Over the many centuries of the existence of agriculture, man has improved so much in the desire to retain moisture that he created various automated irrigation systems. So, in Saudi Arabia, Israel and other arid countries, drip irrigation is widespread. In our area, this method until recently was not popular.
More recently, farmers have finally come to the conclusion that drip irrigation in a greenhouse not only ensures an uninterrupted supply of water to plants, but also allows for far greater yields with less effort.
Technology advantages
Despite the almost continuous moistening of the soil, this technology allows you to save up to 50% of the water used for irrigation. In addition, due to the complete absence of soil erosion, its structure is preserved, and you save your time and energy. In the end, turning the crane is much easier than running around the site with a watering can and a bucket. Simply put, your work will not be so hard, and its productivity will increase significantly.
Important! Every agronomist knows that you can’t water the plants on a hot sunny day: drops of water on the leaves refract sunlight, turning into miniature, but extremely effective, lenses. As a result, deep burns appear on the leaves, the plant is sick, its productivity decreases. If you use drip irrigation in a greenhouse, you will not have such problems.
Better soil moisture
Coming dropwise, the water gradually saturates the soil, and the moisture is very uniform. Ordinary watering leads to the formation of deep puddles on the surface of the earth, while practically no moisture penetrates deeper into the water. In hot years, this leads to the fact that the plants simply do not receive moisture.
In addition, drip irrigation in the greenhouse allows targeted delivery of water to each plant without worrying about whether a particular crop has received a sufficient amount of moisture. This is especially important in the case of tomatoes and cucumbers, as they are most demanding on the conditions of moisturizing and its regularity.
What is the principle of technology
The principle of operation of the automatic irrigation system is a dosed and gradual supply of moisture. Depending on the type of plants and soil, moisture can come in continuously (in drops), or in small portions at regular intervals. Due to the fact that the soil near the roots is constantly moistened, they do not grow in breadth, do not enter the zone of dry soil. If we talk about arid areas, then this is an extremely important circumstance.
Since water moves slowly through the irrigation system , this gives it time to warm up to the optimum temperature for the plants. As a result, drip irrigation in the greenhouse contributes to the creation of an optimal microclimate and air parameters, which also extremely favorably affects the growth rate and fruiting of vegetable crops.
Important design information
Is it possible to construct such a system yourself? It is quite real, but you will need patience and some locksmith skills. First you need to consider the location of each seedling, calculate the distance between them. It is very important to consider the type of crop. This is due to the fact that for the same cabbage a regimen is required that is different from that for tomato cultivation. Therefore, if in the same greenhouse you plan to grow several types of plants at once, for each of them you will have to mount a separate irrigation system.
We calculate the need for tomato water
It is known that tomatoes require at least one and a half liters of water per bush per day. Suppose you plant a hundred bushes in two rows in a ten-meter-long greenhouse. In this case, you will need to buy a special watering tape 2x10 m, the nozzles in which will be spaced 30 cm apart. Each of them gives out about 1.14 liters per hour, which leads us to conclude that the irrigation system will need to be launched per day for exactly 80 minutes. During this time, about 80 liters of water will be passed through it.
Watering cucumbers
One bush of cucumber is much more “gluttonous”; it consumes at least two liters per day. Suppose that at the same ten meters you plant 100 bushes in four rows. If you build on this, you will need a 4x10 m watering tape in which the nozzles are placed every 20 cm. Thus, 228 liters will pass through the system in an hour, which leads us to need to turn it on every day for 105 minutes. We highly recommend planting seeds or seedlings after all the elements of the system have been mounted.
Pour cabbage
One head of cabbage “drinks” about 2.5 liters of water per day. If at ten meters you decide to plant six rows of cucumbers, you will need a tape on which the nozzles will be located every 40 cm. In an hour, all the bushes will need 172 liters of water, so that the total watering time will be 130 minutes.
Simultaneous watering of all crops
Thus, to irrigate all crops at the same time, you will need to spend 475 in one hour. If you take into account all the characteristics that we cited above, you can create an automated water supply system without special difficulties. The easiest way is to use a special tank filled with the required volume of liquid: directing it along the irrigation tape, you can easily pour all the plants exactly in the volume that they need.
What will be needed to install the system?
If you decide to make a drop watering the greenhouse with your own hands, you will need a thin and long plastic tube. Its diameter should be at least 15 mm, and the color is preferable to black, since opaque walls will prevent the development and growth of algae in it. Since the water in the system will move slowly, the small diameter of the hose will create the pressure that would be enough for watering. The length of each segment is ideally six or eight meters.
Nozzles are easily made from medical
systems for intravenous infusions, the diameter of the needle of which does not exceed 1-2 mm. As we have already said, their number is determined based on the preferred type of vegetable crops.
What watering tape to buy?
It is most reliable to purchase ready-made watering tape. On sale are models with a wall thickness of only 200 microns, whose diameter is 16 mm. At regular intervals, nozzles for water are mounted in them. For cucumbers, beets and carrots, the distance between them is 15 cm, for tomatoes 30 cm are needed. Such a drip irrigation system of a greenhouse is assembled in just a couple of minutes.
Start assembly
To securely fix the nozzles, fittings with rubber gaskets are required. Each of them should ideally be equipped with cranes. This design will be ideal for watering various types of plants, as it allows you to accurately dose the amount of water for each bush.
To attach the watering tape to the pipeline, you will have to drill the required number of holes of the corresponding diameter. A rubber gasket is applied to the hole, after which the fitting is inserted into it. The drip irrigation hose is laid along the ridges, after which it is attached to the fittings.
How to choose a water tank
As a source of water, you can use any tank fixed at a height of about two to three meters. From natural reservoirs there is no need to pour water there. This is due to the large number of microscopic algae that are contained there. When exposed to warm and comfortable conditions, they begin to instantly grow, clogging the conductive tubes and nozzles.
If you still have to use such moisture, you need to properly defend it and still mix with tap water. Do not forget about filters, the most effective of which are coal models. However, the cost of a high-quality filter is such that sometimes it is more profitable to change the conductive tubes more often.
We are finishing work
Before automatic drip irrigation of the greenhouse is started, be sure to blow it with air under high pressure. This is important, as a piece of plastic or other debris can get caught in the tubes, which will reliably clog the system. It can be installed not only near the stem, but also at a height of 10-20 cm. Such a drip irrigation device in the greenhouse guarantees quick visual detection of defects and their speedy elimination.
After that, you can begin to plant plants. Of course, each bush is planted as close to the nozzles as possible. If the plants are small, their grouping is allowed. The soil must be mulched, and the layer of mulch should be at least five centimeters. For this purpose, you can use black PVC film.
This is how homemade drip irrigation is done in a greenhouse.