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water Poor Mans Irrigation System

AlabamaJack

AlabamaJack

went to homus depost and got supplies....3/4" PVC, fittings, QDs for hose attachments, a couple of different hoses and an automatic 4 section timer...

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putting the QD on the end of the pipe...

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putting the pipe lengths together

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laying it out to measure for length...

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Drilling holes (1/8" dia (.125")

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continued
 
washing all the shavings out of the pipe...

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pipe capped and testing in progress...

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4th plant...

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29th plant

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I must say it works great...

getting ready to make the BS irrigator now...
 
AJ ...... Dang you're a smart old fart. Maybe I shouldn't call you old ..... we're same age. But the kids here will call us old farts.

I like your idea a bunch. I'm going to try something like that for next year. Maybe sooner.

Peace & thanks for sharing,
P. Dreadie
 
AJ ...... I can see the end you attach the hose to. Can't see the other but I'm thinking that it's just caped off. Right ?

Peace,
P. Dreadie
 
yes sir, just capped...

Brain Strain done...

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back in a while to finish...still got yellow 7s, Homegrown 7s, and BB Jalapenos to do...this is going a lot quicker than I thought it would...
 
this is a knock off of what I used to use for an aerator when I was fishing a lot in south florida...ran it with a bilge pump and the bait stayed very fresh and lively
 
AJ,

I wanted to build something similar for my raised bed. Got the PVC (90') and drilled holes in it, added all the fittings, made four rain barrels so they would fill automatically with the drainage semi-automatic (one valve for each two barrels - that would have been an inch of rain), etc. Unfortunately, no one would put any eaves troughs or downspouts up so never got to use it. Next year, I'll have to copy yours - just change the pipe fittings so I can attach a garden hose.

Mike
 
I am finding it's a piece of cake...

got some more TOYS....PVC is like tinker toys for adults....

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back in a bit with pics of the finished Yellow 7 Pot run...it is going to be the longest at 48 feet....
 
got Yellow 7 row complete....Linda has some flowers there for color contrast so I gave here a couple of holes too...can't really see anything but it is working just fine...

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think I'll take a dip in the pool...it is almost 100F out
 
thanks man...I am trying to use every bit of space I have...

BB and Hot Banana Pepper Row complete...

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one more and I'm done for the day...
 
AJ,

I found the hardest part was drilling the holes! I put them every foot apart but through the pipe. I wanted to cover a 4' wide bed with just two rows.

Mike
 
you had to drill your holes at an angle to cover two rows with one pipe...I am making it easy....one pipe, one hole per plant...
 
task totally complete...got the timer out, tested, checked out...everything works great...no more hand watering...woo hooooooooooooooooooooooooo.....saves me two hours a day...

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AJ,

No, drilled them straight down. But... I laid them so that the holes would be on the side. I wanted to cover the entire bed, not individual containers. And I mis-posted - the holes were six inches apart. The distance between rows was 16" but in a 4' wide row I am growing 3-??? plants. I figured (didn't get a chance to test it) that each pipe would cover two feet.

Mike
 
AJ,

42.5 feet! I was hoping it would be 90' but we couldn't find enough blocks.

I'm thinking I need to add some peat to the bed this fall and till it in before I sow the winter wheat. It simply will not retain water. I watered it Wednesday evening, giving the plants close to 2" of "rain". The plants were drooping on Thursday. This evening, I used a sprinkler system and most of the plants got a somewhat slower amount of water but close to 3". I'm betting they will be needing water again Sunday, if not tomorrow. But... the Swiss Chard id going bananas!

Mike
 
AJ ..... So do your plants in buckets in each section need what at the same time ? My plants in buckets seem to need water at different times.Some guzzle water, others are much slower using water.

Peace,
P. Dreadie
 
wordwiz said:
AJ,

42.5 feet! I was hoping it would be 90' but we couldn't find enough blocks.

Mike
Click to expand...

the only thing I know about the long runs for the PVC is pressure loss/drop...my longest run is 48 feet and services 28 plants...last plant is just a trickle but it gets enough water IMO...I really don't think you would want to go with a single source run for 90 feet...I think the pressure loss/drop would be too great...you could put a pressure booster on it I suppose....


P. Dreadie said:
AJ ..... So do your plants in buckets in each section need what at the same time ? My plants in buckets seem to need water at different times.Some guzzle water, others are much slower using water.

Peace,
P. Dreadie
Click to expand...


they do need water at different times PD, but I have tried to arrange them so the ones that need more water get it at the first part of the run and the others that don't need it as much are towards the end of the run


Have watched this system for a couple of days now and it works like a charm...now I am thinking about putting this type irrigation to each plant I have...10' long 3/4" schedule 40 PVC is less than $1 each...talk about water conservation...I run this system three times a day for each irrigated section for three minutes...thats right 9 minutes total to water over 100 plants...thats opposed to a 10 count per plant hand watering (1000 seconds = a little over 16 minutes)...still trying to getthe timing for each section down...this timer is great...
 
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