Introduction to Irrigation

January 5th, 2009

When it comes on planting something, either a full scale plants for commercial usage or just a simple gardening to make the house looks nicer and spending the free time wisely, watering is one of the important agenda that needs to be taken care off. Watering or irrigation is important to ensure the survival of a plant and watering it is not just a regular intervals. Many have been mistaken on what watering a plant is all about.

Plant, just like human and any other living creature on earth, needs water but the amount of water that plant needs is not the same. In fact, each species of plants need a different water level in order to survive. Generally, plants should be watered adequately as and when necessary and not just a regular intervals. During the wet season, it may not be necessary at all to provide irrigation. Shrubs and ground covers need more frequent watering than the usual species and therefore a little knowledge is important when it comes to watering.

Watering stabilized plants thus sufficient water must be given in order for the water to penetrate into the root level and below. It is important to note that one deep soaking at an interval is far better than frequent sprinkling. Sprinkling of water will result in the growth of a shallow root system and this method preferred better on commercial plants where it becomes easy to take off from its root and transported somewhere else. Sprinkling is also suitable for carpet grass, as its root is not advisable to go deep in order to ensure the even layer of grass all over the field. Shortage of water in the soil will result in wilting and defoliation and ultimately the death of the plant.

Watering can is carried out by hand, using a watering can or hose or water tanker, depending on the scale of the operation. To save time and labor, especially on the commercial sector, it is advisable to use sprinklers and permanently-installed irrigation systems. However, it must be remembered that there is no substitute for human judgment and constant supervision of a plant’s water needs. Automatic watering system that operates without regard for plant needs can flood and damage the growing area.

In automatic watering system, there are two most commonly used irrigation system which is the sprinkler system and trickle system. In sprinkler system, the water can be sprayed either from a fixed jet or from a rotary spray, throwing water over a large area. This system may be manually or automatically controlled. The trickle system does things automatically. The trickle valves fitted with a control device allow controlled amount of water to flow directly on to the top of the root zone of the plant.

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Watering Tools

January 5th, 2009

Tools for the garden are difference and depend on the capacity of the garden itself. Each tool also needs a different amount of water usage and some do not need them at all. A garden watering tool can either be cheap or expensive, depends on the quality and their technology. Overall, there are several tools that has been introduce to help with the watering of plants and to ease the burden of the owner.

Hose is a well known watering tool. Normal hose or flat hose is made of rubber and its rather cheap. The water goes in from an end and come out at the other end. Most flat hose is equipped with a trolley to move about and making it easier to handle and to store. In order to ensure that the flat hose do not overlaps with the plant, a set of hose guide can be place near the plant. A hose guide is like fences that prevent the hose from overlapping the plant and damaging them. The second types of hose are the soaker host. Soaker host is consisting of a flat hose with holes on it. A soaker hose is much effective than a flat hose because the water will be poured directly to the roots which saves a lot of water compared to the traditional way of watering.

Watering can is the evergreen favorite’s tool inside the garden and has been there much longer than any watering tools. For centuries, people have been using watering can to water their plants and it does not change much from the first concept of watering can. A good watering can is made of brass because its last longer compared to plastic watering can. It is a little bit heavier but in a long run, it’s worth it. To make a watering can much better, you can place a water breaker at the nozzle.

Automatic watering system is a new phenomenon that has been develops intensively to suit the people’s need for something to ensure that their plants are under good condition. Automatic watering system can be consisting of sparkling and ticker. The sparkling water system is easy to maintain compared to ticker and can be adjusted manually. Ticker uses more mechanical approach but work as fine as sparkling. The only problem using this tool is that it might makes the root going to the surface because the water will be poured at the surface of the soil only, instead of a deep soak.

What ever the tools that you wanted to use, it is a lot better to talk to the garden expert about it first. Each tools work better on different angle of gardening and some tools are not suitable for the garden itself because it might not be able to coupe with the plants or it’s just too much and might waste the water.

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