Drip irrigation systems: manufacturers, equipment, reviews

Drip irrigation makes caring for plants several times easier, because maintaining the required humidity takes a lot of time and effort. In addition, the application of water under the root in small doses significantly reduces water consumption. And what is interesting: the yield of vegetable crops becomes much higher. To assemble a drip irrigation system with your own hands from the components – it’s certainly great, but not everyone wants to look for components of the right size. For such a case there are kits for drip irrigation. They contain everything necessary to provide water for a certain number of plants. About some of the most popular such kits and will be discussed in the article.

If you need automatic drip irrigation of a greenhouse or vegetable garden, see the sets AquaDusya, Vodomerca and KPK 24K. For manual adjustment of the amount of water supplied to the plants are suitable sets Gardena, Rosinka, ZhUK, PDA 24 and sets Urozhay from the company Tuboflex. Almost all of them supply water from a container (a barrel installed at a certain height). From the water network (including from the pumping station) operates equipment Gardena and AquaDusya Water Tap (tap).

Set for drip irrigation AquaDusia

This kit for automated or manual drip irrigation can be with or without automation, water is supplied from a container raised to a certain height. The control unit, if there is one, runs on batteries. Originally, it was designed for watering plants with greenhouses, so it is designed to irrigate two beds. Since the greenhouse irrigation kit has small dimensions, there is a set to increase the length of the irrigation lines.

The main difference between the system AquaDusya – the organization of water supply from the barrel: starter and reverse pumps are used. The principle of operation is as follows. Pumps are placed at the bottom of the barrel with water, outside is fixed block automatics, the hose is thrown over the edge of the container and further divorced on the beds. The hose is attached to the drip pencil type, through which the water to the roots of plants.

When the command to turn on is given, the feed pump is turned on for one minute, ensuring that the water overflows over the edge and spreads it through the hoses, after which it is turned off. The water then flows by gravity.

Having worked for the prescribed period of time (if there is an automatic system, the time is controlled by a timer), the reversing pump is switched on, sucks in a portion of air, cutting off the water supply and is also switched off. The system remains in standby mode until the next switch-on. This algorithm of operation allows you to save battery power: one set is enough for the whole season.

Types of Aqua-Dusi and their features

There are two already discontinued models “AkvaDusya 50+” semi-automatic and automatic. Today they are not on sale, there are only components. Such care of the manufacturer about its customers is pleasing. They are replaced by a number of new products that are improved every year.

So there is Aqua-Dusya Start (Stat) in the variant of 2014 and 2015. The 2015 version differs in that the pump is structurally different: its starter is waterproof, and the rotor is hydro-open. If necessary, it can be disassembled and cleaned. Otherwise, the systems are similar. They allow you to set the watering time: 60, 80 or 120 minutes, the water supply will be turned on once a day, at the time when you first started it. This system is notable for the fact that you can raise the container only 10-40 cm. This is the lowest height, which is easily achieved by placing a few bricks under the bottom.

There is a set of AquaDusya LCD. In addition to the fact that the display here on liquid crystals, the number of modes has increased: it is now possible to change the frequency of watering. Water supply can be turned on after 6, 12, 24 hours or after two and three days. The duration of watering is more flexible: from 10 minutes to 2 hours with a step of 10 minutes. Also new: a manual start button has been added. If it is hot and your greenhouse or vegetable garden needs an additional portion of water, just press the button and watering begins. The next one will go according to the set schedule.

For those who do not need automation, there is “AquaDusya +60”. It is designed for irrigation of 60 plants, but can with an expansion kit supply water to 100 bushes. The barrel should be installed at a height of at least 1 meter. Start and stop watering occur in manual mode (turn the faucet). This budget version of the drip system without automation is suitable for those who have the ability to independently control the frequency and duration of watering.

For irrigation not from a barrel, but from the tap, there is a system of drip irrigation AquaDusya Water Tap (tap) (from the barrel can also be, but it will have to be raised to a height of 3 meters). The system works in the presence of pressure of at least 0.3 atm. Duration of water supply can be set 1, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 60, 90, 120 minutes. It can be switched on after 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 24, 48, 72 hours. All control is concentrated in a small block, which is also a valve that opens the water supply. Everything is powered by two 1.5 volt batteries.

Testimonials

“In our city, when I bought, AkvaDusi was not, I bought in Moscow, paid for delivery, but I have never regretted it. True, the hose, which is thrown over the edge of the barrel is still overstretched, but I stretched the spring and everything is normal. Distribution on the droppers is stable – I checked – dripped into the jar for a whole day at different ends. The difference in 200-300 ml, and poured out about 1.7 liters per hour. The harvests are simply wonderful and from the greenhouse and vegetable garden.”

Misha, Blagoveshchensk

“I have been working drip irrigation Aqua Dusya for two years. And the barrel stands at 25 meters – closer I can not, otherwise steal. If the hose from the barrel lies flat (I’ve built up) all works, if there are hills and bends – no. In general, I really like the system. No problems with it has not been.”

Belgorod, Nikolay

I adapted one set of irrigation for two greenhouses. A lot of alterations, agonized until I picked up the limiters to distribute water was stable and in the near greenhouse and in the far. But nothing, everything works for three years and I am very satisfied.”

Victor, Moscow region

“We had a negative experience: we were not at the dacha, and greatly reduced the operating time of the reverse pump, because of which it did not turn off the water supply. The barrel is filled at us automatically from the water supply. When we arrived, the greenhouse turned into a swamp and a lot of water also reached the neighbors. Such an unfortunate thing to happen. “

Valeria, Vologda

Set “Vodomerca”

Set for drip irrigation “Vodomerca” consists of a controller, filter, main hose and several dozen drip tips on thin tubes, which are installed in the holes made in the main hoses. The basic kit comes with a hose that is 8 meters long. It is proposed to divide it into two pieces for watering two beds of 4 meters. There is also a 4-meter extension kit. It can be used simultaneously with the basic one for beds 6 meters long.

The most interesting detail in this kit is the controller. It works from two AA batteries and does not have any requirements for pressure in the system. Actually this set is designed for water distribution only from the container, the pressure in the water supply network is not designed, and in this case it is not recommended to use it.

The tank can stand at a height of 0.5 meters to 2 meters. The main condition is that the pressure is sufficient to fill the pipes. At the outlet of the tank, a filter is installed (included in the kit), and then there is a connection to the beds.

The controller allows you to set the frequency and duration of watering. Periodicity: water supply in 2, 6, 12, 24 and 48 hours. Duration of water supply in each switching on is set from two minutes to several dozens. That is, you can make it so that watering starts every 2 hours and lasted, say, 15 minutes, and you can make it so that the supply starts once a day, but the water was an hour.

Reviews

“Bought myself a set of drip irrigation “Vodomerca” only because it has a controller works from two batteries and there are no pressure requirements. No one else produces such. I was looking for two years … And here I bought, turned on, every two hours buzzes, water drips. It suits me.”

Moscow, Ozhigovo, Victor

“My “Vodomerca” for some reason does not supply water if you put a large interval: neither after 24 hours or after 48 hours does not turn on. I will take to change… At least on a small time works normally.”

Moscow region, Alexander

“Works well, but the batteries are quickly used up. Would have made to work from the battery, the price would not be her. In general – satisfied, water goes little, and the harvest is good.”

Dmitry

The installation procedure is demonstrated in the video from the manufacturer.

Gardena irrigation system (Gardena)

This is a multi-component system with different types of drip, and devices for irrigation. There are devices specifically for drip irrigation, there are sprinklers of different devices and types. Produced drip irrigation “Gardena” in Germany.

These devices work from the water supply (including from the pumping station) have their own filters, reducing and stabilizing the pressure in the system. Pressure stabilization device is called “Master-block”, they are designed to supply 1000 l/hour or 2000 l/hour. A distribution hose is connected to them, to which various devices for supplying water to plants are then mounted.

To connect the pieces of hose, unique fittings are used, into which the hose is simply inserted. It is fixed with a special spring, ensuring tightness. If necessary, the connection is disconnected by pressing a special lever, the hose is released from the clamp and taken out.

For drip irrigation there are drippers of the following types:

• with a fixed flow rate of 2 and 4 l / h;
• self-adjusting for 2 l / h, allowing you to supply the entire length of the irrigation line the same amount of water;
• internal – inserted into the break of the hose with a fixed flow rate;
• with adjustable flow from 0 to 20 l/h – terminal and internal.

For more details about the system of drip irrigation and irrigation Gardena see the video.

How to organize a system of automatic irrigation of the entire site, read here.

Set for drip irrigation “Rosinka”

This set of drip irrigation does not have automation. It “starts” by turning the ball valve on the supply hose. The system “Rosinka” consists of flexible elastic hoses that tolerate temperatures down to -45 ° C, fittings – crosses and tees, miniature plugs-droppers. It is these drip plugs that distinguish it from its brethren. They are small devices that are inserted into the end of the hose. They are adjustable – they can supply water at a rate from 0 to 2 liters / hour.

The basic set is designed to dispense under 50 roots, but it is possible to purchase additional accessories and assemble the configuration that you need.

Assembly is simple: in the barrel (tank) is built into the socket, it is connected to the main tap with a valve, and then the system is assembled from pieces of hose and fittings. How everything happens, see in the video.

Testimonial

“I have been using this system for more than ten years in my dacha. It works perfectly, but it is only a gardening and dacha variant, it makes no sense to put it on large volumes. Part stands for 10 years, part, of course, changed. What I like is that you can buy components without problems. A couple of times I forgot to remove them for the winter from the greenhouse. No problem, they survived. Last time I bought hoses. Compared to the old ones, they are better: the walls are thicker and the reinforcement is thicker. So I continue to use them in the vegetable garden and at the dacha.”

Alexey Evgenyevich, Ekaterinburg

On how to organize water supply from a well or well read here.

Drip irrigation “Beetle”

This set for drip irrigation is ideal for greenhouse cultivation of plants. Breeds water from a barrel, which is installed at a height of 1-2 meters (working pressure 0,1-0,2 atm). Supplies to the roots of plants about 4 liters / hour, the amount of water supplied depends on the time of irrigation.

This system is not designed for use in frosts. In the fall it must be dismantled, washed, and preferably – blown so that there is no water. Set “Beetle” is called greenhouse or greenhouse, because it is convenient to distribute water to four rows of plants – the most common option in small greenhouses in summer houses or near the house.

Hoses are deep black in color, which reduces the likelihood of water discoloration. If the drip lines get clogged, you can open the tap on the supply water line to maximum, so that the pressure will carry out the contamination. Most often it is either sand or bacteria buildup.

In the design of drip irrigation “Zhuk” provides a transparent tube to monitor the water level in the barrel. Since the container stands at a height (1-2 meters), it is inconvenient to look into it to check the amount of water. This simple device will allow you to easily monitor its level.

On how to build a greenhouse, read here.

Systems Uglich plant Turboflex (Tuboflex)

This plant produces sets of drip irrigation “Urozhay”. The sets are designed for manual regulation of water supply, but separately sold automatics and controllers. From all those described above, differs in that the distribution of water is carried out by drip tubes. The assortment of kits is as follows:

Controllers for automation there are single- and dual-zone. Two-zone there are in mechanical and automatic version.

A vegetable garden can be beautiful. How to make beautiful beds read here.

Set for drip irrigation KPK 24 and KPK 24K

Samara-based company PKF “Istok” produces drip irrigation kits KPK 24 with drip tapes. KPK 24K is characterized by the fact that it has a controller, that is, water supply is automated. The system is designed to supply water from the tank, the maximum pressure of 1.2 atm, so that the water network without a pressure reducer can not be connected.

System characteristics:

• drip tape length of 24 meters, the recommended length of one irrigation line – no more than 6 meters;
• wall thickness of the tape 0.2 mm,
• the distance between the drippers 30 cm,
• water flow rate 1.7 liters/hour,
• working pressure 0.3-1.2 atm.

The kit comes with a filter for fine water purification, if there are a lot of contaminants, put gravel beforehand. The method of assembly of the drip irrigation system is standard: from the faucet in the lower part of the container is mounted supply pipe from a hose with an inner diameter of 15 mm (not included in the kit). Bringing to the beds, the hose is cut, insert the tee (comes in the kit), to the free outlet connect the tape of the desired length. A piece of pipe of the same diameter is installed on the other side of the tee. Its length is up to the next tape. So collect the whole scheme, in the last line of irrigation is used not a tee, but a corner (is in the kit).

The controller in the set KPK 24K gives a wide range of possibilities for programming irrigation. Duration of water supply – from 1 minute to 9 hours 59 minutes. There are sixteen programs that set the frequency of irrigation – from one to 16 times a day and with the accuracy of a minute set the time of inclusion in each of the irrigation. Also selected on which days of the week to include water. So the drip irrigation system KPK 24K is really automatic.

There are restrictions on the minimum pressure: the controller will work if the pressure in the system will be more than 0.1 atm (maximum 4 atm). When supplying water from the barrel, it should be installed 1 meter below the outlet of the tank. Then there will be no problems with water supply. More: for the main water pipe, a hose with an inner cross-section of 13 mm should be used. Power is supplied by two 1.5 volt batteries or alkaline batteries of the same capacity.