Irrigation

[hrcarver]

True, but I gotta sleep. Not interested in running 24/7. Only time I run a pump at night is moving water from one pond to another on an open line. Stuff will go wrong at 140+ psi. I try to check them at least every couple hours.

 

[blueriver]

True, but I gotta sleep. Not interested in running 24/7. Only time I run a pump at night is moving water from one pond to another on an open line. Stuff will go wrong at 140+ psi. I try to check them at least every couple hours.

Very true and good points to consider.

 

[Jerry/MT]

Are you irrigating day and night?

If you're going to start irrigating, there are somethings you need to consider.

We have irrigated pasture and we use wheel lines and handlines. We have an Irrigation Project and run our irrigation system 24/7 except for maintenance down time. Yes wind and sun cause some evaporation losses but whether they are significant or not depends on the temperature, wind speed, and humidity. Our transpirations this year are running around 0.20 inches per day (24 hr period) but they can get to 0.30 inches when the tempertures get above 90°F. Our climate is pretty dry in the summmer months so we need to get the whole place watered to keep the grass vegetative. We don't have a choice of just night time irrigation.

I can lay down about 3-4 inches of water in a 11 1/2 hr set and about half of that is available to the plant (grass) so I have to get across a pasture in ~ 7 to 10 days @ transpiration rates of 0.20 inches per day ( 3 to 6 days @ 0.3 inches per day). I can only do that running 24/7. Our sprinkler spacing is 40'X60' and we use a skip technique to maximize our coverage. (That's not important to you if you are going to use a wate reel.)

Using wheel lines on 20 acre pastures, I can cover 20 acres in 5-1/2 days which will cover my worse case conditions (0.30 inches per day).

I don't know if you have an Agrimet (Bureau of Reclamation) station near you but if you do they post the transpiration daily and predicted water use dependent on the crop. It usually includes pasture grass.

So knowing your transpirations and sizing your system to match your worst case water requirments will help you make the most out of your irrigation investment.

Hope this helps you.

 

[blueriver]

If you're going to start irrigating, there are somethings you need to consider.

We have irrigated pasture and we use wheel lines and handlines. We have an Irrigation Project and run our irrigation system 24/7 except for maintenance down time. Yes wind and sun cause some evaporation losses but whether they are significant or not depends on the temperature, wind speed, and humidity. Our transpirations this year are running around 0.20 inches per day (24 hr period) but they can get to 0.30 inches when the tempertures get above 90ｰF. Our climate is pretty dry in the summmer months so we need to get the whole place watered to keep the grass vegetative. We don't have a choice of just night time irrigation.

I can lay down about 3-4 inches of water in a 11 1/2 hr set and about half of that is available to the plant (grass) so I have to get across a pasture in ~ 7 to 10 days @ transpiration rates of 0.20 inches per day ( 3 to 6 days @ 0.3 inches per day). I can only do that running 24/7. Our sprinkler spacing is 40'X60' and we use a skip technique to maximize our coverage. (That's not important to you if you are going to use a wate reel.)

Using wheel lines on 20 acre pastures, I can cover 20 acres in 5-1/2 days which will cover my worse case conditions (0.30 inches per day).

I don't know if you have an Agrimet (Bureau of Reclamation) station near you but if you do they post the transpiration daily and predicted water use dependent on the crop. It usually includes pasture grass.

So knowing your transpirations and sizing your system to match your worst case water requirments will help you make the most out of your irrigation investment.

Hope this helps you.

Very much so that is the type of Info I am seeking ... I do not know of any Agrimet Station near me ... belive I will be asking, Thanks for the info.

 

[blueriver]

Up and running ... using different nozzles and PSI settings on each run trying to get the most effective pattern and moisture in the best time.

Running about 200'x700' putting 1" in the rain gauge. No actual setting for ft per hour on the machine ... so I take my best quess from the chart, set the pump PSI, the Reel PSI, put a rain gauge in the ground at the cart. Once gauge is out of the sprinler pattern ... I measure the distance, calculate the time to get the approximate ft per hour and read the gauge.

Sure is a blast to watch it in action!!!

 

[jake98]

Sure is a blast to watch it in action!!!

Good luck with it Blueriver, maybe you'll get to see some of that new cutting equipment in action too! :thumbsup:

 

[blueriver]

Thanks Jake ... I did get to use that equipment earlier this year. The 2 things I liked the best where the rake and the Grapple ... sure was nice.

I don't think I will revive much of my bermuda for a cutting yet this year. My plans are to get the moisture in the ground for the winter grass and keep it growing for an early spring cutting.

I read we can expect no relief thru October and perhaps even another year of this weather pattern ... soooooo ... rain chances have improved at least on my place.

 

[Jerry/MT]

Up and running ... using different nozzles and PSI settings on each run trying to get the most effective pattern and moisture in the best time.

Running about 200'x700' putting 1" in the rain gauge. No actual setting for ft per hour on the machine ... so I take my best quess from the chart, set the pump PSI, the Reel PSI, put a rain gauge in the ground at the cart. Once gauge is out of the sprinler pattern ... I measure the distance, calculate the time to get the approximate ft per hour and read the gauge.

Sure is a blast to watch it in action!!!

Glad to see you'r up and running. have you been able to find any transpiration numbers? If not, call your local county extension offfice. They should be able to tell you where to get the data from. You guys are in a real hot spell but I don't know your humidity is but I'd guess that your transpirations are a least 0.25 to 0.30 inches per 24 hrs.

 

[blueriver]

Glad to see you'r up and running. have you been able to find any transpiration numbers? If not, call your local county extension offfice. They should be able to tell you where to get the data from. You guys are in a real hot spell but I don't know your humidity is but I'd guess that your transpirations are a least 0.25 to 0.30 inches per 24 hrs.

The extension office has very little to share ... they did give me contact info for a fellow who is irrigating, I spoke with him and he runs 24/7 ... figures as high as 0.35

This is a real enjoyable experience, I am keeping a log book, measuring water in the rain gauge, calculating widths and lengths ... I did run daytime the other day when it was overcast. Most of my runs are from 6 p.m. to 10 a.m. and then shut down.... I'm probably overchecking everything ... I go out every couple hours.

 

[Jerry/MT]

The extension office has very little to share ... they did give me contact info for a fellow who is irrigating, I spoke with him and he runs 24/7 ... figures as high as 0.35

This is a real enjoyable experience, I am keeping a log book, measuring water in the rain gauge, calculating widths and lengths ... I did run daytime the other day when it was overcast. Most of my runs are from 6 p.m. to 10 a.m. and then shut down.... I'm probably overchecking everything ... I go out every couple hours.

I don't believe i've ever seen pature transpirations as high as that in our country for grass! You guys must be terribly hot and dry. And when you consider that only about half of the water you put out is avaiable to the grass you can see why the flowrates for your irrigation system have to be so high so that you can cover all your ground as quickly as possible in those conditions. Hopefully they'll be better next year. The other thing you want to remember is that you need to start irrigation before the plants gets overly water stressed. It takes a while to wet extremely dried ground especially if you have clay soils and it takes the grass a while to recover. That's where a shovel comes in handy. Dig down and see what the soil moisture is like at about a foot. Don't let that groiund at a foot get too dry.

I don't think you are "overchecking". You're learning something new and it's wise to write down the info that you are keeping track of. You'll get to know the system and the land and it will be come second nature to you after awhile.

I keep a daily log of my irrigation (number of heads, system pressure, times of change, etc) I also keep a ranch log of what I did that day and what the weather condition are, etc. It's helped me more than once to look back at similar situations several years ago and see how I handled them.

Here's a link to the Agrimet site: AgriMet - The Pacific Northwest Cooperative Agricultural Network, Bureau of Reclamation. There's some good info there that you might find helpful. You might talk to the NCRS people and look at the soil maps for your place. Look for the field capacity of your soil type( inches of water capacity per foot of depth-for clay sils it's like 2-2-1/2 inches per foot of depth). Also look at the infiltration rate, how fast you can put water on so that it will be absorbed and not pond or run off.. that will give you the upper limits on flow rate and duration of water application.
Good luck on keeping your place green.