Over the many centuries of the existence of agriculture, man has improved so much in an effort to preserve moisture that he has created various automated irrigation systems. So, in Saudi Arabia, Israel and other arid countries, drip irrigation is widespread. Until recently, this method was not popular in our area.
Relatively recently, farmers finally came to the conclusion that drip irrigation in a greenhouse not only guarantees an uninterrupted supply of water to plants, but also allows you to get much larger crops, putting less effort into it.
Advantages of technology
Despite the almost continuous soil moisture, 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. After all, turning a crane is much easier than running onplot with a watering can and a bucket. Simply put, your work will become less difficult, and its productivity will increase significantly.
Important! Every agronomist knows not to water the plants on a hot sunny day: water drops 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 yield drops. If you use drip irrigation in a greenhouse, you will not have such problems.
Better soil moisture
Coming in drops, the water gradually permeates the soil, and the moisture is very uniform. Ordinary watering leads to the formation of deep puddles on the surface of the earth, while moisture practically does not penetrate deep into. In hot years, this leads to the fact that plants simply receive less moisture.
In addition, drip irrigation in a greenhouse allows targeted delivery of water to each plant, without worrying about whether a particular crop has received enough moisture. This is especially important in the case of tomatoes and cucumbers, as they are the most demanding in terms of moisture conditions and its regularity.
What is the technology principle
The principle of operation of the automatic irrigation system is the dosed and gradual supply of moisture. Depending on the type of plants and soil, moisture can be supplied both constantly (drops) and in small portions at certain intervals. Due to the fact that the soil near the roots is constantly moist, they do not grow.in breadth, do not enter the zone of dry soil. When it comes to arid regions, this is extremely important.
Because the water moves slowly through the irrigation system, it 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 has an extremely beneficial effect on the growth rate and fruiting of vegetable crops.
Important design information
Is it possible to design such a system yourself? It's doable, but you'll 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 crops. This is due to the fact that for the same cabbage, a regime is required that is different from that for growing tomatoes. Therefore, if you plan to grow several types of plants at once in the same greenhouse, you will have to install a separate irrigation system for each of them.
We calculate the need for water of tomatoes
It is known that tomatoes require at least one and a half liters of water per bush per day. Suppose that in a greenhouse ten meters long you plant a hundred bushes in two rows. In this case, you will need to buy a special watering tape 2x10 m, the nozzles in which will be located at intervals of 30 cm. Each of them gives out about 1.14 liters per hour, which leads us to the conclusion that the irrigation system will need to berun exactly 80 minutes. During this time, about 80 liters of water will pass through it.
Water cucumbers
One cucumber bush is much more “gluttonous”, it consumes at least two liters per day. Suppose that on the same ten meters you plant 100 bushes in four rows. Based on this, you will need a watering tape 4x10 m, in which the nozzles are located every 20 cm. Thus, 228 liters will pass through the system in an hour, which leads us to the need to turn it on every day for 105 minutes. We highly recommend planting seeds or seedlings after all elements of the system have been mounted.
Watering cabbage
One head of cabbage "drinks" about 2.5 liters of water a day. If you decide to plant six rows of cucumbers at ten meters, then 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 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 have given above, you can easily create an automated water supply system. The easiest way is to use a special reservoir filled with the required volume of liquid: by directing it along the watering tape, you can easily water all the plants exactly in the amount that they need.
What you need for installationsystem?
If you decide to make drip irrigation for your 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 preferably 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 such a pressure that would be enough for irrigation. The length of each segment is ideally six or eight meters.
Nozzles are easy to make from medical systems for intravenous injections, the needle diameter 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.
Which watering tape to buy?
The safest way is to purchase ready-made watering tape. On sale there are models with a wall thickness of only 200 microns, the diameter of which is 16 mm. At regular intervals, water nozzles are mounted in them. For cucumbers, beets and carrots, a distance of 15 cm between them is acceptable, for tomatoes, 30 cm is needed. Such a greenhouse drip irrigation system is assembled in just a couple of minutes.
Begin assembly
In order to securely fix the nozzles, fittings with rubber gaskets are needed. Each of them should ideally be equipped with taps. This design will be ideal for watering various types of plants, as it allows you to precisely 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 appropriate diameter. A rubber gasket is applied to the hole, after which a fitting is inserted into it. The drip irrigation hose is laid along the ridges, after which it is attached to the fittings.
Which water tank to choose
As a source of water, you can use any tank, fixed at a height of about two to three meters. It is not worth pouring water from natural reservoirs 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 grow instantly, clogging the conductive tubes and nozzles.
If you still have to use such moisture, you need to defend it properly and mix it with tap water anyway. Do not forget about filters, the most effective of which are coal models. However, the cost of a quality filter is such that it is sometimes more profitable to change the conductive tubes more often.
Completing work
Before the automatic drip irrigation of the greenhouse is started, be sure to blow it with high pressure air. 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 rapid visual detection of defects and their prompt elimination.
After that you canstart planting. 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 mulch layer must be at least five centimeters. Black PVC film can be used for this purpose.
This is how homemade drip irrigation is done in a greenhouse.
