T
Irrigat ion
Improve your garden
he entire root zone needs to be wet when leave one zone on a different amount of time than another. irrigating, and this could be several inches deep. Remember to irrigate early in the morning to decrease the Irrigating only the top of the soil and not the chance of disease problems and never late in the evening or entire root zone will cause roots to stay near at night. the surface, leading to drought stress if water is not applied. Overhead irrigation is used with turfgrass, but drip Shallow-rooted plants will readily show signs of nutrient irrigation is the recommended practice for fruits and deficiencies. vegetables. Drip irrigation is very economical in price and Drought stress can cause a delay in maturity, significantly easy to install. It also uses much less water than overhead reduce the harvest in many fruits and vegetables and lead to irrigation. You can purchase a thin wall irrigation line called cracked produce and even blossom end rot in some crops. drip tape that is cheap and designed to be used in a vegetable Therefore, frequent irrigation events are recommended for garden for one year. vegetables and other shallow-rooted crops. I know of people who take care of the drip tape and Irrigation is another way of improving your garden, are able to use it on a small scale for more than a year. It is specifically drip irrigation. common to purchase drip Drip irrigation conserves tape for vegetables with the water by directing water to emitters spaced twelve inches the root zone of plants where apart. A thicker walled line is it is needed. Since the water used for blueberry, blackberry, is displaced down the row, and muscadine plants and can garden chores such as scouting be left in the field for many or harvesting can be done years. The thicker walled while irrigating. Overhead line can also be used in the irrigation uses more water, vegetable garden for many wets row middles where it years, but I recommend rolling is not needed, and increases it up and storing it during disease problems. Vegetable the off-season. A line can be crops need 1 to 1–1/2 inches purchased, and emitters can of water per week. Every be manually installed at any farmer and gardener needs distance for plants that may Have a plan Top: Drip tape conserves water by directing it to a rain gauge to keep up with not be evenly spaced. With how much additional water is the root zone of the plants where it is needed. Next plants evenly spaced in a row, necessary. Remember, getting Page: For the best outcome and healthiest harvests, it is common to purchase the should be turned on when there is not three inches of water one week irrigation irrigation line for blueberries adequate rainfall; do not just have it on a timer. does not supply adequate and blackberries with emitters water for the next two weeks. already in the line spaced In theory, an inch of water was applied per week, but in 3 feet apart. Even if muscadines are spaced 20 feet apart, reality, the plants have been suffering from drought for two I like to use lines with the emitters 3 feet apart down the weeks. muscadine row, as well. If possible, turf irrigation is recommended, as well. Roots will grow in the environment best suited for them, About 1 to 1–1/2 inches per week is needed there too. The and under the trellis where weeds are managed is typically water can be applied simultaneously or split up into two where most of the roots are found. applications of about 3/4 inch each. Put out a rain gauge to Rodents can and will chew and damage the line, but determine if the irrigation system needs to be turned on. it can be easily fixed. With crops that use a trellis, such as Do not just have it on a timer that turns on a certain day of muscadines, it is easy to install another wire 10 or so inches the week. The system should be turned on when you know off the ground and attach the drip line to the wire. Getting you are not getting adequate rainfall. Put out rain gauges the drip line off the ground will really help the rodent issue. in different areas of the yard to check your system to see Depending on how many gallons of water per minute is if water is being evenly distributed. Is one zone getting 1 available at the site, the system can run all at once or have inch and another getting only 1/2 inch? Consider making more than one zone. adjustments to the sprinkler if it is not working properly, or A water hose, a known container size such as a 5-gallon Lake Martin Living 17
