Drip Irrigation Saves Water, Money

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Our Master Gardeners and I just finished up a landscaping demonstration project at the Joseph House east of Lufkin off Ford Chapel Road.  While I’ll leave the discussion of the plantings to another article, I want to brag today on the drip irrigation system that was installed.  

Drip irrigation is surprisingly still new to lots of homeowners and gardeners.  I became familiar with it years ago when I was raising watermelons commercially.  The drip tape could deliver water exactly where I wanted it and with great efficiency.  In the home gardens and landscape, it is greatly underutilized.  In working with drip irrigation on day-to-day applications on fruit trees, home foundation plantings, and vegetable gardens, I have come to take it for granted. However, its use is not nearly as widespread as I once thought.

As we face the onslaught of our regularly high water bills this summer, there is a great potential for water conservation and saving money by using drip irrigation. Drip irrigation, also commonly known as trickle- or micro-irrigation, is merely the precise application of water where and when plants need it.

As I’ve said before, this is not the same thing as the old “soaker hose” or “leaky pipe”.  After installing and using the better products on the market, you will chunk rocks at the those types of products and may put on airs around those neighbors who still have that old black soaker hose coiled up by their spigot.  

Surprisingly, drip irrigation dates back to the 1930’s when the Germans and Italians worked out the basics. Texas Extension specialists in the 1940s were showing growers how to make concrete lines to sub-irrigate gardens from windmills.

However, it took the development of UV-light resistant plastic pipes and fittings to make drip irrigation practical for home gardeners. The greatest selling point for drip irrigation in its earliest applications was that great savings in water could be realized. Some sources claimed plants under drip required only a third as much as water as usual. These erroneous assumptions have caused tremendous headaches in the industry.

A plants water requirements are the same regardless of how the water is applied. Initially, water savings are realized when plants are small, and only a small volume of soil must be wet. However, as plants grow, more and more soil volume must be wet for drip to be effective. The real conservation features of drip irrigation come from the precise application of water and minimal runoff, less evaporation from an essentially closed system, and less water lost to weeds and undesirable plants, since the system is placed exactly where the desirable plants need it.

The basic component parts of a drip irrigation system are as follows: (1) water source (well or city), (2) filter, (3) delivery lines, and (4) emitters. The water source used will dictate the amount of filtration needed. If the water is sandy or dirty or from an open pond, there is a greater need for filtration as opposed to using city water. Although it is best to filter city water, it can often be used unfiltered without too much problem.

There are many drip irrigation products on the market. Our local nurseries carry some really good ones that give you a variety of delivery options.  The simplest one on the market will attach to your hose bib (with just one fitting) and give you 100 feet of irrigation for just over $50.  

Regardless of how good the products are, they all eventually stop up. Drip systems must be maintained and cared for, as with other water systems; hence, it is best to leave the emitter and loops on top of the ground so they can be checked regularly. The most practical applications for drip irrigation in the home landscape are in gardens, hedge rows, shrub or flower beds, and combinations of these along with trees.

Cary Sims
Cary Sims is the County Extension Agent for agriculture and natural resources for Angelina County. His email address is cw-sims@tamu.edu Educational programs of the Texas AgriLife Extension Service are open to all people without regard to race, color, sex, disability, religion, age, or national origin.

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