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Re: Promised report: T Tape for irrigation

Soaker Hoses vs. Drip Tape (T-Tape)
============================
My experience is somewhat different from Dore Tyler's so I thought I would
pass it along as well.  This is my 4th year using T-Tapes and I would never
go back to soaker hoses because the uneven water distribution resulted in
wasting too much water.  And messing around with in-line pressure equalizers
and cleaning up calcium deposits was just too much trouble.   Soaker hoses
are probably great in areas with lots of rainfall and plenty of inexpensive,
pure irrigation water.  But during our spring growing season from mid March
to mid June, which is also our driest season, the total average rainfall
during the 3 month period is  0.47 inches which isn't much better than no
rain at all.  Most of our irrigation water comes from the Salt River and it
picks up lots of minerals on the way down.  The people at Aquapore, located
next door in  Tolleson AZ, have made a lot of improvements in filtering,
pressure equalization and in the composition of the hose material.
Everything works fine for the first year or so while the soakers are still
new.

My T-Tape systems are made to use over again and are portable between 4' X
8' sqft garden areas.  I use four 8' lengths of T-Tape in parallel spaced 12
inches apart.   The tapes are connected to a four foot length of drip supply
tubing across one end of the sqft bed.  One end of the four ft piece is
connected to the supply with a garden hose through a compression FHT.  The
other end of the four ft piece is closed off by crimping the tube over and
slipping a short piece (about 1" long ) of !" dia PVC pipe over the end.
The downstream end of the tapes are closed off the same way.  Total cost of
the adapters, tubing, PVC pipe, and T-Tape is $5.66 for each 4' X 8' systems
prorated for the quantities I purchased plus about 10 per cent S&H.  You
also need a vacuum breaker (required by code anyway) and a pressure
regulator (advisable for soaker hoses too) and a filter (also advisable for
soakers).  The biggest advantage of drip tapes over soakers for desert
gardeners is knowing exactly how much water is being applied because the
rate in gallons/foot/hour is known based on the tape being used.  The daily
newspaper publishes information on daily water replacement requirements for
Bermuda lawns based on measured evapotranspiration rates.  I'm not aware of
any published info on water uptake or ET rates for specific vegetables but
I've found the lawn criteria works pretty well for most.  Using soakers
almost always results in applying more water than the plants really need -
not that it hurts the plant - just wastes water.

I used to make up my own drip lines by installing flag emitters
equally-spaced along 1/2-inch drip line.  Worked pretty well but the
emitters also tended to become plugged but were easy to clean.  Newer
emitter types are pressure-compensated and self-cleaning and can be run at
supply pressure but are also more expensive.  The slotted emitter ports in
my drip tapes haven't become plugged yet but I'm sure it's possible.

Olin Miller <millero@worldnet.att.net>




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