Fertigation with drip tape.

[Silver_Surfer]

Fertigation begins with a fertilizer injector. Starting from the Y-adaptor at the faucet is a backflow preventer, a 25 PSI pressure regulator, a 150 mesh filter and finally the injector connected to a garden hose which is connected to...

the header pipe that feeds each row of drip tape. Every row has its own valve and the...

corn has a valve and tubing that leads to its own header for its drip tape as it is a very heavy user of both water and nutes.

Garden side shot.

Garden upper end. I used a hoe to create the raised rows, buried the drip tape a few inches and offset about 4 inches from the center, then dug a small trench along each side to hold the plastic mulch in place. The middles between the rows were then covered in landscape fabric and topped with wheat straw.

Garden lower end. The peppers were transplanted from 3 quart containers into the mulch by cutting an X into the plastic and then closing the X flaps back against the stem and weighting it in place with a little soil. The tomatoes were planted in the same manner, but way too late from tiny 2.5 inch pots.

 

[Silver_Surfer]

Fife Creek Cowhorn okra and four different types of pole beans. You can easily see how uniformly the okra is fed from the beginning to the end of this sloping garden by the drip tape. The drip tape clearly out performs the soaker hose I used last season in even distribution when used on a slope.

Cantaloupe and Butternut squash planted about 10 days later than the other direct seeded plants.

Zucchini squash

Yellow crookneck squash. The beans, squash, okra, and cantaloupe were all direct seeded into the black plastic mulch by cutting a small X with a knife and pushing a seed about an inch deep into the soil.

The Silver Queen corn is the only thing in the garden that isn't mulched since it needs to be hilled at a later date after it reaches about knee high height. This burys its surface roots, smothers weeds and adds support to the stalks.

Fertigation is pretty simple and the mulch keeps the hoe where I like it, in the garage.

 

[Pepper Ridge Farm]

Great design of the entire garden including the drip tape and fertigation peppers are going to be bountiful. I can only dream of having a pepper patch like yours right now. Thanks for showing this.

 

[naganumbness]

damn! you went hi-tech Robert! your garden looks incredible!

 

[queequeg152]

i tried that exact fertigator a year back. the ez flo 3/4 gallon correct? i couldnt get it to put out any significant amounts of fertilizer. the drippers only showed like 50ppm higher than the tap water.
im looking forward to how you do with that thing, i couldnt do much with it.

 

[SuperHot]

Thanks SS for sharing your beautiful garden and a very impressive irrigation setup. I love it so much I just placed an order for flat drip tubing and the fittings to boot. I've been racking my brains out trying to figure out the best way to do it. You gave me the nudge I needed to decide which system to go with. I put together an awesome pumping station yesterday, but couldn't settle on what to use with it…until I saw your setup. WOW!! It's a no brainer now!!

 

[Silver_Surfer]

Great design of the entire garden including the drip tape and fertigation peppers are going to be bountiful. I can only dream of having a pepper patch like yours right now. Thanks for showing this.

Thanks Cappy, you could do the same with some raised beds in your back yard.

damn! you went hi-tech Robert! your garden looks incredible!

Appreciated Ed, but I call it "lazy tech".

i tried that exact fertigator a year back. the ez flo 3/4 gallon correct? i couldnt get it to put out any significant amounts of fertilizer. the drippers only showed like 50ppm higher than the tap water.
im looking forward to how you do with that thing, i couldnt do much with it.

Yes it's the 3 quart model, good for up to 5000 square feet.
This is the second one of these I've used over the years. The first one I purchased only cost $38.95, but that was several years ago. I haven't had any problems with them other than forgetting one year and leaving the first one outdoors overwinter and letting it freeze.
In order for these to work correctly you must have a minimum of 2 gallons per minute flowing through the system. Perhaps that was your problem?

Thanks SS for sharing your beautiful garden and a very impressive irrigation setup. I love it so much I just placed an order for flat drip tubing and the fittings to boot. I've been racking my brains out trying to figure out the best way to do it. You gave me the nudge I needed to decide which system to go with. I put together an awesome pumping station yesterday, but couldn't settle on what to use with it…until I saw you setup. WOW!! It's a no brainer now!!

Thanks and the best of luck with your new fertigation system. It's really an easy and great way to garden.

 

[Pepper Boys]

SS, This is REALLY awesome.. I've stayed away from this topic because I don't want to go crazy and run my Credit Card thin but I just might have to for next year.. You should expect to hear from me more about this.. Sweet setup buddy...

 

[Pepper Boys]

P.s What is growing up the blue "fence"??

 

[capsidadburn]

SS, is 2 gallons per minute, correct? Thanks Mike


"In order for these to work correctly you must have a minimum of 2 gallons per minute flowing through the system."

 

[Silver_Surfer]

SS, This is REALLY awesome.. I've stayed away from this topic because I don't want to go crazy and run my Credit Card thin but I just might have to for next year.. You should expect to hear from me more about this.. Sweet setup buddy...

Thanks, but it's really not very expensive, especially when you realize how much time is saved over the course of a season.
Here's where I got the EZ-Flo 3/4 Gallon Fertilizer Applicator $51.95
It will last several years provided you don't leave it outside like I did and let it freeze.
The drip tape comes in various thicknesses and the 15mm stuff will last 3 to 5 years and the header and connectors will last many years too. So after spreading the cost over several years it's pretty cheap.

P.s What is growing up the blue "fence"??

Four different types of pole beans.

SS, is 2 gallons per minute, correct? Thanks Mike

The injector comes with 3 different flow restriction washers that is supposed to make the system work with less flow than 120 gallons per hour (2 gallons per minute), but I haven't ever used them. According to the manual if you have less than 2 gallons per minute flowing through your irrigation system there are the different colored washers you can install depending on the flow.
Red Flo-Disc - 7.5 to 30 gallons per hour
Black Flo-Disc - 30 to 60 gallons per hour
White Flo-Disc - 80 to 120 gallons per hour

If you use one of the flow restriction disc you need to premix your powdered fertilizer concentrate solution, but w/o the disc there is enough flow/agitation (2 gallons or more per minute) to just add the dry powder to the container ad it will mix itself and that's the way I do it.

2 gallons per minute isn't as much as you think. Fill a 5 gallon bucket and time it.

 

[capsidadburn]

Thanks very much SilverSurfer.

Mike

 

[Silver_Surfer]

Oops... forgot to update this thread.

6-25-11
After 10 days The garden is showing some progress.

Lower end shot.

Peppers are starting to meet.

Tomatoes are staring to crowd the peppers.

Cantaloupe and Butternut squash

Okra and pole beans

Squash

 

[Silver_Surfer]

7-2-11
One week later...

no problems yet...

corn is tasslin' now...

okra isn't blooming yet...

butternut is setting.

 

[AlabamaJack]

very lush my friend...continued progress to you this season...

 

[kiddc]

good progress, very soon you will be up to your ears with pods and veggies

Good reading on this thread too, fertigation seems to be the way to go.

 

[HawaiiAl]

Great looking Farm,good work. continued progress to you the rest of season.

 

[Silver_Surfer]

Thanks fellas.

Here's a progress sequence over a 24 day period.

Garden 6-15-11

Garden 6-19-11

Garden 6-25-11

Garden 7-2-11

Garden1 7-09-11

I'm going to be overloaded with these Butternuts. It's setting some between pepper rows now.

The purple variety of pole beans is suckin' hind tit.

Walk space is severely limited. 30" row spacing just isn't enough.
Next season it will be double rows on 5' centers.

Coons are already starting to raid the corn.
Tried to give them some lead poisoning last night, but the sneaky masked bandits didn't show.

 

[Silver_Surfer]

Garden today

Peppers

Getting really crowded. Corn is coming in now.

Cantaloupe

 

[ajijoe]

i have garden envy!!

very nice in deed!! nice corn

i wish i had that much room

thanks your friend Joe