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Texas | I have been putting in drip on pivot corners and places that pivots don't fit. I put my first drip down in 2000. It is a good fit especially for cotton. Just like anything else it has its place. Drip has its problems just like any other system. Varmints will bite into it and cause leaks. Emitters will stop up etc. No one likes to change a pivot flat on a Sunday when it is 100 degrees outside. No one likes to lay in the mud and dirt and fix leaks when it is 100 degrees outside. With drip you have to be pro-active and not reactive. For example, if you see a gopher hole even close to your drip you better try and get him before he gets to your drip tape. You also need to do water tests to see if anything is coming that might stop up your drip tape. In West Texas, we did not have any water quality problems when we first put the drip in. Over time, we are beginning to have manganese problems where the water table is going down.
In 2003, my cotton was hailed out. On half my drip acres I planted milo and the other half I planted sesame. Both did very well however the next year was a nightmare on the milo ground. Plugging and rodents were big problems. Might have solved the plugging problems if I would have injected a little prowl.
Most of my drip is set up at 3 gallons per minute per acre. That works for cotton. I can usually beat a pivot with the same amount of water. | |
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Subsurface Drip Irrigigation
