What is gravity irrigation of greenhouses. Homemade greenhouse irrigation system and its advantages

Small greenhouses are very common in the personal plots of our compatriots. They give their owners a number of advantages:

• Protection of plants from frost.
• The ability to provide the family with earlier products.
• A significant reduction in the risk of developing infectious diseases, the foci of which are present in the surrounding area.
• Getting an earlier, which means more expensive products for selling them on the market.

However, vegetables or flowers that grow in greenhouses need more care and supply than their counterparts in the open field. And one of the biggest problems is full-fledged timely watering, because the soil in the greenhouse is not moistened by rains, and evaporation there, due to higher temperatures, is much more intense.

Pros and cons of different greenhouse watering methods

Every gardener knows several ways to water plants outdoors, but not all of them are suitable for greenhouses for various reasons.

Irrigation type	Positive sides	Negative sides
Under the root	Ease of implementation, in addition to a watering can, no additional equipment is needed, the possibility of fertilizing	The complexity of the procedure
Along furrows	Speed \u200b\u200band ease of irrigation, you just need to transfer the hose from one trench to another, and the water will flow along the rows by itself	The inconvenience of moving along the aisles with trenches full of dirt, which, moreover, must be covered with something in order to avoid too rapid evaporation
Sprinkling	Convenience, uniformity and ease of water supply, adjustment of its pressure	The complexity of the installation of the system, a large number of parts, the high cost of parts, a dangerous increase in humidity in the greenhouse, which can provoke the development of various infectious diseases
Drip	Convenience of feeding and adjusting rates, the ability to apply directly under the root of any water-soluble fertilizers through the fertigation unit, saving water	Relative complexity of system installation, high cost of its components

Having weighed all the pros and cons, we can say with confidence that, if there are sufficient funds to purchase consumables, the best choice for a greenhouse is to equip a drip irrigation system there.

All the positives of drip irrigation

In addition to the advantages of the "drop" indicated in the above table, the following positive features of the system can also be noted:

• Water supplied in this way does not displace air from the root section of the soil.
• The irrigation process can be fully automated.
• There is no soil removal and leaching.
• The system is resistant to climatic influences.
• You can apply different fertilizers to specific rows of plants in precise dosage.
• The yield and productivity of plants are significantly increased.
• Water resources are ideally allocated and saved.
• The appearance and quality of products are improved.
• Even very large areas can be watered with low pressure.
• The system is easy to install, maintain and manage.
• The cost of products grown on drip irrigation is significantly reduced.
• Every plant will receive water, regardless of the distance from the source.
• The greenhouse owner will get rid of the daily routine.

The drip irrigation system in the greenhouse will save time for irrigation, exclude soil erosion, and reduce the risk of weeds

What does a drip irrigation system consist of?

The mounting kit consists of a variety of parts that are perfectly matched to each other. A water supply source with a slight overpressure is sequentially connected to:

• Fertigation unit (enrichment of irrigation water with food elements).
• Disc filter.
• Main pipeline.
• Start connectors with rubber gaskets for connecting drip tapes to the main pipeline (with and without taps).
• The actual drip tapes.
• Splitters of various shapes, spreading drip tape.
• Plugs that fit over the ends of drip tapes to prevent water from flowing out of them.

Also, as necessary, repair joints are used in places where the drip tape breaks.

Video lesson: "How to make a drip irrigation system at a summer cottage"

Experts of the Smart Economy newspaper tell you how to do drip irrigation with your own hands in the country and to avoid common mistakes during installation.

System installation diagram

Before proceeding with the procurement of components, it is necessary to draw up an accurate plan for the future drip irrigation system in order to calculate the required amount of consumables. It should indicate the location and length of the beds, the source of water supply, all additional nodes, as well as the branching of tapes and pipelines.

All necessary measurements are carried out using a construction tape, and, taking into account the scaling, are transferred to the diagram. Further, focusing on the plan, the calculation is carried out:

• The total length of the drip tape, as well as the lengths of its individual segments.
• The number of start connectors, at the junction of the drip tape with the main pipeline, is how much is needed with and without taps.
• Separately L and T-shaped drip tape splitters.
• End caps for each tape.
• Fittings for the main pipeline.

Tip # 1: At the end of the calculations, add 10-15% to the number of consumables and the length of the drip tape, so as not to waste time on repeated visits to stores in order to fill up missing parts. After all, a factory defect occurs even in the most promoted brands, not to mention budget brands. In addition, during installation, even with experienced professionals, something can break.

Main pipeline

The main pipeline serves to supply water from its source to the start connectors of the drip tapes. Focusing on the previously drawn up plan of the drip irrigation system, we calculate the length of all pipes that may be needed, and do not forget to add 10% to the resulting figure. It is best to use a polyethylene pipe for cold water with a diameter of 32 mm as the main pipeline. This size is needed for the convenience of drilling holes and full placement of the start connector inside it, so that its end piece, inserted into the pipe, does not rest against its opposite wall.

Tip # 2: Don't skimp on filter quality! You can get the cheapest drip tape or fittings. All of them will work for at least a season and have time to pay off. But, if a low-quality filter is taken, then the thinnest drip devices of even the coolest brand will be clogged with microparticles very quickly and then all drip tapes can only be thrown away.

Plant feeding unit

To facilitate the provision of plant nutrition with the necessary nutrients, a special device has been developed - a fertigation unit, called a Venturi injector.

The device of the feeding unit allows mixing fertilizer and water, creating a nutrient solution for irrigation

The purpose of this device is to slowly and gradually feed fertilizer mother liquor into the main pipeline. The node consists of:

• Injector.
• Hose.
• Filter.

The principle of its operation is as follows - a hose with a filter attached to it is immersed in the mother liquor, water, passing through the narrowed part of the injector, contributes to the creation of a small negative pressure in the side pipe, through which the nutrient solution is sucked into the system.

Due to the constant speed of the water flow, the supply of nutrients occurs evenly and their constant concentration is maintained in the solution.

The table below shows application rates for several of the most popular crops using the Fertigation Unit using the DripFert ™ fertilizer as an example.

Culture, taking into account the phase of development	Fertilizer brand	Multiplicity top dressing	Application rate	Expected Result
Cucumber, 3 to 5 true leaves	30-10-10 + ME or 30-6-6 + ME	1	0.02 to 0.05 kg / are	Acceleration of plant development up to 3 - 5 days for each phenophase. Yield growth up to 54%. Increase in the number and average size of fruits. Improving the quality of products and indicators of heat and frost resistance of plants.
Cucumber at the beginning of the budding phase	18-18-18 + ME or 19-19-19 + ME or 20-20-20 + ME	1	-//-	-//-
Cucumber at the beginning of the fruiting phase	5-5-40 + ME or 10-10-40 + ME	1	-//-	-//-
Tomato, pepper, eggplant with 4 - 6 true leaves	13-40-13 + ME or 15-30-15 + ME	1	0.02 to 0.05 kg / are	Yield growth up to 30%. Improving the resistance of plants against diseases of fungal and bacterial etiology. Increase of indicators of frost and drought resistance. Increase in product quality (fruits contain more proteins and solids). Increase in average fruit size and yield per bush.
Tomato, pepper, eggplant in the bud phase before flowering	18-18-18 + ME or 19-19-19 + ME or 20-20-20 + ME	1	-//-	-//-
Tomato, pepper, eggplant. Bloom	20-10-20 + ME or 22-10-22 + ME or 16-10-16 + ME	1	-//-	-//-
Tomato, pepper, eggplant in the fruiting phase	15-5-30 + ME or	1	-//-	-//-
Tomato, pepper, eggplant. Fruit ripening	22-10-22 + ME or 20-10-20 + ME or 16-10-16 + ME or 17-8-22 + 3MgO + ME or 15-5-30 + ME or 16-8-24 + ME	1	-//-	-//-

Filtration unit

The filter element should be installed in the supply pipe after the fertigation unit and before the start connectors. When installing the filter, the direction of the water flow matters. You can determine how to properly position this unit by examining its body. There, as a rule, there are arrows indicating in which direction the water should flow through the filter.

When installing the filter, pay attention to the correct installation in the direction of water flow

To insert the filter into the main pipeline, special couplings-adapters (two pieces) are used. Assembly of the assembly is not difficult.

How to install the start connectors correctly?

In accordance with the plan made earlier, it is necessary, using a marker, to mark the surface of the main pipeline for drilling holes. These holes are for attaching the drip tape start connectors.

A marker is used to mark the drilling sites on the pipe, because it adheres perfectly and is visible on the pipe surface It is necessary to select a drill so that the hole diameter is less than the diameter of the O-ring

After all the holes are drilled, a rubber seal is installed in each of them.

The O-ring must fit snugly against the edges of the pipe to avoid leakage Start-connectors with a tap allow you to manually adjust the irrigation intensity of various garden crops

Start connectors are available in two configurations: with and without cranes. It is preferable to use devices equipped with taps, especially if plants are planted in the greenhouse with different needs for watering. Then you can turn off one bed while continuing to water the other.

Drip irrigation tape

Irrigation is carried out through drip tapes, which can be branched using T and L shaped fittings

The drip tape should be installed with the drip openings facing up. It extends to the entire required length and is muffled at the end either with the help of a special plastic piece in the form of a figure eight, or by tying a simple straight knot from the same tape.

If necessary, the drip tape can be branched, which is important if there are irregularly shaped beds. For this purpose, L- and T-shaped fittings are used.

Drip irrigation automation

The first thing you need to create an automatic irrigation system in a greenhouse is an uninterrupted round-the-clock water supply. If the centralized water supply system stops working at night, and there is no own well yet, a simple device will come to the rescue, which is quickly done by hand.

This is a tank of sufficient size, the lower level of which is raised above the ground to a height of one to one and a half meters.

The reservoir (barrel) with water must be 0.5 m above ground level

It is connected to the main pipeline leading to the fertigation unit.

The second part of the automatic irrigation system is a special programmable controller that opens and shuts off the water supply at a given time.

Controls the flow of water to the drip system

It is installed immediately after the filter.

Start of drip irrigation system on site

After all the units are installed in their places, a test run of water through the system should be done. In this case, the drip tapes at the ends should not be drowned out, since during installation, small particles can remain inside the pipes and fittings that can clog the drippers. Therefore, the water should be allowed to drain freely for about 5 - 10 minutes, simultaneously checking the operation of all taps and the controller, as well as the patency of the system parts.

Answers to topical questions of gardeners

Question number 1: How quickly does an investment in a drip irrigation system pay off?

Considering that the yield growth is 100% and more, even a small greenhouse area is enough to recoup the investment and make a profit within one season.

Question number 2: I have no plumbing education. Will I be able to build this system myself?

Of course. Follow our advice and you will quickly be able to assemble a workable drip irrigation system.

Question number 3: Is it worth it to overpay many times for the components of the promoted brands, or can you choose a budget option?

You can buy a filter and a controller from an expensive one, the rest of the parts can be taken from budget brands.

Question number 4: Why is it important to buy a quality filter and controller?

Because defects in the drip tape are easily corrected with repair fittings, the line of even the lowest quality will not break from the pressure required for drip irrigation, but a poor-quality filter will lead to failure of ALL at once !!! dropper system. As for a low-quality controller, it can turn off in the heat, for example, and all crops can dry out in the greenhouse without supervision in a few days.

Question number 5: How much does the drip irrigation system save irrigation water?

Question number 6: Can different fertilizers be mixed in the fertigation tank?

As a rule, special fertilizers for fertigation are produced in the form of a complex that includes all the necessary nutrients. It is better to acquire them.

One of the important components of favorable growth and development of agriculture is a well-constructed irrigation system for the greenhouse. It is no secret that moisture should be supplied to plants in the morning or evening, always warm. Water can be supplied from above and to the root system: at soil level or from the inner layers of the soil.

In the article, we will figure out how to choose the right watering, make an overview of irrigation systems, analyze the advantages and disadvantages, show you how to organize economical, automatic do-it-yourself drip irrigation in a greenhouse.

Why is the correct watering of plants in the greenhouse important?

For the harmonious growth and development of agriculture, the quantity and quality of moisture supplied directly to the plant is important, as well as air humidity, which is an important component of the correct indoor microclimate. Excessive dampness, strong fumes, dryness can lead to infection of the greenhouse, the appearance of pathogenic insects, microorganisms, plant diseases, even to the death of the crop.

Watering is responsible for the supply of nutrients and fertilizers to the plants, the water should be free of impurities, clean, with a small content of trace elements and salts.

Good to know: Rainwater that has settled in a container for 3 or more days is considered ideal for reclamation of greenhouses. An alternative is water from an artesian well, heated to the required temperature in the storage tank.

A waterfall device to organize automatic watering in the greenhouse with your own hands

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There are several ways to organize greenhouse watering, the most affordable, but very laborious - hole watering. It is carried out manually, with a watering can, a ladle, a hose, a measuring tank. A hole is made near each plant, into which the required amount of water is poured. Everything would be great, but the process requires a lot of time, physical effort, and besides, it is very difficult to calculate the amount of water for irrigation, except by eye, guided by our own experience.

Often, during hole irrigation, the water either does not reach the roots, then there is an overflow, which leads to a violation of the microclimate and impairs the growth of plants, so a professional is recommended to organize automatic watering in the greenhouse, here we note 3 ways of supplying water:

• rain;
• intrasoil;
• drip.

The photo shows a simple version of how to make the "rain" yourself

Rain irrigation in the greenhouse

The name of the rainwater irrigation method speaks for itself; the water flows to the plants in the form of rain drops. There are two options for arranging such a system:

• Watering from above is a kind of shower for plants, the hoses are mounted under the ceiling of the greenhouse, branches with spray nozzles are attached to them, water is supplied under pressure and watering begins.

In the photo, top irrigation in a greenhouse made of polycarbonate

• Rain irrigation can be provided with an automatic system equipped with sprinklers that are mounted in the ground. When the set time comes, the tubes with nozzles move out of the ground, rotate, spraying water. Such equipment can be bought in specialized stores, the price is high, but over time, the system pays for the costs by saving water and an abundance of crops.

Automatic rain irrigation system

Subsoil watering

Subsoil irrigation is used quite often in individual seasonal greenhouses. Pipes, cans, bottles, etc. with small holes are buried at the level of the roots, the liquid is fed into the container and gradually flows through the holes made in advance to the root system of the plants, this is an alternative to drip water supply.

Difficulties arise here, each crop is planted at a certain distance from each other, so it is recommended to make perforation according to average indicators, optimally every 300 mm. For underground greenhouse irrigation, pipes made of metal, plastic, or thick-walled hoses are used.

To organize subsoil autowatering in the greenhouse with your own hands, you should remove the top layer of soil, add rubble, cover with a film or geotextile, lay pipes, and form beds from fertile soil, preferably fertilized, from above. A huge drawback of the system is that the holes are often clogged with soil, it takes a lot of time and effort to clean.

Advice: To automate the watering of the greenhouse, a valve equipped with a timer or a solenoid valve, which is essentially an electric tap, should be installed between the pipes and the water tank.

In the photo, the principle of underground irrigation

Drip irrigation system for greenhouse

Drip systems for automatic irrigation for greenhouses are the most demanded and effective way of irrigating plants grown in greenhouses. Drip water supply is carried out using pipes and droppers connected to them, which are arranged at each root.

Homemade drip irrigation from bottles, a simple option for giving

To automate point capillary irrigation, the system is equipped with additional equipment, usually a device for complex automatic control of water supply, the most popular and inexpensive of them is aquadus. The Gardena water supply timer for ground or micro-drip irrigation is very much in demand, the cost depends on the configuration: without a sensor, with a programmed sensor, the most expensive provides completely autonomous irrigation with the ability to adjust the operation of the system.

A regular barrel of water can serve as a source of water, so as not to install a pump, the container must be raised 2 meters up, then sufficient pressure is formed in the pipes for high-quality drip irrigation in greenhouses. It is better to choose hoses with a small diameter, this will help to avoid excessive consumption of water, and will provide a good head in the drip system.

Important: In seasonal greenhouses with automatic drip irrigation, it is necessary to completely drain the water from the system for the winter in order to avoid damage to the equipment.

What is required for drip irrigation

How to make a do-it-yourself drip irrigation system for greenhouses

Do-it-yourself drip irrigation in a greenhouse can be done in two ways:

• lay pipes underground;
• position the hoses over the beds, which is very convenient in seasonal greenhouses; you can easily dismantle the system in the fall.

To organize drip irrigation you will need:

• storage tank for water, preferably made of plastic, a cleaning filter should be installed in it;
• hoses, water pipes (usually plastic) or tape, diameter 20-25 mm;
• fittings for tapping into a barrel, adapters, fittings for connecting pipes, a sleeve, go from an external thread to an internal thread, etc. auxiliary parts;
• a pump, if necessary, watering a large area of \u200b\u200bthe greenhouse in order to create the necessary pressure in the system;
• valves equipped with a rubber seal, disconnect individual lines if necessary.
• devices for the automation of irrigation.

Photo-diagram of the organization of drip irrigation in the greenhouse

Good to know: Drip irrigation in a greenhouse is best done from polypropylene or metal pipes, into which you can make an additional insert of droppers; such manipulations are not recommended with a polyethylene hose.

Installation

Prepare the site for the greenhouse drip tray. Install and secure the barrel. Make a tie-in at a height of 50-100 mm from the bottom so that debris accumulates at the bottom and does not enter the greenhouse drip system. Connect a tap for water supply, install filter and pipe adapter. Lay a pipe perpendicular to the beds, to which, opposite each row, attach the fittings, and attach tape or hoses to them. Pull it along the rows, cut, plug the end, wrap the edge as many times as possible and put on a special sealing ring. Connect the pipeline system to the tank, the drip system is ready for operation.

To make your work easier and free up time, it is better to automate the drip irrigation system. For this, a special device such as an aquadus is inserted in the area between the tank and the pipe, which regulates the entire process.

Be sure to watch the video on how to organize drip irrigation in the greenhouse with your own hands, the video provides practical advice on

The universal and low-cost method of irrigation increases the number of its supporters every day. Today we will talk about how to do drip irrigation with your own hands and how to use this irrigation technique correctly.

There is a lot of talk about the benefits of drip soil moisture. This irrigation device is effective and convenient in greenhouses and outdoors. This type of irrigation increases the useful water consumption by almost one hundred percent. For which crops can spot irrigation be used? Full soil moisture is beneficial for tomatoes and other vegetables, will delight with flowering and fresh greens.

Facts for those who doubt whether a point irrigation method is needed for the garden:

• the marketable output of tomatoes, cabbage, bell peppers, carrots and other vegetables increases by almost ninety percent;
• water consumption for irrigation is reduced by half, you can clearly adjust how much to water;
• plantings in the garden are less sick;
• fertilizers go directly to the roots of plants, which increases their efficiency several times.

For your information! Drip irrigation significantly saves water consumption. It will be indispensable in areas with low pressure in the water supply. The system can even work by gravity, for this you need to install a storage tank (barrel) on the site and throw hoses from it to the beds.

In this material we will try to figure out how to make a drip irrigation system, how to assemble it with our own hands and how to choose components of suitable quality from manufacturers for irrigation. We will find out how much water is needed for which plants, which one is needed, whether a filter is needed and what pressure must be maintained in the pipes. In conclusion, we will tell you how to use spot irrigation and how to properly care for the structure.

The photo shows an example of the system:

Effective types of watering in the garden

Sprinkling takes first place in the list of the most popular ways of watering plants. Such systems do not require much investment and are very easy to use. They consist of a hose and a spray (spray gun). In addition to the manual method of irrigation, there are devices for automatic sprinkling. There are types of sprinklers that rotate around an axis and thus cover a large irrigation radius. They are also called sprinklers.

For your information! A pump for pumping water into the garden irrigation system is installed at a well or well. There are units that are connected directly to the water supply tap and create increased pressure by pumping out its contents.

To moisten the soil at the roots of trees, a system of subsurface irrigation is more effective. A point drip of moisture directly to the root system will have a beneficial effect on plants in the greenhouse. This watering can also be automated.

We have listed what are the main types of irrigation of fields, but modern manufacturers offer all new complexes using the latest automation systems. They use sensors that measure soil moisture and precipitation, and programmable timers.

It is quite possible to make a sprinkler mechanism with your own hands. There are various types of hoses and all the components of automated systems on sale.

Pros and cons of drip irrigation in a greenhouse

Any plant care system has its advantages and disadvantages. Drip irrigation is no exception.

pros	Minuses
Reducing water consumption in half compared to sprinkling. The drip irrigation technique was first invented and tested in Israel, where water is of great value.	The drippers of the system are constantly clogged. To fix this problem, you need to use filtering.
Another advantage is significant. Spot watering is especially useful for tomatoes and cucumbers.
With the help of such irrigation, it is possible to deliver nutrients and fertilizers directly to the plant roots. In addition, pest control products can be introduced using this method, they will be extremely effective.	Thin drip hoses are often damaged by rodents or pets.
Drip irrigation prevents the formation of a hard crust on the soil surface. Loose soil allows oxygen to pass through, which is essential for plant roots.
Watering can be carried out even on hot sunny days, without fear that drops of water will lead to burns on the leaves.	The service life of the set for spot irrigation is no more than two years. Then you have to buy a new one.
With point irrigation, it is possible to regulate the temperature regime and water the plants with warm water, avoiding shock.
The system can work even when there is no pressure in the water supply.	The installation of the system requires financial investments, as well as its timely updating.
Drip irrigation saves time and effort.

Drip irrigation: what does the system consist of?

All elements of the point irrigation system can be bought separately and assembled with your own hands:

1. Drippers or drip tapes - perform a gradual supply of moisture to the roots of plants. Drippers can be non-collapsible or collapsible (the latter are convenient for cleaning). In some versions, they have an adjustment that allows you to control the intensity of watering.
2. Delivery hose - provides water supply to the systems.
3. Switch taps - connect and disconnect water in different directions of the system.
4. Masterblock - device with a set of filters and a pressure regulator.

Important! Before purchasing materials for drip irrigation, it is necessary to make careful calculations, or even better - draw a diagram of the entire system. This way you can significantly save on materials.

How to choose the right drip tapes

There are three main types of drip tapes:

• labyrinth ribbon;
• emitter tape;
• crevice tape.

Let's consider each of these types:

Types of tapes for irrigation	Description
Maze	Labyrinth channels are formed on the tape material. They reduce the flow rate of the water flow. Labyrinth canals are very fragile and easily damaged during installation. It is also important to know how to properly lay these irrigation hoses.
	In this variant, labyrinth partitions are not located along the entire length of the hose, but in places where there are laser-cut exits. Installation of such a system is much easier. Note that a slotted system requires good filtration. Such a device can be inexpensively assembled by hand.
Emitter	This band irrigation uses separate drippers built into the hose. They practically do not clog during operation due to the self-cleaning process. This quality directly affects the price of the product. Their production is expensive. An example of such a material is Tuboflex tapes.

It is not easy to answer the question of which drip tape is better. The opinions of users in the reviews vary. The choice in most cases depends on the financial capabilities of the summer resident. And yet, many consider emitter hoses to be the best, despite their decent cost.

For your information! A little about the characteristics of the water channel. The belts are available in two standard diameters - 16 and 22 millimeters. The most commonly used hose is 16 millimeters in diameter. Its maximum working length is two hundred and fifty meters. When calculating the length of the drip tape, it should be taken into account that twenty-two-millimeter hoses cannot be more than four hundred and fifty meters long.

The strength of the tape depends on the thickness of the material. It can be from 0.125 mm to 0.4 mm.

Advice! If you plan to use tape for one season, purchase material with the maximum wall thickness.

The distance between the emitters is also an important factor when choosing. The correct number of outlets should be selected for different types of landings. Carrots, onions for sets and other densely planted crops require ribbons with closely spaced emitters. Tomatoes, cucumbers and other plants, planted with a long distance, will arrange a ribbon with a distance between the holes of 30 centimeters or more. How to lay tapes and what distance between tapes must be observed in the following video:

For your information! The hole spacing from 10 to 20 centimeters is used for watering sandy soils and, if necessary, wetting the plantings with a solid line. Thirty centimeters distances are suitable for planting potatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers. Forty centimeters and more - for melons and gourds.

How to select the moisture consumption of the emitter:

How to mount tape segments together? How to connect a water control and supply system to it? Fittings are required for this purpose. They are selected according to the belt diameter.

And one last thing: how much does the tape cost? Its price starts from three rubles per meter and can reach ten to fifteen rubles. The tapes are sold in coils per meter.

What are drip start connectors and how to use them

The starter connector is also called a fitting. It serves to connect the parts of the irrigation system into one whole. You can buy connectors with a tap, swivel, branched. All these details are required for installation.

Advice! Before purchasing fittings, draw up a connection diagram for all parts of the drip irrigation structure. Mark the places where the starting crane, splitter and other elements should be located.

Fitting connection options:

Fitting connection options	Description
Thread	Threaded connectors are designed for connection to standard water pipes with a ¾ or ½ thread.
Herringbone	Designed to connect the system with PVC pipes or soft hose. They are especially in demand by summer residents, as they are used as a temporary connection
Straight	Connector for connecting PVC pipes of the same diameter
With seal	Suitable for connection through a hole drilled in the pipe wall. Equipped with a rubber sealing ring.

All fittings listed are suitable for the system Tuboflex and other kits for spot irrigation.

An important element of the system: drippers for irrigation

The main thing in spot irrigation is the dropper, which directly supplies moisture to the plant roots. This element of the system is mounted in a tape or hose.

Important! Do-it-yourself installation of droppers implies that each of them will be directed directly to the roots of flowers and vegetables.

Any dropper becomes clogged with time, the smallest particles of soil fall into the hole. If the device can be disassembled, do periodic cleaning. If not, you can try to purge the system with an air pump.

Types of droppers in greenhouses:

Types of droppers	Description
Adjustable	They have a removable cover for cleaning, regulate the flow of liquid from drops to spray.
Unregulated	A drip irrigation system of this type does not make it possible to increase or decrease the flow of liquid at will. The irrigation intensity depends only on the pressure in the pipes. For even watering, expansion joints must be used.
Compensated	The complex design of such droppers with silicone membranes makes it possible to consume a strictly defined amount of moisture, regardless of the pressure in the water supply system.
Uncompensated	They are based on a conventional labyrinth that reduces the speed of passage of the water flow.

All of these devices can be used for drip irrigation, greenhouse crops, and open field planting.

Basic principles for the selection of droppers:

• they should be easy to clean from clogging. Removable caps are very convenient, they allow you to quickly and easily return the dropper to operation;
• the bandwidth of the device is important. The bigger it is, the better. In this case, for cleaning it is enough to increase the flow of liquid;
• use of high quality polymers that do not react with chemical fertilizers.

You can make an external dripper for watering yourself. Many gardeners use medical devices for these purposes; the simplest device can be made from a plastic bottle. The price of a homemade device will be several times less, especially if you use scrap materials. The following video is an example of how to make a drip irrigation system for cucumbers:

Automatic types of drip irrigation, where you can buy them

The automatic self-watering system greatly facilitates the gardener's work. Modern manufacturers offer the very best systems with timers, sensors and programmable controls. The price of the machine starts at two and a half thousand rubles. Where can you buy ready-made greenhouse kits? They are offered by numerous internet providers. There are systems for multiple greenhouses or irrigation of large areas. In this case, it is better to entrust the installation of the irrigation complex to professionals.

What is included in the irrigation complex and how the system works:

Complex component	Description
Capacity	You can use water from a barrel or plastic tank. It should be located in such a container. Plants in a greenhouse need warm water.
Controller	A device that includes watering at the right time of the day and regulates its intensity. This device effectively controls water flow.
Sensor system	The devices control water heating, soil moisture and temperature conditions.
Piping and drip system	Directly carry out the supply of water to the plants.

What is the best automatic watering? For greenhouses made of polycarbonate or other materials, there are several options for automatic irrigation:

1. Drip point - protects plantings from the first frosts, optimally consumes moisture.
2. Sprinkling - water is supplied from the top using special nozzles. This option is not bad for a greenhouse, but do not expect water savings in this case.
3. Intrasoil - requires high costs for the arrangement, since it is necessary to bury pipes with perforations in the soil. Used in large greenhouses.

Which system to choose? In each case, the approach is purely individual. Intra-soil irrigation is considered more effective than point irrigation, but requires large costs, sprinkling minimizes costs, but is inferior in efficiency.

You can assemble automatic systems with your own hands; for this, all the elements necessary for installation are on sale. You can dwell on ready-made options from manufacturers, for example, or.

Advice! To determine the most suitable automatic irrigation system for you, do not be lazy, study the reviews that buyers post on the network. As a rule, it is in them that all the advantages and disadvantages of devices are objectively evaluated.

Drip irrigation system for the greenhouse "Zhuk": features and cost

The kit for the automatic irrigation system "Zhuk" is connected to a container with water. If necessary, you can take water not from the barrel, but directly from the water pipe. Installation of the device is extremely simple. To automate irrigation, you can provide an installation with a timer, it is sold separately.

Non-toxic materials were used for the manufacture of system elements. You can buy such a set at a price of 1600 rubles. The timer will cost two and a half thousand. The device is designed for watering six dozen plants on two.

Set of automatic drip irrigation "Aquadusya"

The Aquadusya system can be used not only in greenhouses, but also outdoors. It is available in two versions: full automatic and semi-automatic. Currently, semi-automatic kits with markings 60 and 50 are discontinued and what is being sold is the rest of the batches. Modern models "Aquadusi", Startand Water tap, can work both without automation, and with it. The difference between the Start model and the Water Tap model is that the former uses warm water from the barrel, and the latter uses cold water from the mains. Greenhouse plants need warm water. Cold can be watered on flowers and vegetables planted in open ground.

An automatic irrigation kit allows you to leave the site unattended for a week. This is very convenient for summer residents visiting country estates on weekends.

For your information! To pump water, Aquadusya uses a battery-powered pump. For this reason, it is not necessary to lift the container with liquid on a high stand in order to provide pressure.

In the set "Start" there is a float. If you install it on the water supply pipe going into the barrel, the liquid supply will be stopped after filling. The principle is the same as in the toilet cistern.

But the Water Tap will work only if the pressure is at least 0.3 atmospheres, and this is not always possible, especially in the season.

Drip irrigation kits in the greenhouse: reviews of popular models

Olga, 38 years old, Tver: “I tried the kit last year. Used it in a set with a barrel for a thousand liters. Mostly satisfied. The only problem is that it often gets clogged, but my husband deducted that filters should be used. That's right, we collect water from the well into the tank. This year we are purchasing filters and a timer. "

Sergey, 64 years old, Novgorod: I had to replace all the taps, they started flowing on the first day. After changing the fittings, everything worked just fine. Installing the "Beetle" is as easy as shelling pears, it should be removed for the winter, it is also not difficult. On the whole I am satisfied. "

Evgeny, 47 years old, Bryansk: They installed a system for my grandmother in the village, the years are not the same to stand with a watering can every morning. There is no end to delight. And the yield has increased, and there is no need to constantly scoop out of the barrel and refill it. Everything works automatically. "

Ekaterina, 39 years old, Rostov: “They broke up on this device, one might say, by necessity. We planted a vegetable garden, and then had to leave for family business for ten days. The summer was very hot. The husband installed the system and turned it on, but there was no particular hope. Upon returning home, we were in for a real surprise. Not a single plant died despite the heat! We are very happy with the purchase! "

Egor, 52 years old, Smolensk: “I noticed that with the installation of the system, the tomatoes became less sick. If you have not yet decided which set is best for a greenhouse, take this one. I installed it literally in an hour, no difficulties arose. "

Ksenia, 33 years old, Tver: “Immediately after installing the Vodomerka, I was worried that very little water was lost. Usually you stand with the hose all morning, and there is little sense, and then there are some drops. Out of curiosity, I dug out the ground at the roots of the peppers. Surprisingly, the ground is moist, and it does not dry out, as is usually the case under the sun during the day. The result was calculated by the end of the season. All crops have grown by 30-40 percent. ”

Gardena

Stanislav, 61 years old, Ulyanovsk: “Age does not allow you to take care of the garden as before. The son bought the irrigation unit. They put him on the beds in two hours. It is good that the hoses are flexible, you can expand it as needed. Now there are no problems with the strait. We are just harvesting. "

Christina, 28 years old, Maykop: “I have two greenhouses for early cucumbers and greens. We installed Gardena complete with a cube barrel. The water is heated with a heating element, watering goes directly under the roots. The vegetables are developing very well and I am now planting a second batch at the end of summer. I get another crop, everything turns green, even when the temperature outside is close to zero. "

How to make a do-it-yourself drip irrigation system for a greenhouse

A device for spot irrigation can be made by yourself. It's not as difficult as it sounds. A homemade kit will cost much less than the factory version.

A few important tips for the configuration and use of equipment:

1. The reservoir for the sprinkler system must be made of plastic. Metal barrels rust quickly, the smallest particles of rust instantly clog the droppers.
2. The barrel should be filled with cleaned and. This will save yourself the hassle of frequent cleaning of the micro-irrigation system.
3. Check the functioning of the system and the cleanliness of the filters at least once every ten days.
4. Dissolve fertilizer thoroughly before pouring it into a container of water. After applying the chemicals, the drum and belts must be rinsed.
5. Disassemble the capillary irrigation kit for the winter.

How to make a device yourself? For work, you will need a drip tape, a tank, a water pipe, fittings for connecting parts, a tap,.

In the photo, a diagram of the organization of self-watering:

Before installation, you need to decide where the water tank will be. This is an important issue as the location of the tank affects the pressure in the belts. The higher the barrel is, the faster its contents are consumed. Do not get carried away with high stands: on hot days, the water will go away too quickly, moreover, a high stand will require additional installation hassle.

The tap for connection must not be cut into the bottom of the barrel, but at a height of five to ten centimeters from the bottom. All sediment will accumulate there and will not fall into drip irrigation.

Advice! Medical droppers can be used as nozzles for subsoil irrigation of tomatoes and other garden crops. The diameter of their tubes is only one and a half to two millimeters.

It remains to install the pipe for the main supply of the liquid and plug it at the ends.

Idea! If you still have questions about how to make the device yourself, try a mini-model that can be used in a seedling greenhouse.

If done correctly, watering will work without your input.

Installation diagram of drip irrigation in a greenhouse: what is important to remember

To irrigate plants in a greenhouse, the simplest system with one main canal and droppers connected to it is sufficient. The watering barrel can be located in the greenhouse itself or outside. The first option is convenient because the barrel cools less on cool days. In the second, free access will be provided to the container, which will facilitate its timely cleaning and filling. So think carefully about how to install the tank. To estimate the minimum tank volume, multiply the greenhouse area by 20 (the amount of water needed per square meter). For example, for a greenhouse with an area of \u200b\u200b30 square meters, you will need to install a container with a volume of at least 600 liters.

Advice! Use plastic pipes to organize the trunk channel.

The distance between the droppers in the diagram must be at least thirty centimeters. Drip irrigation lasts 2-3 hours a day. This is the time required for the full provision of moisture to the plant roots. If left to water for a longer time, the roots can rot.

Advice! Drip lines should not be longer than one meter.

To understand how to organize drip irrigation, develop a detailed drawing. Indicate on it all the joints, turns and fasteners.

Video example of how to properly make drip irrigation in a greenhouse:

Requirements for the main pipe for drip irrigation

HDPE pipes with a diameter of 32 or 16 mm are used as the main line. You can also make a line from PVC pipes or from metal-plastic pipes. How to choose something that suits you best? It's hard to say which pipe is the best, they are all strong enough, durable and great for irrigation. And their price is almost the same.

Consider the size of the area to be irrigated when deciding which diameter to choose. In the greenhouse, it makes sense to make the main supply from polypropylene pipes of a smaller diameter.

Practice advice! To easily insert pipe fittings, use a screwdriver and a wood drill for drilling. They do an excellent job with polyethylene pipes.

Before inserting the drip hose, rubber seals must be inserted into the drilled holes. Without them, the oozing hose will lose a lot of priceless moisture.

How to make a trunk pipeline with your own hands in this video plot:

Venturi injector or plant feeding unit

Timely fertilization is a prerequisite for good yields. Scientifically, the process of fertilizing during irrigation is called fertigation, and the source from which dissolved chemicals come to plant roots is called a fertigation unit or a feeding unit.

For fertilization, you can select periodic or continuous mode. The simplest calculation is a concentration of three to ten kilograms per hectare.

How do I dispense drip chemicals? For this purpose you will need a fertilizer tank and a Venturi dispenser.

Dissolved chemicals are placed in a separate container. They enter the drip irrigation system in parallel with the main moisture, mixing with it. At first glance, the attitude is very primitive. But how do you find the right mixing ratio and maintain the correct concentration?

The principle of operation of the Venturi injector lies in the specifics of the movement of the liquid with a pressure drop. The water passing through the dispenser forms a vacuum, which entrains the chemical solution with it. Thus, the two liquids are mixed in the main trunk channel and evenly flow to the plant roots. The injector can be attached to a 1 "or 2" pipe. You can buy Venturi at any gardening store.

Dispenser device on the diagram:

For your information! The dispenser is made of materials resistant to chemical attack.

Another option for maintaining the necessary concentration of chemicals is the use of a dosatron. This is a more perfect and accurate control system. It is not difficult to mount it with your own hands directly into the drip irrigation system. A turbine is located inside the device, which moves the pressure of the liquid in the pipeline. The dosatron is adjusted only when it is installed. Further, the device does not need your attention. There are many videos on the net on how to use and install the dispenser correctly.

Main characteristics of the fertigation process:

• feeding should be started no earlier than half an hour after the start of irrigation;
• feeding duration - 30 minutes plus another half hour for rinsing with clean water;
• the amount of chemicals to be added is one kilogram per thousand liters of liquid, not more;
• caution should be exercised when applying chemicals and personal protective equipment is required.

Using filters for drip irrigation

Without a filter, a home-made or factory drip installation will clog up literally in a matter of days, and if the quality of water for irrigation leaves much to be desired, then in a matter of hours.

Points to consider when choosing a filter:

• what degree of water purification is required;
• device throughput level;
• possible pressure losses in the system due to the use of a filter;
• dimensions of the connections for connecting the filter device.

How to choose a filter for a drip irrigation system:

Filter types	Features:
Reticulate	A simple device that can be used if the site receives water from a central water supply. This device has a minimal price and small size.
Disk	Suitable. For filtration, plastic disc cartridges are used. Quite a large device, it costs more than a mesh one, but has numerous positive reviews from users.
Auto	An expensive device with a self-cleaning cyclone system. Suitable for large greenhouses.

In principle, the filtration system can be made by hand. A simple garden well water filter is made with gravel, sand filler. Such a system is usually placed at the outlet of water from a well, and a second fine filter is already installed in the barrel.

It is installed indoors, therefore, it will be necessary to conduct a drip irrigation installation line from the tank to the irrigation system through the house or.

Not everyone is ready for such expenses. You can make auto watering with your own hands. For this, a reservoir with water is placed at an elevation sufficient to create the required pressure in the line.

All the most important about drip irrigation materials

We have already talked about how to plan a greenhouse irrigation system. The water tank must be made of plastic and placed on a high stand. In this case, the water will flow by gravity and you can do without a pump.

Advice!How to make a reliable do-it-yourself tank support? For this purpose, it is better to use a columnar base or screw piles. This solid foundation will not allow a heavy barrel to tip over. Four screw piles are screwed to the required depth, connected by a grillage, on which, in turn, a platform for the container is mounted. In this case, even if you use a tank with a volume of two thousand liters for water, you can be sure of its stable position.

From the barrel there is a main pipe that supplies liquid to the droppers. For this element of the system, you need to buy plastic pipes. If the system provides for pumping water, it is installed at the very beginning of the line. The feeding unit with an injector is also connected to the same line. For chemicals, a second container is installed next to the main tank. All this equipment is located on a common platform. You can assemble the components individually, but it is easier to buy ready-made kits that include injectors, nozzles, droppers and greenhouse valves.

If drip tapes are used for irrigation, they are connected to the main line using tees. No special tools are required for this job. Plastic fittings are easy to insert by hand.

Advice! It is better to use drip tape to irrigate the plants under the covering material.

The drip irrigation system can be made from scrap materials. What you need for this: plastic bottles. One container is used for one or two plants. Holes are made in plastic using a thin awl. The bottle is dropped next to the plant. Moisture gradually flows from the plastic bottles to the roots. In the photo, a diagram of how to equip watering through bottles:

The disadvantage of such a device is that you will have to constantly fill the containers, and this is a rather laborious task. With a barrel and drippers, you need to spend more time installing, but the labor will quickly pay off with a complete lack of hassle with watering.

The nuances of drip irrigation

For the irrigation system to function properly, simple rules should be followed:

• Water for irrigation should be as free of impurities as possible. You can use water from a well, natural reservoir or water supply. If the fence comes from a lake or borehole, set the pump to a medium depth, do not lift mud and silt from the bottom. Please note that fry, eggs, larvae and algae live in natural reservoirs, so no matter how clean the moisture may seem, it must be carefully filtered. The installation of several filters is justified - at the inlet and outlet of water to the storage tank.
• After assembling the irrigation device in the greenhouse, it is necessary to conduct a test switch-on and check the operation of the automation. Before starting, check the tightness of all connections; for this, blow out the hoses and nozzles with a pump.
• After start-up, determine the optimum system runtime. The most optimal mode of operation is evening. During a sunny day, the water in the storage tank will warm up, watering will be carried out with warm moisture, the plants will appreciate it.
• Once every seven to ten days, perform a preventive cleaning of the system by pressurizing the air pump.

That's all the principles of the drip irrigation complex.

Article

The first drip irrigation systems appeared at the time of the general enthusiasm for orchids in the late 18th - early 19th centuries, for potting indoor plants. In the middle of the last century, drip irrigation, together with, revolutionized agriculture. Until then, the immediate future in a world with less than half a hectare of arable land left per person looked very bleak. By now, the technology of drip irrigation in the open field has developed to the possibility of widespread use in private households and there are more and more people who want to arrange drip irrigation with their own hands. The main reasons are the rather high cost of turnkey drip irrigation installation and the ever-increasing shortage of water suitable for agriculture.

As you know, the main advantages of drip irrigation are as follows:

Let us emphasize that these are only the main advantages. Drip irrigation in the country can also be beneficial for own consumption by reducing the need for winter purchases of plant products. However, firstly, the cost of the drip irrigation system is still quite high. Only the cheapest drip tape for open ground (see below) will be needed for the amount approx. from 600 rubles. per hundred square meters. For a plot of 20 acres, equipment for water preparation and water supply to tapes will cost at least 5000 rubles. Total - under 20,000 rubles. for a medium-sized farm “for myself”.

Secondly, do not believe the claims that drip irrigation reduces the labor intensity of private crop production. Caring for a drip irrigation system in small areas takes only a little less time and effort than pacing with a hose. Thirdly, the care of plants on drip irrigation differs significantly from it in traditional agriculture. Therefore, further material is lined up. way: first we will consider how to make drip irrigation in a small area from scrap materials with minimal or no cost. And having mastered all the subtleties of keeping garden crops "on drops" and having already accurately estimated, in terms of money, its benefits in given specific conditions, it will be possible to think about "real" drip irrigation; we will also talk about it.

For cucumbers - drop by drop

It is best to learn to keep plants in open ground under drip irrigation on cucumbers. Their greenhouse and greenhouse varieties are still inferior in taste and other consumer qualities to garden cucumbers; especially - gherkin. But, as you know, ground cucumbers from a sharp change in external conditions can become sour. Drip irrigation not only gives the plants the optimum moisture, but also creates a more or less stable microclimate around the bushes, so your first drip irrigation is best done for cucumbers. Having learned how to get tasty, fragrant, crunchy cucumbers “on a drop” no matter what summer is, you can “drop on a drop” any other well-known crops.

The most important thing

Drip irrigation systems are of different types, see below. But even the simplest home-made drip irrigation must satisfy the main condition for all of them: to supply water to the plants, and not in the aisles, see Fig. Otherwise, the plants will not get better, but worse; weeds and pests - on the contrary. In addition, the need for loosening that injures superficial roots will not decrease, but rather increase. In addition, the moistened soil in direct sunlight heats up strongly, so that the aisles will have to be covered with mulch, and under it the unwanted "cultivars" are paradise. In general, one should hope that the water in the soil will disperse. It is necessary to immediately get to the right place, this is the essence of drip irrigation.

About holes

In the first experiments with homemade drip irrigation, and then you will need to learn how to make dies in the plastic - calibrated and profiled narrow holes for the water source. Due to viscous friction in the liquid, they will provide a fairly stable moisture consumption from one dropper with pressure fluctuations within a fairly wide range and a good resistance of the system to clogging with soil particles.

To form the dies, you will need an electric soldering iron (preferably a soldering pencil with a nickel-plated bronze tip) and a piece of a stainless steel bicycle spoke. It is sharpened like an awl and polished (required). The tip-"piercing" is attracted to the soldering iron tip by a steel clamp with a screw clamp. Turn on the soldering iron and when it heats up, tighten the screw tightly, because otherwise, the tip will wobble due to thermal expansion.

Next, you need a piece of clear garden hose and a plastic bottle. The hose is fixed in a hole in its bottom, its free end is bent and pulled or plugged. The bottle is placed on a raised platform for approx. at 1-1.5 m. Then a number of holes are made in the hose with a tip, each time deepening it more and more into the plastic. You need to control how much the tip comes out into the gap of the hose! How much he got inside each time, we write down, remember, somehow we fix it. If, when pulled out, it immediately gets stuck and pulls plastic, it is poorly polished.

Note: for greater stability of the resulting diameter and profile of the nozzles, it is desirable to select the temperature of the soldering iron tip using a household thyristor electric power regulator.

At the end of the home development work, we strengthen the perforated section of the hose horizontally with the nozzles down, substitute a beaker under each die; an alternative is an irreplaceable Russian vessel, a faceted glass. We fill the bottle with water and measure the time it takes for 100-200 ml to drip from the nozzles into each measuring container. That's it, now you can make dies for a given hourly water consumption, you just need to take into account the wall thickness of the working hose.

Let's start dripping

Let's start with spot drip irrigation systems from dosing tanks without water supply networks, as the simplest and cheapest. On large areas, they are unacceptably laborious, but on a plot of up to 2-4 acres, this has little effect. And do not think that you will have to fence something high-tech: point irrigation of small areas of open ground at home is nothing more than drip irrigation from plastic bottles. It can be produced in 3 ways: microspray, surface and deep, see fig. Canisters and pipes can also be dispensers. But the former are not wasteful and expensive material, and the capacity of the latter, at optimal depth, is insufficient for the watering rate of most plants.

Micro-sprinkling eliminates the clogging of the nozzles in the dispenser with soil, but requires stands for suspension, makes it difficult to fill dangling dispensers and does not allow water to be delivered exactly to the roots. Surface irrigation requires modification of the bottles, which, with the required quantity of dozens and possibly hundreds, is very laborious. Deep spot watering from bottles has recently undergone radical changes that have made it highly efficient, see below.

The simplest surface drip irrigation can be organized on the basis of plastic buckets or bottles from 1.5 liters installed in rows between bushes, see fig. The dies in them are made at a height of 3-5 cm from the bottom so that the sediment in the water does not clog them. Such irrigation is suitable for moisture-loving and light-loving crops with fruits located quite high above the ground, for example. tomatoes, eggplants. A serious drawback of this "system" is that the rows must be mulched; why - see above.

Deep irrigation from inverted and cut bottles, left and center on the trail, gives much better results. fig. Mulch is no longer needed, it is more convenient to fill the dispensers, and the evaporation from them creates a microclimate for the plants. However, a small one, a real revolution in bottle-drip irrigation, was made by the appearance on the market of threaded nozzles for bottle necks with ready-made nozzles, on the right in Fig. They were invented at first by gardeners, roommakers; the tips of confectionery syringes were used. Among other benefits of deep irrigation, you can stick the dispensers into the ground obliquely, supplying water directly to the roots.

Other options

In addition to bottles, medical droppers are sometimes used for individual spot irrigation, see next. fig. However, the stable-positive long-term results of such experiments are unknown on the trail. reasons due to the fact that medical droppers are disposable equipment:

• The finest filter clogs up very quickly.
• Remove the filter - the needle becomes clogged with soil a little more slowly.
• The flow regulator clips quickly expand, the wheel pins come out of the slots and the adjustment stops altogether.
• The hoses also quickly grow cloudy, slip inside, swell; the lumen of the hose is reduced, and then the tubes generally spread out.

In addition, honey. a drip costs money, and not too small. And if the medical staff, contrary to the strictest prohibition, does not destroy them in use (droppers for medicines are not subject to disinfection), then who knows what kind of patient they were given. And won't one of them share their ailments with you through a dropper ...

On fairly large areas, up to 6 acres and more, surface drip irrigation from relatively improvised materials can be arranged, as shown in the figure:

Irrigation lines (tapes) are made of PVC garden hose with a caliber (clearance diameter) of 3-8 mm, it is relatively inexpensive. The dies in them are made as described above. The holes in the bottoms of the buckets are drilled along the outer diameter of the thread on the neck; such a spout is pulled together with a standard plug; possibly with a thin rubber seal. The holes in the plugs for the hoses are 1-1.5 mm less than their outer diameter, then seals are not needed here. For a weekend getaway, this is perhaps the best solution: the entire system can be easily deployed, and folded up and hid before leaving.

Note: a similar type of system, but much less expensive in all respects, can be built for growing seedlings at home, see the video below.

Video: drip irrigation for seedlings at home

All over the site

We have already come close to drip irrigation of fairly large areas from pressure sources of water supply with water supply through pipelines. A water-tube drip irrigation system is built according to a complete and simplified scheme, depending on the value of the initial pressure: with a normal pressure of 0.7-3 bar or low-pressure at 0.1-0.3 bar. A head of 1 bar corresponds to a head tank rise of 10 m, i.e. in low-pressure systems, a pressure tank rise of 1-3 m above ground level is sufficient. This greatly simplifies the installation of both the system itself and the pressure vessel; correspondingly, the costs for them also decrease. But it is difficult to ensure high-quality irrigation of beds longer than 10 m in a low-pressure system, and technically impossible for more than 20 meters.

Note: we do not consider high-pressure irrigation systems, for example, fog irrigation, because making them with your own hands is unrealistic, and the cost of construction is very high.

The device of both drip irrigation systems is shown in Fig. top left and top right, respectively.

In either case, a squeegee (bottom center) is connected to the water supply source (water supply system, common pressure tank, submersible pump in a well or well) - a device for preparing irrigation water, monitoring and adjusting its flow. The squeegee, in addition to the shut-off valve, must be supplied with a special filter, because additional unfiltered water will immediately disable the entire system. A main pipeline (s) with an optionally installed fertilizer solution injector is connected to the squeegee, and distribution pipelines (drip pipes, irrigation tapes or just tapes) laid on the beds are connected to the main. The belts are equipped with drippers that carry out the actual watering.

Note: the device of individual elements and the methods of installation of drip irrigation systems of low and normal pressure differ markedly, see below. The reason is the different degree of influence of viscous friction of water in pipes, in low-pressure systems it is relatively higher.

About pipes

Trunk pipes and, most often, tapes are made of low pressure polyethylene (HDPE) and are sold as HDPE pipes or simply HDPE. "Low pressure" in this case characterizes the production technology of this plastic: at low pressure with the participation of a catalyst. HDPE pipes are inexpensive and very durable, their service life is over 40 years. However, when heated to more than 60 degrees, they can release catalyst residues (cadmium), therefore food and household polyethylene is more expensive high pressure.

Drip irrigation systems are assembled from HDPE pipes for laying in the ground, black with a longitudinal blue stripe. Pipes for internal distribution (green) in temperate climates withstand 5-6-10 seasons. PVC-reinforced irrigation hoses are not suitable for the construction of stationary irrigation systems, because do not withstand constant exposure to the external environment for more than 1-3 years. The caliber of the main pipes is taken in the range of 12-40 mm for sections of 6-40 acres with an aspect ratio from 1: 1 to 1: 3. The caliber of the belts is 16-75 mm for the limits of their length 10-100 m.

Low head

Low-pressure systems are suitable for summer cottages or household plots of 6-20 acres. It is possible to make low-pressure drip irrigation from HDPE pipes with a wall thickness of 0.5-1 mm on simple fittings with a tight connection, at the bottom right in Fig. When designing them on slopes, the highways need to be spread horizontally, and the tapes should be run from them along the slope. This will make it possible to compensate to some extent the head losses in the belts. Often in this way it is possible to obtain a uniform flow rate from cheaper and more reliable uncompensated drippers, see below.

Normal head

Installation of drip irrigation systems of normal pressure is made from HDPE pipes with a wall thickness of 2-4 mm. When they are powered from a common pressure tank in the attic of a one-story house, a booster pump can be cut into the highway. The pipelines of normal pressure are assembled on fittings with compression, at the bottom left in Fig. The tapes are removed from the line by means of start connectors that function as T-pieces and pressure reducers. Through start connectors with taps, tapes or sections are connected, the pressure in which should be significantly lower than the normal pressure; in this case, a greenhouse, a short single bed and a garden.

How to install drip irrigation from ready-made components with your own hands, see the video tutorial. And we will further deal with some essential details, following the flow of water.

Video: how to assemble a do-it-yourself drip irrigation system

Tank

The supply tank of the irrigation system must be opaque or protected from light to avoid the development of unicellular algae (water bloom) in it, which instantly clog both the filter and the droppers. In addition, the water in the tank should not be heated in the hot weather: watering with overheated water is detrimental to plants. For this purpose, the open air tank is covered with a galvanized screen or wrapped in metallized thermal insulation, for example. foil insol.

The lid of the tank should be tight with an air drainage so that dust and microorganism spores do not get into it. The source for connecting the squeegee is made at a height of 10-15 cm from the bottom, and the sludge is periodically pumped out or drained. As for the volume of the tank, it is calculated based on the water demand of plants, the expected average monthly precipitation in a given area and the frequency of filling. In general, in Central Russia, a cube tank is enough for 6-12 acres per week.

Controller and barrel

An irrigation controller is considered an unaffordable luxury. This is true for devices from approx. for $ 2000 for greenhouses with a productive area of \u200b\u200bhectares. But there are also household irrigation controllers on sale for less than $ 50-30. They allow you to set the time and duration to water. Slightly more expensive models are equipped with a soil moisture sensor and skip watering if there is already enough moisture in it. A complete set is also possible with a precipitation sensor, through which irrigation is passed in the rain. With such a controller it is quite possible to build an unattended greenhouse "from weekends to weekends" 3x6 m with a storage tank from a 200 l barrel. However, we will return to drip irrigation of greenhouses more than once.

Filter

A drip drip filter is generally the same as a tap filter, but should provide finer filtration without getting clogged too often. Most of all in use are filters of irrigation water trace. types:

1. Mesh - the simplest and cheapest, but quickly clog up. The cartridges have to be changed at least once a week, or even after each watering, depending on the initial water quality. If the water hardness exceeds 16 German degrees (the maximum permissible according to sanitary standards is 29 degrees), they completely fail instantly.
2. Disk ones are somewhat more expensive, but the cartridge needs to be changed 2-3 times a season, or even not every season. Most commonly used.
3. Turbine (centrifuge filters) are the most expensive, but they purify water even from a puddle. No consumables are required, cleaning is reduced to unscrewing the drain plug and draining the sediment.

Fertilizer injectors

There is no way to touch upon the intricacies of agrochemistry, but in this case they boil down to one thing: pouring liquid fertilizers into the tank is incorrect. You need to feed plants intended for food in portions during watering. Therefore, an acceleration injector is needed; no - bring them with your hands to the beds.

First, the water must be supplied to the injector by 2 parallel branches, each designed for the full flow. In addition to the inlet valves, they also need valves in front of the injector, which make it possible to cut off the branch from 2 sides. If there is no booster pump in the system, then it is better to put 2 drives, then a tee, and an injector immediately after it.

Why such difficulties? First, suddenly a single squeegee is completely clogged, a concentrated solution of fertilizers will go to the plants, from which they will "burn". And with a partial blockage and a drop in the flow, nitrates will be deposited in fruits, bulbs and root crops. Therefore, the branches of the twin squeegee are periodically cut off, and in the branch that is under maintenance, the filter and the pipe lumen are checked and, if necessary, cleaned.

Second, the fertilizer injection scheme for drip irrigation depends on the type of system and the method of its feeding, see fig.:

In low-pressure systems, simple injectors with a mini-crane are used, pos. 1. When powered from a water supply system, which provides a stable "household" pressure of 1.65 bar (1, 85, 2.05 bar, etc. in countries and regions with different degrees of water supply) use the scheme at pos. 2. In systems with a booster pump - a circuit with an overflow, pos. 3, otherwise the pressure surges at the pump outlet will "trample" the water into the fertilizer tank. When powered from an autonomous water supply system with an unstable pressure - a circuit with a low-power pumping solution pump, pos. 4. It is turned on either from the irrigation controller, or manually according to the readings of the manometers.

Note: in the latter case, and in general with an unstable pressure in the water supply system, if the irrigated area is not very large, it is better to turn the entire drip irrigation into a low-pressure one using a conventional flush cistern for a toilet, see fig. The standard drain is muffled, and the squeegee is connected at the level of the waterline of the float raised until the water supply stops. The head in the irrigation system will then be very stable.

Tapes and drippers

These are the key elements of the system, therefore, as they used to say, the utmost attention should be paid to them. The cheapest will be micro-perforated irrigation tapes, or oozing hoses, pos. 1 and 2 in Fig. The dies in them are pierced by a laser. Due to the absence of pressure losses on the fittings, the length of the oozing hoses in low-pressure drip irrigation can exceed 50 m.However, due to excessive evaporation from a large total surface of artificial dew and sensitivity to dust for open ground, they are not very suitable, but for drip irrigation of a greenhouse, the oozing hose is almost perfect option.

Note: sometimes oozing hoses are called integrated drippers, but the latter can be of a completely different type, see below.

In labyrinth droppers, part of the water flowing through the pipe enters the winding channel, and from there it drips out. The labyrinth droppers built into the tape (pos. 2) are good for their low cost (plus to savings - no additional fittings are needed) and the fact that they give a relatively stable droplet flow rate at a fairly wide range of pressure fluctuations in the pipe. This is due to the large influence of viscous friction in the labyrinth. In addition, the holes in the tape for them can be cut through even with an ordinary stationery hole punch (see below for more details). But in the labyrinth, salts are deposited rather quickly, which disrupts the operation of the system; frequent pulling-pulling of the cleaning hose is not only laborious, but also soon leads to the need to change the entire belt.

Most often, external drippers are used for surface drip irrigation, pos. 3-8; on pos. 3-5 - integrated, or dropper-emitters. They are:

• With smooth flow control.
• With a fixed flow rate (1-2-3-4 l / h).
• Those and others - with compensation for pressure losses and uncompensated.

The basis of the loss compensator is a silicone membrane (pos. A in the figure on the right). It bends with increasing pressure and partially blocks the main flow through the dropper. Therefore, it must be adjusted on a tape with compensated droppers at a minimum pressure in the line, or starting from the far end of the tape. As for the design of the flow regulator, it is more convenient with a flag, but dropper-flags are more expensive than those with a regulator-limb approx. by 5%. When purchasing tens / hundreds of units, this is essential.

On pos. 6 - outlet dropper. Allows you to lay a tape in the aisle, which makes it easier to care for both plants and the irrigation system, but drip irrigation with taps will be quite expensive: you need additional. tees (many) tubes.

Pos. 7 - a dropper with the possibility of micro-sprinkling, which is necessary for strawberries. For such tapes at the origins of the tapes, switchable chokes or start connectors with cranes are needed: first they give full pressure, and when the bushes are moistened from above, they lower it to a drop under the roots.

Pos. 7 - dosing dropper for deep irrigation. These are applicable on non-clogged highly permeable soils; as a rule - artificial, for example. backfill with expanded clay in greenhouses with container culture. For deep drip irrigation in conventional soils, droppers with 2-4 outlets and tips immersed in the ground are used, see next. fig.

About the installation of droppers

"By-company" holes for droppers in the tapes are punched with a special hole punch-insector, allowing only one wall of a thin-walled pipe to be pierced by weight. Install the emitter droppers with mounting pliers (left in the next figure) using rubber seals, in the center and on the right.

It is believed that otherwise it is impossible to ensure long-term tightness of many joints outside of production conditions. However, fans of imagination and tinkering often put emitters on tapes according to the following mini-instructions:

1. The pipe section is heated for approx. up to 50 degrees, but not allowing plastic softening, with a household hairdryer or scalding with boiling water;
2. Immediately, in a warm pipe, a hole is drilled with a diameter along the neck of the emitter pipe;
3. Immediately push the dropper pipe into the hole. As it cools, the pipe material shrinks and tightly grabs the pipe.

There is nothing unlawful in this technology: hot fit is widely used in industrial production, incl. for particularly critical sites. But remember: the guarantee of the tightness of many connections made in this way is only your skill and accuracy.

Note: the standard pitch of the dropper-emitters is 30 or 50 cm.

Garden tapes

Garden tapes of drip irrigation are laid, circling the bushes with a "snake", figure eight, etc., and trees - in circles, see the figure on the right. Therefore, they need thin-walled flexible tubes. In normal pressure systems, in this case, before the source to the tape, a start connector with a tap is required, or, better, a choke-reducer in front of the tap.

Drops in greenhouses

The use of drip irrigation for private farms in a moderately humid climate is most economically profitable in a greenhouse. For the example in Fig. given drawings of a drip irrigation system for a greenhouse 6x3 m and specifications of 2 options for accessories for it.

The costs of creating drip irrigation in a small greenhouse, given per unit of its productive area, are much less than for open ground, and the productivity is also much higher. Therefore, drip irrigation of greenhouses is rapidly gaining popularity, and full sets of their elements are available for sale, including a controller, for greenhouses of standard sizes, left to the next. fig. The price of the kit is significantly lower than when buying components at retail. An additional plus - conscientious sellers give a guarantee for everything except a relatively inexpensive hose. Therefore, the system can first be tested dry on a separate area, assembled, made a test run, and only then, if everything is in order, installed on site.

For drip irrigation in a greenhouse, its controller with a soil moisture sensor is needed, otherwise, due to low evaporation to the outside, it is very difficult to avoid soil acidification and all kinds of troubles on vegetation. But what if the greenhouse is not electrified? Do an autonomous power supply? And if it is not yet regularly maintained, the automation of irrigation is inevitable. With your own hands, because turnkey autowatering systems are very expensive.

One of the options for solving this problem is shown in Fig. The basis is a solar battery (SB) at (15-18) V (you can - homemade) with an area of \u200b\u200b1-1.5 sq. m and a car battery (battery) for 12V 65A / h. The battery can be recharged simply through a 10A diode, because the short-circuit current (short circuit) of the SB is only slightly higher than the current of the battery. Buffer water capacity - 200 l barrel.

It is better to take a submersible pump also for 12V. The 220V pump can be turned on through a 12VDC / 220V 50Hz AC household inverter. To avoid draining the pump by the siphon effect, the barrel must be buried in the ground. For the same purpose, an electromagnetic shut-off valve is placed on the supply pipe for the same purpose in front of the flow meter / controller, electrically connected in parallel with the pump. That is, if the pump is 12V, then a 12-volt valve is needed, or both are 220V.

In this system, a back-siphon effect is also possible, which will pull the water back from the ground, which will clog up the droppers, pipes and filter. The remedy against it is a check valve immediately behind the controller, as viewed by the water flow.

Ecology of Consumption - Homestead: A healthy plant root system produces vigorous growth, and drip irrigation can greatly contribute to this. In the greenhouse, the drip irrigation system will allow you to grow strong and healthy seedlings. Let's talk about the features of using drip irrigation systems and how to create it yourself.

Water temperature

Most garden crops are stressed and slowed in growth due to the low temperature of the irrigation water. Cold water has a particularly negative effect in the heat, the death of plants is possible.

Since water comes in slowly during drip irrigation and manages to pass through a rather long maze of thin tubes, it warms up well before entering the soil. This makes it possible not only to connect the drip irrigation system directly to the water supply, but even to use water from a well or well.

Of course, in the latter case, the length of the line and the operating pressure in the system play the main role. Therefore, you should first test the system, the outlet temperature must be at least 18 ° C. If the water is not warm enough, a buffer tank of 100–150 liters can save you from installing a full-size tank. Raising the container 2–2.4 meters above the ground is the main problem in greenhouses, most of which are rather squat.

The problem is also solved by installing the cheapest and low-power instantaneous water heater. Otherwise, it is necessary to attend to the external installation of the tank and increase its energy efficiency: lining with a heat insulator, painting in black and, possibly, installing heating elements "a.

Soil aeration

Another important plus of drip irrigation is that it does not soak the soil to a state of liquid mud, thanks to which the roots have the ability to breathe, and they need it no less than the aerial part of the plant.

To make the effect more pronounced, the soil should be prepared in a special way. The top layer, in which the seeds are planted, is mixed with hygroscopic vermiculite or cereal husks. Loosening with stirring should be done after thorough drying of the soil.

However, even with such soil preparation, it is not necessary to organize a continuous supply of the "drop". The soil should dry out from time to time, so it would be optimal to turn on the system 2-3 times a day at a strictly defined time, for which the system can be equipped with automatic control and shut-off valves.

If watering is carried out only once a day or less often, mulching will help to maintain optimal soil moisture. Or rather, laying a layer of sluggish grass, hay or straw 7–10 cm thick on top of droppers or tapes.

Convenient routing of lines

In the greenhouse, there is one condition that contributes to a faster and more technological breeding of main pipes. It's about the roof: a frame is mounted a couple of meters above the ground, so why not use it to fix the pipes? In this case, the system would not have to be completely disassembled every year to dig up the soil, and the wiring along the frame allows you to fairly accurately align the pipes. The underlayment also helps to heat the water more intensively.

At the outlet of the tank, the pipe is lowered by 40-60 cm for a more convenient installation of the piping and the collector, then rises again to the horizon, which is 10-15 cm below the bottom of the tank. The HDPE pipe is well suited for laying the main wiring, it tolerates seasonally fluctuations in temperature well and ultraviolet light.

When laying, it is recommended to focus on the paths for the passage and place the pipes strictly above them. Under the roof, the pipes are connected with standard press fittings, installation is possible even alone and from a ladder.

Taps from the mainline are lowered by pipes of a smaller section at the beginning of each bed, the shut-off valves are mounted at the height of an outstretched hand. At ground level, the pipe enters the horizontal collector by means of a tee or elbow. The edges of the pipes can be plugged with wooden plugs, holes are drilled in the walls and tap taps are installed.

If droppers are used for irrigation, a large-section main pipe stretches across the beds, the branches from it go down to the soil and pass through the knee into the lower line - a thin tube along the entire bed or each row of the planting. Drippers are connected to this channel by means of crosses and tees.

Tapes or droppers

If you are familiar with the variety of drip irrigation systems, the question of choosing the type is not worth it as such - it all depends on the crops grown, the size of the greenhouse and the features of the system wiring.

If the greenhouse economy focuses on the year-round cultivation of vegetable crops, preference is often given to larger and taller varieties with a planting distance of more than 1 meter. In this case, droppers are ideal, because a tape of such a large step is difficult to find.

The benefits of droppers are especially pronounced when watering tree tomatoes and thick-growing cucumbers. During the period of fruit ripening, these plants consume several times more water than at the stage of planting. The belts do not have such a capacity, besides, the droppers can be installed adjustable, or they can be changed as the plants mature.

For greenhouses, nurseries and growing bush plants, ribbons are best suited. They have an optimal dropper pitch and are able to evenly moisturize a large area. The known disadvantage of tapes is that their throughput must be adjusted manually, whereas in droppers it is strictly calibrated. Therefore, when using drip tapes, it is recommended to install valve valves instead of ball valves.

Hydraulic piping

A ball valve and a strainer are installed at the outlet of the tank. If you plan to fertilize through irrigation water, an automatic fertigation unit is installed immediately behind the tap. The same possibility is achieved by mixing the concentrate directly into the tank, but not all chemicals are harmless to its walls.

A cartridge filter up to 50 microns is installed behind the fertilizer dispenser, which should retain undissolved fertilizers and small debris that can settle in the droppers. After that, a distribution manifold is mounted with ball valves and detachable threaded connections at the branches, from which the pipes are bred further along the greenhouse. Protection against air leakage and a check valve are not required at the top wiring, the piping acts as a water seal. However, it is still necessary to complete the taps from the main line with check valves.

Operating modes and maintenance

Before planting the plants, the system is tested on leveled ground. The intensity of irrigation is adjusted visually with valves according to the size of the wetted areas, so that when the system is turned on, each bed receives the right amount of water.

The buffer tank is very convenient to work with. Its volume is reliably known, which means that you can clearly control the amount of water, adjusted for the throughput of each line. A volume of 150-200 liters will be sufficient for the daily watering of an average greenhouse.

In greenhouses with an area of \u200b\u200bmore than 1 macaw, the same tank can provide all plants with watering, but with automatic control. In such cases, the volume of the tank is consumed for irrigating individual sections; switching is performed by a controlled shut-off valve on the manifold. published