black mulch and I didn't realize it because I put the cardboard box of mulch in the barn for winter storage and didn't discover the mistake until the day I laid it on May 1st. By then, it was too late in the game to re-order. (I'll not be taking their word for a correct order ever again.)
Black mulch is too hot for crops that don't provide their own shade in the latter part of the season. Take onions for instance; black mulch will literally bake onions in the ground when temperatures reach 100 degrees outside. It's alright for most other crops though, but I use white for cool-season crops like cabbage, onions, and things like that.
The plastic mulch I buy will not let any light through it. No weeds will survive under there. We used to lay our raised beds by hand, using a team of mules and a double shovel plow. We'd plow twice for each row, in opposite directions, then use 16" inch concrete hoes to pull the loose dirt into a raised bed about 8" or 10" inches high. Then, we'd rake the top of each bed flat, using the back side of a rock rake. After the beds were built, we'd lay the drip line down the center, tie a hard knot in the end to terminate the flow, and roll out 48" inch wide plastic mulch over the beds.
It takes three or four people to do that very fast at all, two people to carry the roll of mulch, and one or two to cover the edges with soil as you go along. though, one person with lots of patience can do the whole thing alone.
I use a tractor with a mulch laying attachment now, because my kids are all grown up and moved away. it's a lot easier to do now, but it can be done without a tractor or a mulch layer.
I'll try to attach a photo of the finished product below:This image is of okra planted on plasticulture that was laid by hand, using a team of mules, rakes, hoes, and shovels: pics.davesgarden.com/pics/2012/02/19/fourteenmilecreek/07e9fd.jpg All the holes in this image were punched in the plastic by deer that came in and ate most of what we planted that year. These rows were laid using a tractor.
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Post by hmoosek on Jun 21, 2022 19:25:04 GMT -6
I appreciate you guys taking the time to go over this with me. I’ll try and take some pictures of the area and maybe y’all might can give a little more insight. I don’t have but three outside faucets and they are at the house. I stretch as many hoses as I can, but sometimes it’s just a coffee can and me. It’s always been that way. When me and Mom raised all those tomatoes, we had a water hose that reached the edge of the garden, we would fill my plastic wheelbarrow full and use a bucket to water each plant. She and I can’t work that hard anymore. This year, I only watered the ones on the porch. We did manage to water a time or two, but it just wears us out now.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jun 22, 2022 14:18:13 GMT -6
My garden is 500'+ from the house where I get my well water. I dug a shallow trench the entire distance, using a mule and a plow, several years ago. I placed 1" inch schedule 40 PVC in the trench and covered it up using a rake and a shovel. I only buried the water line to keep from mowing it or burning it up when I burn leaves each Spring. It's not buried deeply enough to prevent freezing, so I have to blow the line out with an air compressor each Autumn.
To charge that line with water, I glued a hose bib adaptor on each end. I screw a standard water hose to the PVC pipe at the house and screw another one on at the garden. Then, I work from there to hook up my drip irrigation lines one by one by way of a 1-1/2" header hose.
I use a 15 PSI pressure regulator at the garden end of the line, so that I don't rupture my drip irrigation lines. A back-flow preventer would be a good idea there, but I don't have one at the moment. (I have 12 rows, averaging 150' feet each). That arrangement seems to be plenty for that size of an operation. I water for about 2 hours per evening in weeks that we don't get rain. I test for moisture by poking a finger into a hole in the plastic mulch.
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Post by chrysanthemum on Jun 22, 2022 21:08:37 GMT -6
macmex and heavyhitterokra, what is the water quality like in your area, do you know? Is it alkaline or acidic, hard or soft? Where I live the water is very hard. Drip irrigation systems tend to clog here because of the calcium and magnesium in the water. I’ve been warned away from them by gardening more than one set of gardening neighbors who had to remove theirs. Would that be an issue for the drip tape that you both use, or is that only an issue for more permanent installations? hmoosek, Texas is so varied, I have no idea what your water would be like. Do you know how hard it is? I just tested the pH the other day on the water coming from my neighbors’ hose (I was helping them with swimming pool water chemistry actually), and it was 8.0 out of the tap. That’s higher than it was a couple years ago when I measured it, and I wonder if it’s because of the drought. That alkalinity is part of why I use rain water in my garden (also we have restrictions all the time and high enough bills as it is), and I collect the air conditioning condensation for my blueberries. I just have water on the brain right now, so to speak, and I had seen this thread pop up, and thought it might be good to put water hardness into the discussion.
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Post by hmoosek on Jun 22, 2022 21:29:54 GMT -6
chrysanthemum , We have lake water. It’s been a few years since I’ve tested it, but it generally had an average PH of 7.0 and doesn’t contain many minerals. Shower heads stay clean a long time and soap suds well. I’ve been out of the water business for nearly 4 decades, but back when I worked at the plant, we used soda ash and aluminum sulfate. I believe I got the chemicals right. Whew boy, thats been a lifetime ago.
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Post by macmex on Jun 23, 2022 4:06:24 GMT -6
We use well water. I don't know the ph but I do know that the water is a little hard. When bathing, soap comes off a person easily. We don't get much mineral deposits on our hardware. I don't know if drip tape would be bothered by water carrying lots of minerals. Maybe Ron knows. Years ago I used to purchase soaker hoses for parts of the garden. Those were hardly worth it but for a different reason. They held some water when not in use and rodents would chew into them to get a drink. Rodents don't do that with the T tape.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jun 23, 2022 12:25:58 GMT -6
I don't know the pH of my well water, but I'd guess that drip tape would not be much affected by high minerals in the water, no longer than it's in use? No more than two hours per evening and only two or three months in a growing season here. I don't usually use my irrigation before the end of June. Then, I've got all of July, and August, but by mid-September, the garden tends to be on its way out, so I only water about half the month of September, then, my drip tape is retired.
Due to the size of my garden, and the fact that I work alone, I use new drip tape every season, because I use a mulch layer on a tractor to lay my tape. I imagine the tape could be reused for a number of years if a person were willing to lay it by hand.
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Post by woodeye on Aug 17, 2022 4:06:24 GMT -6
I switched to drip lines for the same reason, macmex. I got very tired of field mice and rats chewing holes in soaker hoses.
I have well water, but it's hard water. I have to use Lime-Away on the kitchen sink to combat the mineral deposits. Even though the drip lines I have used have the emitters that are user installed, I've never had one clog up from mineral deposits.
The type of drip line I have in stock would have to be installed on top of plastic mulch, and the emitters would have to be right at the point that the holes are poked in the plastic mulch. That's not as convenient as the drip tape that goes underneath the plastic. But, it is more convenient to check on whether or not the emitters are working. Even the drip lines I have in stock could be used in subsequent years on new plastic mulch each year. It would have to be laid out on top of the new mulch before the holes are poked in the plastic mulch...
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Post by rdback on Aug 17, 2022 9:02:15 GMT -6
...I have well water, but it's hard water. I have to use Lime-Away on the kitchen sink to combat the mineral deposits. Even though the drip lines I have used have the emitters that are user installed, I've never had one clog up from mineral deposits...
woodeye That "starter" drip system I bought came with a filter, presumably to remove impurities from the water. If you don't have one, maybe that's something you want to look into. Just a thought.
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Post by woodeye on Aug 17, 2022 9:09:52 GMT -6
You know, now that you mention it, maybe I do have a filter on it. I'll have to go out to the barn where I have it stored and check it out. The last time I used it was 2018 I believe, and my memory ain't what it used to be, so I'll investigate that and report back. If there is not a filter on it, yes I need to think about getting one. Thanks for bringing that to my attention, rdback.
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Post by woodeye on Aug 17, 2022 9:21:24 GMT -6
Yes, I do have a filter on the system. The pressure gauge is all brass, the filter is a cartridge type that filters the water before it gets to the gauge and mainline...
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