Experts share upkeep tips for vineyard drip systems By Bob Johnson
Maintenance of vineyard drip-irriga- tion systems begins with inspection of the filters, which are essential for mini- mizing the number of clogged emitters. Fortunately, mod-
A vineyard and irrigation lines are shown in Edna Valley near San Luis Obispo. The Atascadero- based Central Coast Vineyard Team offers field seminars and has prepared instructional videos on water conservation and maintaining vineyard irrigation systems.
ern systems use filters that can be removed, cleaned and put back in place. Otherwise,
clogged drip systems can defeat efforts to irrigate vines uniformly throughout a block. “I’ve talked with guys who clean the screen filters once at the beginning of the season or at the beginning of the month,” said Ben Borgoa, Monterey County Resource Conservation District program engineer. “It depends on your water qual- ity” whether emitters are prone to clogging. Old-school systems filter the water with large tubs of sand, which remove impuri- ties before they reach the irrigation tape and emitters. But Jacob Hernandez, own- er of JH Ag Consulting in San Luis Obispo County, said excess washing pressure can create problems with irrigation systems by dislodging the sand. “When I do irrigation evaluations,” Hernandez said, “I ask when the last time was you checked to see if something was in the sand filter, and sometimes I get the answer, ‘I don’t know.’ If you don’t remem- ber when you checked, you might want to make sure there is sand in there.” Borgoa and Hernandez have offered irri- gation maintenance seminars for growers in partnership with the Atascadero-based Central Coast Vineyard Team, a nonprof- it that promotes sustainable farming and water conservation. Hernandez said there are shortcuts for growers that will help them save time while inspecting irrigation filters. “You want to check at least one of the sand filters; you don’t need to check all of them because that would take a lot of time,” he said. “If one of the filters is
empty, the other ones are, too.” Some growers replace all the sand in the filter while others just add enough to top them off. Before opening one of the filters, be sure to turn off the pump to avoid be- ing injured by the water pressure. There are aids that help monitor the condition of more modern screen filters, Borgoa said. “Water pressure at the filter is an indica- tion you might want to check your screens,” he said. “You want to make sure those pre- sure gauges are reading correctly.” Some systems automatically clean the screens with a back flush when the pres- sure before and after the filter drops a cer- tain amount. If there is no automatic back flush built into the system, Hernandez ad- vised scheduling back flushes by the cal- endar or by the pressure drop at the filter. Another way to decide if the filters are working is to see if the water flowing from them looks clean. It may help to inject hy- drogen peroxide, sulfur or another mate- rial to break down precipitates that could clog emitters in the vineyard, Borgoa said. The pump station should include a flow meter that records how much water is pumped into the system. Growers can
minimize clogged emitters by screening any material, such as fertilizer, before it is added to the water to be pumped through the irrigation system. “When you have a flow meter, you should record every day how much water you applied,” Borgoa said. Some flow meters automatically record this information and send it to a smart- phone or computer. Borgoa said growers should also test irrigation uniformity with hole punches, gauges and emitters costing $10 to $30. “The way we decide to take pressure read- ings is the distance from the pump station hydraulically,” Borgoa said. Readings are taken at varying distances from the pump station, he added. To take readings, Borgoa punches a hole in the irrigation line and inserts a gauge. This gives a tighter fit than using the hole
used to insert an emitter. To measure the flow rate, he sets buckets on the ground underneath 16 to 28 emitters with the pump turned on and uses a stopwatch to time the event. That can calcuate unifor- mity of water pressure and distribution throughout the vineyard and locate spots where some vines are receiving less water than others. Accurate distribution figures will help locate where clogged emitters, leaky irri- gation lines or slopes in the vineyard are causing inefficient water use. As the irrigation system is tested, Borgoa said it makes sense to flush the lines to get contaminants out before they can clog emitters. “When we flush,” Borgoa said, “it’s not a couple seconds—it’s a 10-minute flush to get the precipitates out.” (Bob Johnson is a reporter in Monterey County. He may be contacted at bjohn11135@gmail.com.)
STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP - MANAGEMENT AND CIRCULATION (Act of August 12, 1970, Section 3685, Title 39, United States Code)
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6 Ag Alert October 4, 2023
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