Pump / irrigation setup for Foodplots

[mglenn005]

I have a couple of 3 acre ponds next to my food plots and was looking at building a portable irrigation system for next year. I'd love to have it for this drought we are in, but I just don't have the time.

Benefits: get water on our summer plots (beans) and not rely on mother nature.

Materials / Approach:
Harbor Freight clean water pump (~9200 gallons per hour) with 90 ft of head, 40ish psi max.
Plumbing and filter on suction and discharge
Discharge side would be 3/4'' hose and ~ 300 ft
4 portable Rotary sprinkler heads capable of 60' radius

I have 2 plots (1.5 and 1 acre) that very little "head" distance and I think I could move it every 30 minutes and put down 0.5'' water in about 1.5 hrs.

I have another plot (2-2.5 acres) that may / may not work. It definitely has more elevation from the water source, so I may not be able to push 4 rotary heads.

Anyone have a similar setup? Thoughts & comments?

Mark

 

[bueller]

Soon someone will tell you that it takes XYZ gallons of water per acre for the equivalent of 1" and that irrigating a food plot won't work. While the math may be true it doesn't take an 1" of water to keep plants alive while they wait for mother nature to give them a soaking. I used to irrigate a small 1/4 acre "backyard" plot. We used a couple sprinkler heads on top of 3' tripods. Water source was a shallow well pump. We never ran a single zone longer than 90 minutes a day and it worked.

IRRIGATED

NOT IRRIGATED

 

[mglenn005]

Thanks bueller. I realize it takes a lot of water and I have 6 acres of retention ponds. I have the water to irrigate. I don't plant to "tote" any water.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[bueller]

The pictures I posted were taken during a TERRIBLE drought year. As you can see NOTHING was growing in the areas outside of the irrigation. This is dry sandy ground to begin with. We lost many native and well established trees and shrubs that summer. I personally wouldn't want to do "acres" like this but I don't doubt that it could be done. I don't irrigate this plot anymore as it is no longer our backyard viewing field.

 

[mikmaze]

do yourself a favor, go upsize on supply side, pumps hate to have to suck hard to get water, and go up to inch on output, 300 feet of hose is a fair amount. go get a roll of irrigation poly pipe, comes in 300 foot rolls at 1 inch,. get barbed fittings, stainless crimp clamps, and you will be gallons ahead at the end of each run. look at the chart to see what going from 3/4 to 1 inch can do for you. If you are going to do the work, do it so it works well.
https://flexpvc.com/Reference/WaterFlowBasedOnPipeSize.shtml



.,

 

[Turkey Creek]

Do you need to be concerned with the back pressure on the pump? I am not sure how this works exactly and I need to find a solution to an irrigation problem for next summer. What happens when that type of pump tries to pump water at a rate which exceeds the amount that can be applied by the sprinkler heads? Does that damage the pump?

 

[MoBuckChaser]

Soon someone will tell you that it takes XYZ gallons of water per acre for the equivalent of 1" and that irrigating a food plot won't work. While the math may be true it doesn't take an 1" of water to keep plants alive while they wait for mother nature to give them a soaking. I used to irrigate a small 1/4 acre "backyard" plot. We used a couple sprinkler heads on top of 3' tripods. Water source was a shallow well pump. We never ran a single zone longer than 90 minutes a day and it worked.

IRRIGATED

NOT IRRIGATED

Keeping plots going planted the middle of august with sprinklers is a whole lot different than keeping plots irrigated all summer.

And yes, it takes over 25,000 gals to make a 1" of water. Better be a deep pond! LOL

 

[Bill]

I don't know. Them circles look pretty green to me. :)

 

[MoBuckChaser]

I don't know. Them circles look pretty green to me. :)

Its sept 16th there is almost enough sept dew every morning in wisconsin to do that.

 

[rocksnstumps]

Late Aug 2012 on sandy soil in central WI, very southern Waushara county. Ground looking kinda parched after no rain for 6 or more weeks. Just needed to get by two really bad months not the entire summer......Course all the farmers in that area center pivot their fields and man they suck a lot of water.

 

[bueller]

That bare area in the foreground of the second picture is part of the same plot. Planted with the same seeds the same day with the same ground prep. Lack of water either caused the plants to not sprout or they sprouted and died. Field was planted 8/9.

 

[Bill]

Its sept 16th there is almost enough sept dew every morning in wisconsin to do that.

Yea I hear you but there's a boat load of brown around the green.

Not doing acres just circles. Heck my lawn looks like that where I put the sprinkler. When I'm not to lazy.

 

[MoBuckChaser]

Yea I hear you but there's a boat load of brown around the green.

Not doing acres just circles. Heck my lawn looks like that where I put the sprinkler. When I'm not to lazy.

Just don't want anyone to get the false impression that they can put enough water on through a garden hose, in a actual drought, on any spring planted crops and keep them growing all summer.

 

[Bill]

Just don't want anyone to get the false impression that they can put enough water on through a garden hose, in a actual drought, on any spring planted crops and keep them growing all summer.

That's true. My father in law and his buddy tried on clover in NJ on sand. They dug a pond deeper, then tried a well.

Still burnt clover.

But why not try.

 

[mglenn005]

do yourself a favor, go upsize on supply side, pumps hate to have to suck hard to get water, and go up to inch on output, 300 feet of hose is a fair amount. go get a roll of irrigation poly pipe, comes in 300 foot rolls at 1 inch,. get barbed fittings, stainless crimp clamps, and you will be gallons ahead at the end of each run. look at the chart to see what going from 3/4 to 1 inch can do for you. If you are going to do the work, do it so it works well.
https://flexpvc.com/Reference/WaterFlowBasedOnPipeSize.shtml



.,

I think the supply (suction) side is a 2'' input. The problem I see with the poly pipe is that its not as portable (or am I thinking of something different).

 

[mglenn005]

Do you need to be concerned with the back pressure on the pump? I am not sure how this works exactly and I need to find a solution to an irrigation problem for next summer. What happens when that type of pump tries to pump water at a rate which exceeds the amount that can be applied by the sprinkler heads? Does that damage the pump?

I should know this answer since i'm an engineer, but I haven't dealt with pumps in years. In the scenario you describe, I think the pump equalizes and provides a higher pressure instead of volume. If the pipe on entrance and exit (at the pump) was infinitely large, you would maximize the flow rate (in gpm) but have very little pressure.

I have to do a lot more research and design before I go for it.

 

[mikmaze]

as for portability, set it and leave it. even if you run a lat line along an edge, and run t fittings up to the heads, you can pull the lat line and leave supply along the edge.