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Post by amyinowasso on Oct 3, 2022 10:36:09 GMT -6
I would appreciate a discussion about ways to deal with drought and varieties that have done well in drought and heat this year. I'm thinking we're going to have more seasons like this. I know there's a thread on ollahs and probably various drip irrigation methods. Maybe we could link them here. (I don't know how to do that.)
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Oct 3, 2022 14:01:13 GMT -6
amyinowasso,
I use 4' foot wide Plasticulture with thin-wall drip tape under it here where I live, with emitters about 8" to 12" inches apart. I buy my irrigation supplies from Irrigation Mart. www.irrigation-mart.com/
To do this, I use a 15 psi pressure regulator. I just hook a water hose to the regulator. then I hook the regulator to a piece of blue lay flat, via 1-1/4" PVC. I glue a reducing bushing to the PVC to reduce it from 1-1/4" to a 3/4" hose bib thread. I connect the lay-flat to the regulator via a short piece of water hose. I use a 5' foot hose from a washing machine to do this. I connect the lay-flat to the 1-1/4" PVC using radiator hose clamps. I connect the drip tape to the lay-flat by way of drip tape lock fittings.
The whole system was designed in Israel, back in the 1950s as a way to grow produce in the desert, so it's pretty efficient. The water that you use sort of recycles to some extent by condensation on the underside of the plastic mulch at night.
Irrigation Mart has a lot of good information about how to set this up. Here is a link: www.irrigation-mart.com/
There are several different ways to do this. I've seen people just drill very tiny holes in 1/2" PVC pipe and make their own thing. the holes in the bottom side of the PVC blow pretty deeply into the ground, by way of the high water pressure on an unregulated system, so I'm not sure how efficient this is? You can even drill tiny holes in a regular water hose or buy a sweat-type soaker hose. In all cases, there was mulch used. In the case with the homemade PVC emitters a deep layer of straw was used.
I hope this helps ... If nothing else, it might get the conversation started.
I think there is a little bit of information on using ollas and spikes and a few other things over in the Tips and Tricks section, under the heading of "Extras". Sorry, if this is a little choppy. I'm trying to type it while on hold with the Social Security office and keep getting interrupted to push buttons etc., while on hold for the last 20 minutes.
Ron
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Post by amyinowasso on Oct 3, 2022 20:26:04 GMT -6
My advice is to call the Bartlesville social security office because they actually answer their phone. On the other hand I have no idea how to talk to the IRS...and I have tried.
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Post by woodeye on Oct 4, 2022 4:23:19 GMT -6
amyinowasso , In the past I've done drip irrigation which has a similar setup to the way that heavyhitterokra has his, but I have not used the flat drip tape. Mine is the round flexible type, but the regulator and such as that is the same I think. If I was starting from scratch I would try the flat drip tape first. However, since I have quite a bit of the round in stock, plus lots of emitters, valves, elbows, and tees, I'm going to use it next year instead. I have not used plasticulture mulch before, but I plan to also do that. However, in a hybrid type system I will have (because of using the round tape), I'll have to have emitters placed right over the holes through the plastic for plants. It should conserve water and better serve the plants. I've only purchased drip irrigation parts from www.dripdepot.com/, but that doesn't mean I will always purchase from them exclusively. That's just where I first started and I've never shopped around. (like I probably should have)
I've used soaker hoses a lot, but to me they are a major pain for the most part. Mice and rats love to chew on those to get a drink. They learn where the water comes from, then if the hose is not in use, they'll chew into it thinking that it will make water come out. Which it will in a big way when the water to the soaker hose is turned on again.
I've used buried 5 gallon buckets before, with weep holes in them to slowly soak tomato plants which are planted around them. Fill the bucket with water every couple of days or so, and then let it seep out. It's more work, but if I was not going to use drip irrigation, I would do that again before I would use a soaker hose.
I had a pepper row about 5 years ago that I used drip irrigation on, and although it was not plasticulture, it did very well. However, I had to use a LOT of mulch. If mulch is purchased in bags at Lowe's or wherever, it would cost more for mulch than the plasticulture does. So actually, in theory, the way I plan to irrigate next year will save money over my former method.
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Post by macmex on Oct 4, 2022 6:36:21 GMT -6
With vine crops like watermelon and pumpkins there is a strategy that works pretty well. During the winter one digs a pit or trench and loads with with compost. In my case I've just piled "barn scrapings" (old bedding and manure) in the hole, covering lightly. This needs time for the organic matter to become well saturated with moisture. I try to leave a little depression on top, so I know where it is, and so I can easily water, come spring.
I plant as soon as danger of frost is past and, when I'm thinking, I also mark the spot where the plants come up, with a tall stake. This will enable me to water directly if I choose to do so. More often than not I don't remember to do this. In that case I end up watering with a sprinkler.
The compost serves like a sponge, conserving moisture. The squash has time to really get established before drought hits and makes a fairly early crop, though, that doesn't matter when one is growing Old Timey Cornfield Pumpkin. They keep.
I haven't been able to keep up with the garden very well now, for a couple of years. Am thinking in 2023, after putting in my sweet potatoes, okra and some beans, that I will plant Mesquakie Indian Corn, cornfield beans and pumpkins in the rest of the main garden. I'm going to decommission two other gardens to cut down on the stress. The three sisters method is low stress for me and provides great satisfaction. It looks like a jungle but it's a productive and intriguing jungle. I have to water three sisters with overhead sprinklers.
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Post by amyinowasso on Oct 4, 2022 11:10:57 GMT -6
I DO use soaker hoses. I am in an urban backyard and I have 3 dogs so I don't have many critter problems. I have had a few explosions when the water turns on. We have also punched holes in old hoses to make drippers. I get 50' soaker hoses at harbor freight for, up to now, less than $15. I have 4 4x16 beds, one 4x8 and a 5'diameter grow bed and many pots and bags. A 50 footer can be laid so it runs 16 feet 3 times which gives pretty good coverage. I have snaked one through the pots so it drips into MOSTLY the pots as well. My husband put down landscape fabric before the mulch this year to prevent weeds. (Not my choice). I saw a drought map of Oklahoma and Texas today. Never imagined that we would be drier than Texas. They had a few spots, but 2/3 of Oklahoma was dark brown.
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Post by woodeye on Oct 5, 2022 8:00:29 GMT -6
It's great that you are able to use soaker hoses, amyinowasso . I wish I could use them again, (in some select areas) they served me well for years until the abundant vermin in my pastures learned how to destroy them faster than I could keep new ones in stock. This tomato patch was all irrigated with soaker hoses. I circled each individual plant with the soaker hose, I can't remember offhand how many total soaker hoses I used for this, but mulched with hay, and the tomatoes really liked it. You can see the hose connection at the bottom of the first picture...
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Oct 5, 2022 19:18:19 GMT -6
I checked the weather here today at 4:00 pm. It was 90° and only 13% humidity. That was crazy dry! For the past two days the humidity has been getting down to 10% and 11% by around 3:00 to 4:00 pm.
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Post by woodeye on Oct 5, 2022 19:24:32 GMT -6
Just checked mine. It was 25% humidity at 4:52 p.m., with a temperature of 84°. You won the dry contest, heavyhitterokra, you sure you ain't in Tucson?
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Oct 5, 2022 19:26:58 GMT -6
This is the URL to the weather site I used. w1.weather.gov/data/obhistory/KTQH.html
Supposedly, it's taken at the Tahlequah Airport.
That's crazy low, considering kiln dried wood usually has a surface humidity of 10% and is often only 25% at the core.
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Post by woodeye on Oct 5, 2022 19:45:52 GMT -6
The closest I could get the info like you did at the airport is at Chandler Airport, it's probably about 14 miles from me. But nonetheless, it's dry here too. And the grass is no longer green here now, so if the wind picks up, need to start plowing fire guards...
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Oct 5, 2022 20:21:15 GMT -6
My okra has been drying down like you wouldn't believe right now. (Which is great!) This is perfect weather for curing seeds before harvest. We need rain really badly, but I'm thankful right now for the extra dry air during the time of harvest.
In years past, I've lost nearly my entire seed crop, due to three-day rainstorms that soaked my pods and caused the seeds to germinate inside the husk or whatever you call the covering of an okra pod.
Plowing fire guards sounds like a really, really, good idea about right now. There is no rain in our immediate forecast.
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Post by woodeye on Oct 5, 2022 20:34:13 GMT -6
Cool deal, I've suspended all rain dances until your okra seed pods are harvested and inside the house...
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Post by chrysanthemum on Oct 5, 2022 20:48:04 GMT -6
We’ve been really dry like that, too, this past week, but the weather said that more humidity was moving in today. It wasn’t enough humidity to notice it on skin or anything, but I think the percentages were up.
I’ve been seeing this thread, but I can’t really come up with anything to add to it in terms of how to succeed during a prolonged extreme/exceptional drought. I don’t have experience with the success part of that. The drought has been hard on my garden and on me this summer. I’ve managed to keep my plants alive, but I haven’t had good harvests of much of anything except basil. I’ve had some peppers and some cucumbers and a few beans and some sparse okra, but I’m not sure that it has been worth all the time and energy I have put in to watering. (Thankfully the water itself was mostly not from our paid water but from rain tanks, so it was sweat equity rather than money I was wasting.). It’s kind of depressing to say that now that I’ve spent the whole summer doing it, but it has been disappointing. I still have sweet potatoes in the ground, and I’m not going to harvest them for a while, so I may still get something a little more rewarding. My onion harvest in the spring wasn’t great, but I do still have onions in my pantry in October, so that’s something.
It has just been a really hard year, and the drought has been prolonged. Last summer was rainier than normal, but we started getting dry in the fall, so it has been almost a year now without a significant break. It’s nicer now that the weather has cooled just a bit. The low humidity feels good to people, but I think it makes it harder on the plants.
Drip irrigation may have served better this summer, but I wasn’t set up for it, and I don’t see myself setting it up right now. At this point I’m considering just cutting out some more plants (okra, some tomatoes that aren’t doing much, my attempts at fall cucumbers) so that I don’t feel compelled to keep watering them.
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Post by amyinowasso on Oct 6, 2022 10:28:32 GMT -6
I've been hoping someone would talk about varieties that grew well, or at least produced. We had cucumbers, which I can't grow, but apparently my husband can. We think he planted County Fair. (He's not good at tracking what he plants.) The Emerald Okra eventually produced. Both were in my best bed, so that may have something to do with it. We had tomatoes, most notably black cherry, which produces well for me some years and not others. I should keep track, maybe it likes dry. I think the Souix produced. The Heidi, which are usually big producers got a lot of blossom end rot, which isn't normal and probably means we didn't water consistently. We haven't harvested sweet potatoes yet. I grew no beans. We had kale and collards. They're actually still out there, but they got kind of tough. We have a chance of rain 9 out of the next 10 days, Heavy hitter, might be time to bring in your okra.
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