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Rhode Island

Ron and I are thinking possibly of putting in a misting system that we can install. One that will not wet the tops of the leaves, yet can be used to mist or water under the canopy.
I usually water by hand underneath most of the time and, only overhead on occasion of severe high heat days.
We are only interested in getting the ground watered under the canopy , not really interested in getting the leaves all wet.
We dont want to use soaker hose because we had them before and did not like the fact that to cover a lot of plants there is just not enough water pressure for the larger diameter soaker hoses.
I like the idea of those small misters that shoot a mist straight out ( not up in the air ) and wondered if anyone had ever tried them before?

Thanks
Pap

3/19/2006 7:18:11 PM

I've been using drip for landscape purposes for a few years, professinally. Mostly in perenial beds.

I switched my veggie garden over 3 years ago to the combo mentioned below.

First year at AG's but I am going to be using t-tape and 1/2" feeds with emitters off small drop lines(also overhead for apps and cooling) the problem I have found with the misters is they are staked to the ground, when the soil is wet and they get bumped,no control as to where they are aimed. You still have to run the lines and the underfollage might create dry/wet spots.
I also use gravity supply so that too was a deciding factor. I have sand loam that allows good drainage and a nice deep/even moisture content. Base is sand/gravel.
Just my thoughts.

3/19/2006 7:52:11 PM

milford, CT,

This winter I built an overhead misting system myself. Used
3/4 inch PVC for the main line with T's set up for the misters (8 ft apart). The risers off the T's are 1/2 inch threaded PVC, 6 inches long. For misting heads I found them at Home Depot (Toro Brand). They have an assortment of different heads ranging from 360 degree to 25 degree coverage. I'll mount the pipe 5 ft off the ground using 2 x 2's and clamps. This wasn't brain surgery and the cost was $20 for my 25 x 40 patch. Mark

3/20/2006 9:40:11 PM

milford, CT,

Sorry, Misread your post Dick. Though you can do what you want in a similar fashion, just don't mount it 5 ft up, mount it at ground level.

3/20/2006 9:50:48 PM

[email protected]

Dick,

I've considered this myself. Imagine never having to spray again? Just pump all the fungicides, insecticides & ferts right through a perfect under-the-canopy system with no misses & no aching back? Me too.

Go to the course with Ronny. Get into the groundskeepers shed & look at his boom sprayer. It will have a boom about 16-18 feet wide with nozzles every 18" on it.

Now picture that boom lying on the ground upside down with the nozzles facing up. It takes 40psi to run those nozzles & each one discharges between .2-.6 gpm. The nozzles are called Tee-Jets & they're made by Spraying Systems, Inc.

Now picture instead of a fancy rigid boom just some cheap 1/2" PVC pipe with the same nozzles. You just lowered the cost of a $1500 boom down to under $100 by using the PVC & ditching the fancy regulator, drip-less nozzle bodies & controller.

Back to the sprayer for a minute. It achieves even coverage because the nozzles are spaced properly IF the boom is kept 16" above the ground. If it's lower it'll streak. If it's higher it'll drift & fail to penetrate the turf canopy.

continued

3/20/2006 11:53:52 PM

[email protected]

Now back to the patch. Remember how the distance from the nozzle to the target mattered on the putting greens? Well it matters to the undersides of your leaves too. The good news is that many AGs have leaf stalks that are also 16" tall. So if the plant your dealing with has long stalks you're all set.

You'll need a lateral row every 18" too. And the pipes & nozzles need to be spaced so they are on an even square grid but that's easy to do. The pain in the arse will be adding the new pipes to accommodate the expanding plant leaf canopy. You'll have to make up the pipes & nozzles in advance. Then you'll need a manifold that allows you to add sections in as needed.

2 rows of 12 foot secondaries is 24'. At one row every 16" is about 14 lateral lines. if you run them parallel to the main. Of course all the secondaries don't fully extend to 12', so all of the laterals don't need to be the same length but you already know about Christmas trees.

You'd need to consider the fate of vines as they cross the pipes. You won't be burying vines with a system like this. You'd better not bury the pipes either because the nozzles will get all crudded up & fail to perform.

I can set you up with a fair parts supplier & help design it if you're not thoroughly discouraged after reading all this.

3/20/2006 11:53:56 PM