OOZE WHO IN DRIP IRRIGATION?

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by Greg and Pat Williams

Can a drip system work wonders in your garden? Find out with one of these six beginner's kits! By Bob Kornegay

By now, you've probably heard that drip irrigation can as much as double crop yields while using one-half to one-third as much liquid as normal watering methods. But it's also likely that you haven't installed one of those serpentine plastic line systems in your own garden . . . why not?

Well, many people hesitate for one or two good reasons. [1] Drip irrigation sounds complicated and gadgety. (And, after all, gardening is one of the few simple pleasures left in life.) And [2] why spend money on something if you don't have to? (God's rain and a good hose have always got the garden watered before, right?)

But consider this: You can give drip irrigation a good trial without making your gardening life much more complicated or expensive. Just put a beginner's drip kit in your plot. A starter setup will cost between $6.00 and $30.00, cover from 25 to 100 linear feet of garden, and be a cinch to install. Use one to water half of some crop and and treat the other half the way you always have. Then, at the end of the summer, you can judge the results for yourself.

Six Systems

For this report, we tested six drip systems at MOTHER's Eco-Village. Of course, there are other good drip setups, but these six are wellknown and fairly represent the variety of systems available. And all six companies offer informative free catalogs.

Most drip irrigation systems are one of two types: plastic hose with small waterdripping portals, called emitters or drippers, spaced every couple of feet . . . or microporous plastic pipe, called soaker, that weeps liquid along its entire length.

Either system provides several advantages:

• It delivers water slowly, so it never floods or compacts the soil.
• It provides an even supply of water, so plants are never water-stressed.
• It uses water efficiently, delivering it where it's needed and greatly reducing evaporative losses.
• It saves you enormous amounts of time. It can take three-quarters of an hour to fully water just a 10' X 10' area by hand. But once you've got your drip system set up, all you have to do is turn a valve on, and your plot will water itself!

Shur-Flo

The first four systems I'll examine use emitters. Actually, though, the first system uses openings that are more like tiny fountains than miserly drippers. Shur-Flo Water Savers are easy to install in 3/4" flexible polyethylene tubing-just poke a hole with a 20d nail wherever you want and thread one of the little cones in. And the emitters have large holes, so they're not too likely to clog.

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