Homesteading

How to set up drip irrigaiton for my raised bed?


How to set up drip irrigaiton for my raised bed?

by Asst2RegionalMngr

2 Comments

  1. Asst2RegionalMngr

    Hi all. I’ve attached two pictures of the setup I have currently I have four grow bags for tomatoes. These are watered by a sprinkler head converted into an 8-fold 1/4 inch piping drip irrigation head. Ive basically just snaked one 1/4 inch line to each grow bag, so four of the eight lines are now taken up.

    The second picture shows a different sprinkler head converted to a drip irrigation head with adapters for 1/2 inch piping. I don’t have any 1/2 inch piping yet.

    I’m wondering how to most efficiently water the rasied bed in the foreground(2 feet by 8 feet). I currently have six rows of vegetables there(4 rows of beets, 2 rows of carrots). I have several options:

    1. use the open four lines on the 8-fold drip irrigation head to snake 1/4 inch piping to the raised bed, then connect a drip tubing stake to each of the four lines. I don’t think this would provide enough coverage for the entire raised bed and seems inefficient as well
    2. connect a 1/4 inch soaker dripline to one of the heads in the 8-fold drip irrigation head, then snake it inside the bed to provide coverage. This seems more efficienct, but there would also be drippage from the soaker tubing that is outside of the bed, which could lead to weeds and cause unnecessary water loss.
    3. connect 1/2 inch piping to the sprinkler head in the second photo, snake it inside the raised bed, then punch holes in it and connect 1/4 inch tubing near each veggie. This also feels inefficient
    4. connect 1/2 inch piping to the sprinkler head in the second photo and use drip tape inside the raised bed.

    My other question is regarding regulating flow. The tomatoes require more water than the root veggies generally, but all of the sprinklers are connected to the same controller, so they all have to get watered at the same time. Has anyone encountered this scenario and found a solution? I guess I could reduce the flow on the tubing that goes to the raised bed.

    Would appreciate any advice. Thanks so much!

  2. blastborn

    I’ll tell you what I did and maybe it will help. I was looking to put something together as cheap as possible. I went to a bunch of estate sales and got all the garden hose I could find. Cut the ends off where needed and put the pieces together with insert fittings and hose clamps. Drilled tiny holes every few feet and kinked the end of each leg and wrapped with electrical tape. I built two different arrays that are fed by one main supply line. I used a Y hose fitting that has its own valves for each side. This allows me to regulate pressure. I’ve used the system for almost 4 years now with basically no upkeep and it saved my garden from drought in July. The veggie patch is around 25’x65’

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