How much water for a 1 acre garden?

[EddieWalker]

What I'm worried about is digging the well, buying the pump and the storage tank, and finding out that I don't have enough water in the tank to get anything done. I guess I could always run a bigger pump and power it by the electricity at my house, but that really defeats my ultimate goal of doing it on a self sustaining way.

Thanks for the link on the green house. We have some ideas on that, but they are still too crazy to go into right now. Not even sure if it's possible to do what I'm thinking. LOL

I have an area of bottom land along a creek that floods every couple of years that is very good soil. It is kind of rough from thinning out the underbrush and trees, so when I smooth it out with the dozer, I'm also going to pile up a bunch of top soil and haul it to the garden area.

Eddie

 

[flusher]

What I'm worried about is digging the well, buying the pump and the storage tank, and finding out that I don't have enough water in the tank to get anything done. I guess I could always run a bigger pump and power it by the electricity at my house, but that really defeats my ultimate goal of doing it on a self sustaining way.

Thanks for the link on the green house. We have some ideas on that, but they are still too crazy to go into right now. Not even sure if it's possible to do what I'm thinking. LOL

I have an area of bottom land along a creek that floods every couple of years that is very good soil. It is kind of rough from thinning out the underbrush and trees, so when I smooth it out with the dozer, I'm also going to pile up a bunch of top soil and haul it to the garden area.

Eddie

I supply all the water I need on my 10-acre place via a 1.5 hp well pump (154 ft to well bottom, water level is about 80 ft down, pump is hung about 125 ft down). The pressure tank is 25 gal or so and the pressure regulator is set at 65 psi. I water a 1/4 acre veggie garden via driplines, about 60 shrubs with 1 gph button emitters, a small vineyard (12 vines, 1 gph emitters) and about 1/5 acre of lawn with pop up sprinklers. The controller is a 16-channel Rainbird. I give most of the veggies away to the local food bank.

Good luck.

 

[charlz]

What I'm worried about is digging the well, buying the pump and the storage tank, and finding out that I don't have enough water in the tank to get anything done. I guess I could always run a bigger pump and power it by the electricity at my house, but that really defeats my ultimate goal of doing it on a self sustaining way.

Maybe figure it the other way. What is the biggest 12v pump you could run, how many hours in the day can you run it during the watering season (solar availability), how many gallons can it pump. Then you will know how much maximum water storage you need and how big your garden can be. Obviously well production also figures in here but talking to some well drillers in your area should give you a real good SWAG on that.

If needed you could think about extending your pumping day by additional solar panels and battery storage.

 

[forgeblast]

Does the Creek run all the time or does it dry up?

 

[Biggreenavalanche]

Eddie, I thought you had a lake ? set up irrigation from that...set your solar pump to pump into lake...eliminate the cost of a storage tank...

 

[EddieWalker]

The pond is a thousand feet away and during the summer, dropping sever inches a week from evaporation. The idea of taking any more out of there makes me crazy, but it is an option that I'm trying to avoid. Ideally, if this well works out well, I'd want to have more to add water to the lake to keep it up during the summer months!!!

The creak is even farther away. It never goes dry, but it hasn't been flowing for a month now. Since it never goes completely dry, that's how I know where the water table is. Water from the land around the creek works it's way to the creek. If I drill down, I should hit water at 30 feet. I've tested this with the backhoe near the creek, and had water coming into a hole I dug that was just six feet deep. Drilling down farther should give me more, and cleaner water to pump up for the garden. The distance will be shorter, so I should be able to do it with less power, or a bigger pump for the same amount of power.

Eddie

 

[forgeblast]

Just wondering how far is the garden going to be from the house? If you still plan on using the tank, could you set up a system to fill the tank at night when your not using the water from the house? I have buried 3/4 black plastic pipe that runs to my garden and orchard. Due to our freeze I blow the water out of the line every fall. The pipe just connects into the hose bib on the back side of the house.

 

[Biggreenavalanche]

The pond is a thousand feet away and during the summer, dropping sever inches a week from evaporation. The idea of taking any more out of there makes me crazy, but it is an option that I'm trying to avoid. Ideally, if this well works out well, I'd want to have more to add water to the lake to keep it up during the summer months!!!

The creak is even farther away. It never goes dry, but it hasn't been flowing for a month now. Since it never goes completely dry, that's how I know where the water table is. Water from the land around the creek works it's way to the creek. If I drill down, I should hit water at 30 feet. I've tested this with the backhoe near the creek, and had water coming into a hole I dug that was just six feet deep. Drilling down farther should give me more, and cleaner water to pump up for the garden. The distance will be shorter, so I should be able to do it with less power, or a bigger pump for the same amount of power.

Eddie

was just thinking rather than fill a tank, you would pump to the lake and keep it filled throughout the summer, then water from the lake as needed...thousand feet is a long way though...and, filling a lake is a LOT of water to pump...oh well just a thought...good luck...

Rich

 

[Sinecure]

Eddie -

Here is a link I came across doing some research. It has a lot of other information not related to your question, but offers some details on the amount of gallons and watering times needed for vegetable gardens, trees, etc.

Specifically, look at the portion titled "Operating a Drip System". (Table 5 and 6)

In general, it looks like you will need to layout your garden area with specific attention to the number of emitters you will have/need within your rows/crops/garden area. Once you have the number of emitters estimated, you should be able to back into your total water needs for the day/week.

So if your planning estimates are that you would have 500 total emitters in you garden area with drip heads of 2 GPH - you are looking at 1000 gallons of water need. (per hour/full system, not multi-zoned). From the article, it states that Veggies need about 10 hours of water (closely spaced veggies) per week or 2 hours of irrigation per watering cycle.

This would put you at 2000 gallons per watering cycle(day) which you could adjust into multiple zones/timers to let your solar pump cycle on/off with the drawdown and not have to run all evening to replace the daily usage.

I am guessing you would also need to factor in any water needs to keep the fish pond topped off.

I don't see where a 2500 gallon tank wouldn't work (assuming you are not planning more than 500 emitters).


Efficient Use of Water in the Garden and Landscape | Earth-Kind® Landscaping

 

[jinman]

Eddie has a huge water main running into his property for his eventual RV park. That main supplies water to his house and his parent's new house. I'm sure he doesn't want to "pay the man" for garden water.