water Need large rainbarrel advice (water pumps)

[OhioGrown]

So I have two 275 gallon rainbarrels that are almost full, and I need to figure out how big a pump I need to get it out to my garden. They are 50 feet away from the garden, with a slight upslope towards the garden. To make the spigot even with my garden, I would have to have the barrels probably 4-5 feet off the ground. So I want to get a pump. my garden is 16x24 with 9 cuc's, 9 tomato, 40 peppers, 4 zuc's, and an 8x8 area of corn. I will probably water on hour a day or so, between rains. Also I need advice on what to use, drip hoses, a hand-held wand spray, etc. And how big a pump I will need. Here's a pic of my rainbarrels:

 
I'm hoping to hook up a short piece of hose to the 2 inch spigot, then the pump, then a garden hose out to the garden. Thanks for any advice, and keep on growin'

 

[Bigoledude]

Northern Hydraulics and Harbor Freight both sell smallish pumps. You will have 62 plants in your main garden. If you watered them at 1/2 gallon per hour, you would need a capability of 31 GPH. If you use two emitters at some of the larger/thirstier plants, you'll need more. Now, you MUST build some fat into the system. You will never be satisfied with a pump that barely meets that requirement. And remember you still need some pressure at the END of each run! That's not taking into consideration your corn patch. It's not difficult to accomplish this, it just may cost a little more. When you look at the pump specs, remember they will be talking in Gallons Per MINUTE (GPM) Micro irrigation stuff will give the specs in Gallons Per Hour (GPH). You will not have any trouble finding a pump to give you the combination of volume/pressure you need. A cheap timer to start and stop the pump would be nice.

Even though the garden is above the tanks, depending on where the actual "top" of the water level is, you may get a siphon going. A check valve or vacuum-breaker would stop this.

http://www.irrigationdirect.com/3-4-in-line-spring-check-valve-pvc

I would recommend 3/4-inch poly mainline tubing. REMEMBER most irrigation companies sell their 3/4" tubing in a different size from their competitor. So buy your tubing and fittings from the same source! Everybody's 1/4" tubing and 1/4" fittings are the same.

http://www.dripworks.com/product/Q_34

I used compression fittings to connect the pieces of poly because they were quick to put together and require no clamps.

http://www.dripworks.com/category/three-quarter-inch-compression-fittings

To get the water to each plant you may use small sprayers or drip emitters. They both use 1/4-inch spaghetti tubing that pokes into the larger mainline tubing with a transfer barb.

http://www.irrigationdirect.com/irrigation-products-and-supplies/drip-irrigation/drip-irrigation-tubing/quarter-inch-poly-tubing/dd-dh250-100

http://www.irrigationdirect.com/irrigation-products-and-supplies/drip-irrigation/barbed-fittings

You probably won't be able to use sprayers unless you divide your garden into zones using valves to separate one zone from another. My preference for sprayers, when I did use them, was the umbrella patterned type. The ones that throw fingers of water just don't give you the water exactly where you want it! And, with the umbrella type you can adjust the size of the umbrella to fit your needs. Most sprayers also use A LOT MORE water (GPH) than emitters do. The "misting" types were a disaster for me. The water gets blown away by wind or, in the heat of summer, it would evaporate before hitting the ground. The misters are a good way of cooling a patio or greenhouse though!

http://www.irrigationdirect.com/irrigation-products-and-supplies/drip-irrigation/micro-jets-and-sprayers/adjustable-sprayers/dd-sm360b

Emitters are available in several application rates. You can get 1/2 GPH (gallons per hour) up to 3-4 GPH.

http://www.irrigationdirect.com/irrigation-products-and-supplies/drip-irrigation/drip-emitters

http://www.irrigationdirect.com/irrigation-products-and-supplies/drip-irrigation/drip-irrigation-tubing/quarter-inch-poly-tubing

I always had problems with the softer 1/4-inch vinyl tubing blowing off the fittings so, I used the poly tubing. I'm sure it can get a little stiff in colder climates but it stays put.

The sprayers can water several plants simultaneously while you would have to put one or two emitters at the root zone of each plant. I still preferred emitters because they water at the target (root zone) and don't water weeds. Also, down here in SE Louisiana we get every wilt, fungus, virus and bacteria known to plant-kind. So, I try not wetting the leaves too much. Also, with emitters you won't lose water from being wind-blown.

I'll click on "Follow" so, if you need more help, just ask away!

 

[OhioGrown]

thanks for all the info dude. I was wondering if you would look at this kind of pump from TSC (Tractor Supply Company) and tell me what you think.
http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/countylinereg%3B-cast-iron-transfer-utility-pump-1-2-hp?cm_vc=-10005
 
I was thinking of something a little more simple (and hopefully cheaper). I used to do a hydroponic setup with a lot of the stuff you mentioned. It worked great for my indoor stuff years ago, but it was only a 10 gallon reservoir, so it didn't require much. thanks again...

 

[hydromike]

Let me start by saying that 50ft of tubing will provide quite a bit of resistance to flow.

Two options come to my mind for you:

1.) Large hosing with a standard hose sprayhead

2.) Large hosing that feeds into smaller, 1/4'' line with drip emitters

You will need substantial pressure for both #1&2. Especially with the second choice. In my opinion, you're looking at minimum of a 500 gph pump in each of those tanks.Probably more towards 1,000 gph, and maybe greater for the drip irrigation. The drip emitters need quite a lot of pressure, and if you go from 3/4'' or 1/2' tubing, then taper down to 1/4'', the 1/4'' tubing will provide a shit-ton of resistance.

P.S. I know this from building both low-pressure and high-pressure aeroponic units myself.

 

[Bigoledude]

The specs on the pump you linked to says it would provide you with over 1400 GPH and 55 psi at 5 feet of head. That looks like a really nice pump. And, you can't hardly beat the customer service of Tractor Supply.

I've installed hundreds of systems using right at 50-60psi. If you are going to spray with a hand held wand or a hose-type nozzle, you're plenty good.

If you don't have to worry about wetting the foliage like I do here, you may want to consider using oscillating lawn-type rotors or impact sprinklers at the corners of your garden, mounted high enough on PVC risers to spray over the tops. These types of sprinklers don't water close-by themselves very well though. That's why you want the stream of each sprinkler to water all the way to the opposite sprinkler. These can reach to 30-40 feet and use a maximum of 14 GPM (not GPH). The impact or pulsating type typically use less GPM than the rotors. If your corn patch is close to the main garden you might-could get by with only 2 sprinklers. At $8.00 to $14.00 a piece, that ain't bad.

http://www.sprinklersupplystore.com/Hunter-PGP-ADJ-Rotary-Lawn-Sprinkler-p/pgp-adj.htm?gclid=COD0le67prcCFZFr7AodWwoAdQ&gdftrk=gdfV22401_a_7c1441_a_7c8620_a_7cPGP_d_ADJ

http://www.irrigationdirect.com/ch-u61-dp?utm_source=&utm_medium=&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=&thissku=CH777dash777U61777dash777DP&site=google_base&gclid=CPHT9cfCprcCFa5j7AodJD8AsQ

I've never used drip hoses like these but, they seem like they would work Ok. It just seems that whenever I bought something with a pre-determined spacing, the distances never worked out right for me.

http://www.dripworks.com/category/sale?utm_source=Banner&utm_medium=Banner_DFETOFR2_050913&utm_campaign=Banner_DFETOFR2_050913

Our water here is so hard that soaker-hoses plug-up so quickly and become useless. Plus the UV usually destroys them within one season. So, I can't offer any advice there.