We get calls all the time asking for help in determining what is needed for setting up a drip irrigation system. Before we can help, we are going to need some additional information. Here are some of the questions we will need to ask:
What is the water pressure (Gallons Per Minute) you are working with? (from the well or other water source)
“I don’t know.” That’s OK. but one of the first and most important variables we need is to determine your water pressure. The higher the water pressure, the more you can irrigate. Conversely, if you do not have enough water pressure, we must solve this problem first.
Get an empty five-gallon bucket and time how long it takes to fill up. If it takes one minute to fill a five-gallon bucket, then you know you have 5 gallons of water pressure per minute.(GPM).
If it takes 30 seconds, you know you are pumping 10 gallons per minute. 15 seconds means 20 gallons per minute. On average, you are going to want at least 30 GPM to effectively irrigate your plants. The more the merrier! Note: If you have a high GPM flow rate, you can always add a flow restrictor to normalize your flow rate.
How far is the field from the water source? The longer the footage from the water source (pump) to the end of your field, the greater the GPM you need to efficiently irrigate.
How many acres do you need to irrigate? Keep in mind, that one solution may be to divide the acreage into zones, so you water one zone at a time. This reduces the necessary GPM.
How long and how wide are your rows? What is the spacing for the plants you are planting? The common vegetable spacing could be 12 inches, 24 inches, or 36 inches. Hemp may be grown with 36″ spacing. Watermelons could be 8 feet apart.
What elevation changes are you working with? Are we pumping uphill? Downhill isn’t a problem but uphill will require additional water pressure.
And when possible, if you already know what you want, if you are calling in having the parts number (SKU) will make the process go faster.
Please take a minute to fill out the form below and submit. One of us will reach out to you to discuss.
Now we can help you put together a plan!
