Lucerne
Almonds
Apples
Avocado
Blueberries
Citrus
Maize
Greenhouse Cucumbers
Greenhouse Peppers
Greenhouse Tomatoes
Mushroom
Potatoes
Processing tomatoes
Sugarcane
Table Grapes
Wine grapes
NETAFIM Global
CONTINUOUS IRRIGATION
Farmers are continuously faced with new challenges when it comes to managing and optimising irrigation management in new orchard plantings. When it comes to precision irrigation, continuous irrigation puts the control back in the farmer’s hands. Continuous irrigation helps to reduce management inputs surrounding irrigation scheduling, improves system efficiency and optimizes water, soil and air conditions for peak plant performance - delivering higher and better yields than you’ve ever seen, with less.
Precision and Efficiency is within Reach
Modern farming is all about precision and ever-efficient production. Low-delivery drip irrigation technology and concepts such as continuous irrigation will assist greatly in reaching these goals. With continuous irrigation, farmers are able to focus the irrigation on the root-zone, therefore controlling the depth of irrigation much more efficiently. With low-delivery rate drip, more control is possible over the way the water moves through the irrigation system into the soil, and even the distribution in the soil, resulting in better utilisation of lower potential soils.
Reasons to choose continuous irrigation:
● Irrigate larger areas simultaneously
● Simpler to automate the system
● Managing the system is less complicated
● Better utilise certain problem soil areas
● More efficient distribution of water below the dripper, which leads to a larger wetted area where the plant can extract water
● Minimise leaching of fertilisers and water below root-zone
● Improved system hydraulic performance due to longer irrigation time
Improve Your Soil Conditions
Older drip irrigation methods, with higher delivery rates caused challenges concerning control over the depth of irrigation. This resulted in more frequent and shorter irrigation cycles, of sometimes less than one hour per cycle. The result was oversaturated conditions in the sub-soil, and even low hydraulic performance of systems due the filling and draining losses.
The oversaturated conditions result in bad aeration and create stressful conditions for the plant roots that need a balance between water and air. Excessive water also leaches beneficial plant nutrients below the active root-zone, resulting in less nutrients for your crops and groundwater contamination. Continuous irrigation helps to balance the air-water ratio in the soil and targets your water and fertiliser application in the root-zone.
Change the Way You Use Water
Continuous irrigation helps you to make better use of the world’s most precious resource, so you can grow higher and better yields every season. Here’s the core design criteria:
- System flow rate: 2.5 m³ to 3.5 m³ per hour per hectare flow according to the climatic crop water demand
- Number of irrigation shifts: One
- Drip product: UniRam™RC 0.7 or 1.0ℓ/h
- Spacing of drippers: 0.8 – 1.2 m
- Lateral length: Maximum dripperline length must ensure flushing velocity of 0.5 m/second at the end
- Primary filtration: Spin-Klin disc filters, 100 micron filtration grade or sand media filter with check filter
- Secondary filtration: Disc or screen filtration with same grade as primary filter
- Chemical maintenance: Continuous dosing of Hydrogen Peroxide with a concentration of 5 - 15 ppm at the beginning of the system and 1 - 2 ppm at the end of the system
- Water analysis required: Yes, before design of the project
LET'S TALK ABOUT YOUR CONTINUOUS DRIP SYSTEM
We work with growers around the world to analyse their water and help them determine what they can grow with it. Get in touch, so we can do something about your water challenges.