Watering Raised Beds in the Desert | How to Install Drip Tape

[@gardenofthegeeks8277]

The fact that you had that little guy visit is proof your doing something right!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey guys! Yeah, he was a surprise to see and we don't mind them at all. They are little bug catching fiends!

[@classicmusic6547]

An intelligent way of watering. Especially for its mobility.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

So far it seems to be doing well. We had to adjust the watering time a bit during the week to start narrowing that down as it puts out a lot more water than you would think.

[@AbidAli-bv2gl]

Excellent video, Drip works great

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Glad you enjoyed this one Abid. It's pretty hard to beat drip irrigation. It really is a life changer!

[@breakingburque2200]

So fun, I have slowly started gathering up supplies to put irrigation. I think it will make watering and keeping plants in the desert so much easier.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

It really is a must have to help keep everything alive. Plus, who wants to stand outside right now in 115+ degree heat?!

[@sdraper2011]

We're planning on designing a similar system to use grey water from our washing machine to water a little patch of grass for the dogs in the backyard. This was a VERY helpful video packed with detailed instructions. I always learn so much from your videos. Thank you!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Glad you enjoyed this one and will find it useful. Irrigation is one of those skills I think everyone in an arid climate really needs to learn. If not, you'll wind up paying a LOT of money or spend a lot of time keeping your plants alive!

[@benwilliams3539]

I've only ever seen one lawn watered by grey water and while it is a hassle (they had to use special washing detergents forever) it was also the lushest lawn I've ever seen

[@sdraper2011]

@@benwilliams3539 Yeah, you do have to use eco-friendly detergents, but we're okay with that.

[@jaredmccutcheon5496]

I’m glad you guys went with the drip tape! I love Irrigation King, they are awesome and if you ever have questions their customer service is excellent. I was taught and all my research shows to always put emitters facing up and bury the tape. One thing I learned the hard way, make sure to never use garden tools next to the tape when it’s under pressure and always have plenty of mending couplings on hand, lol. The tape is pretty tough as long as it’s not inflated.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey Jared! Yes, and thank you for the suggestion. We did face the emitters up and do plan to go back and bury them under the wood chips. Great advice on the couplings, I'm sure we will need them:) So far they seem to be working great, we already had to reduce the amount of time we had it watering.

[@jaredmccutcheon5496]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm That’s awesome. Yes, 4” emitter spacing will put a lot of water out, lol, I generally go with 12” spacing for most stuff and 8” on things that I need to get a little more water to like corn and let it water for several hours at a time, eventually the water rings will connect. This past week we have been having 110+ degree highs so I’ll leave it on all night to deep soak my rows.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

@@jaredmccutcheon5496 ok, that's good to know because we would prefer having the 15 mil tape and that did not come in 4" spacing. Especially once we're working on larger rows of in ground crops.

[@danielfisch655]

Nice setup, very informative video and thank you for sharing.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey Daniel! So far it's working well. The only thing we had to adjust was the duration of watering. It actually puts out a lot more water than it seems!

[@roywoodruff8161]

This came at a great time. I am in the planning stages of doing the same thing here in my raised bed garden. Hand watered this since February and I'm done doing that. Wasn't so bad when the crops were little, but when they are covering the beds, it is hard to get the water to the plants without encouraging powdery mildew on my zucchini and cucumbers. It's a learning curve for sure!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

We're right there with you on that one. We still have half the beds done, but already it's a big difference in time spent outside. This time of year that is a life saver!

[@marschlosser4540]

Looks good. I like the tape best and am going to put that in. Monday, got to get out the chain saw to trim back the roses (Lady Banks). That gets some water, but not enough, tho you'd not know it by how they grow.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey Martin. We're a week into having this installed and it's working well. It puts out a bit more water than we were anticipating, so we actually had to back down on the watering time by about 30%. Roses are just amazing plants that do really well with very little TLC.

[@juneramirez8580]

Didn't know about this product! My drip is basically all in with some adjustments as I learn from my mistakes. I move my Polly hose in and out of my garden beds for maintenance of the beds. It has held up for me very well. I like that your tape has emitters every 4 inches. My first batch has them every 18 inches. Then I found they have spacing every 12 inches. I am going to try to pop in adjustable emitters I have on hand to give me better water coverage. Wish me luck! Lol

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey June! You still have a lot of optoins with the more traditional poly setup. With your flag or button emitters you can always attach a 1/4" line to the end of the flag and direct that water where you need it to go. And of course adding adjustable emitters can change things up a bit also.

[@TheFatTheist]

This is definitely one that I would like an update on. I have already seen great questions from the others in the comments about longevity. I was wondering what kind of flow you get from each emitter? I love tomatoes but they need a LOT of water (especially right now when it has been above 110 for almost a week).

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey Alan! We'll keep everyone updated. I'm not sure about the longevity either, but it's pretty inexpensive to replace. As for the flow, I think they measure it in GPM/100' of tape. This was somewhere in the 1-2 gallon range I believe.

[@deniseatdevoncheycreations2312]

You are a great inspiration to me. I am planning on copying your beds and irrigation methods and was wondering, now that you have lived with it almost a year, if there is anything you would do differently? Some questions: 1) how long do you run the water each time? 2) Does the drip tape give you enough water? I live in the tri-state desert area along the Colorado River, so we have very similar climates. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey Denise! The beds are doing really well, but a few things we've learned. The fill we used in the blocks themselves works better if you have some larger, crushed granite before the ABC to keep the squirrels, etc from digging through it. The drip tape is fine once the plants are more established, but you definitely need to overhand water for quite a while first. Usually we run it once a day while overhand watering just to make sure we're getting some water penetrating deep. Then we move to twice a day for about 10-15 minutes to keep everything happy. I think 4 runs of drip tape would have probably given us a better spread of water, but we were not sure if the lines would be able to handle that much flow.

[@deniseatdevoncheycreations2312]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm For the crushed concrete, are you talking about the holes in the blocks that you put your poles in or the actual bed floor itself? Is the hardware cloth doing its job? I was thinking I would sit the concrete blocks along the edges of it in the beginning. If you had to do it over, would you still use the drip tape or would you use something faster? Thank you!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

@@deniseatdevoncheycreations2312 we have the crushed granite and ABC in the holes in the blocks where the poles were placed to keep the critters from being able to climb up into the bed inside the bird netting that is draped on the outside of the blocks. If you're able to get the blocks on top of the hardware cloth that would be ideal. We didn't think we would be able to get the ground level enough with that in place, so we put it on the inside instead. It's working just fine keeping everything out. The drip tape really is the ideal watering option for the beds. The only thing I would have changed is adding another strip or two in each bed as opposed to just the 3 lines.

[@erichaskell]

I have always wondered if calcium carbonate in water clogs it and if so, how soon.

[@pamelamercado6902]

Hi I'm just a viewer but calcium can clog the drip irrigation hose How soon actually depends on how bad your calcium is at my old place I'd say mine was not awfully bad it took two years but with the drip tape it's real easy to take off and replace

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey Eric. It looks like Pamela has a great comment on this one and it really varies quite a bit. How often you run your water also impacts it. The fittings, including the ball valve, will last several years with no issues, but the tape won't last too long. I'm not sure if the heat will take it out before the hard water though.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

@@pamelamercado6902 great comment on this one Pamela. It will be interesting to see whether the heat or the hard water takes out the tape first!

[@jaredmccutcheon5496]

Most drip tape that is less than 12 mil is really only designed for about 1 year of use so in theory calcification should never be a problem. I use mine longer than that as long as it stays in good shape but I’ve never had any issues with the droppers clogging or becoming calcified. We are on a well and have very hard water.

[@erichaskell]

@@jaredmccutcheon5496 The one season you state indicates that the effectiveness starts declining the moment you first turn on the water and at the end of each you produce more plastic waste. Not good.

[@terigeorge5545]

Another great video! I’ve used drip tape in my 150 square feet of bed but I ended up going back to drip lines because they leaked so much but in a much larger growing area, I’m sure it’s less of a problem. I watched some of your other irrigation videos and in the one where you planted a Dorset apple tree you showed putting straw in the bottom of the irrigation ring. Do you still do that and if so, why?

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey Teri! So far the drip tape is working good. As far as the straw, we did do that at the old property mostly to encourage worm activity. We have not been using it at the new property, not sure if it made much of a difference.

[@kennhurt5636]

When you say I will leave a link down below!! Where is down below? I see nothing saying Amazon?lol I guess I am slow. I am new to all this and really want and like your videos. Oh by the way do you mind saying how much your tractor cost was plus your additional pieces were. If I buy one from the same place you did would they you a kickback since you told me about their product? Thank you! Kenn

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey Kenn. The link is directly below the video under the channel icon where the video description is. I think it varies based on the device, but you need to click on the "Show More" option on desktop to see the links. The tractor was right around $23k out the door (all implements and tax included). We don't have any affiliation with the dealer, but they are very straight forward with their pricing.

[@kennhurt5636]

What is the dealers name/salesmans name. I appreciate you very much!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

@@kennhurt5636 I don't recall the salesperson, but the dealer is Team Tractor and Equipment. I'll link their website for you here; www.teamtractor.com/

[@allanturpin2023]

All those parts, but then you go what's an hour of my time worth, times 365... I'm still handwatering, so I think about such things. But I don't have protected beds like you, and the critters chew through the plastic way too often for my tastes. So it's time vs frustration here.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey Allan. Funny you should mention critters chewing through the plastic. We just had the exact same thing happen with a couple of our beds Friday night, so now it's back to the drawing board to shore the lower portion up a bit.

[@allanturpin2023]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm- bummer. Not being able to trust that the plants will get what they need is too hard for me to live with.

[@sunniharrison9639]

Where did you buy your sweet potato slips?

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey there Sunni. We actually created these ourselves. I think we included a quick how-to in one of our vlogs a few weeks back, so I'll see if I can find that and link it for you here; kzbin.info/www/bejne/rZezl5mfj9aKgtU

[@slamboy66]

Are there any ponds around you?

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

The closest thing we have anywhere in the area are some water tanks for free-range cattle. Even those are empty unless we get heavy monsoon rains. The heavy, dry heat makes natural surface water very hard to come by!

[@chifylube]

I have this tape and my only problem is that if you don't get it perfectly flat, the water runs down the tape and drips away from where you want it to. Also repair is a pain. I think next time I'm going to try these grids: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jmS3ZWBonMiCi6M shown in Growing in the Garden. She lives here in AZ too and they seem to work amazing.

[@Dragon-Slay3r]

4

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

I probably should know what that means, but I'm at a loss.