Manual watering

The easiest way to water is, of course, manually. You can treat a garden or lawn with a watering can, and if there is a centralized water supply on the site, use hoses with sprayers at the end. Manual watering is usually used for small vegetable gardens, lawns or flower beds, since this method is quite time-consuming. The disadvantages of such watering are not limited to this - it is difficult to irrigate the entire site evenly with a hose or watering can, and an overabundance of moisture can eventually turn the lawn into a swampy lawn, cause wilting or even death of plants.

Keep in mind that the floor hoses should have a light colour to avoid heating and burning of plants in contact with them. For the same reason, hoses can not be left on the site after the end of the job. Some plants, especially rare and expensive species, do not tolerate irrigation from a hose. They need to be carefully watered from a watering can.

To moisten plants in hard-to-reach places, sprayers are used on a rod, which are transferred from place to place manually. There are also special hoses with the smallest holes through which water enters the plants. Such hoses are convenient to water vegetables planted in rows, hedges, lawns and flower borders.

Recently, for more convenient manual watering, underground plumbing with several water intake points has been increasingly used. Thus, instead of one long hose, several short ones can be used. And this is an additional plus, because a long hose is usually quite heavy, and when watering there is a risk of damaging fragile flowers or weak plants.

Semi-automatic watering

Semi-automatic irrigation is called using a system of water supply pipes and stationary watering devices-sprinklers, which are turned on manually by sequentially opening ball valves on different lines. Pipes are laid underground at a depth of 10-15 cm . Most often, semi-automatic systems are used for small lawns, since it is troublesome to switch lines manually. Their use helps to solve the problem of watering hard-to-reach areas and plants that need a special humidification regime. It is irrational to use such equipment on large areas. This system is inexpensive — there is no automatic irrigation control. But if desired, it can be fully automated. You will not have to change the location of pipes or dig up the lawn at the same time.

For different modes of operation of semi-automatic irrigation equipment, the following types of sprinklers have been created:

  • pendulum - able to oscillate right-left and forward-backward, watering a certain area;
  • pulse - releases a jet of water at specified intervals over a long distance and waters the area around itself, turning around the axis;
  • rotary - varies the degree of crushing of water droplets and the radius of irrigation;
  • circular - irrigates an area of a certain radius;
  • the turbo sprinkler is used for irrigation of lawns of complex configuration in combination with oscillating sprinklers designed for rectangular areas; their watering range is up to 10-12 metres.

Irrigation zones of sprinklers should overlap each other, providing equal irrigation. As a source of water for the system, you can use an open body of water, for example, a lake, a water pipe or a well,

Automatic watering

Automatic irrigation systems will completely save their owner from the hassle associated with irrigation. They are programmed for a specific irrigation regime for different areas of the site, taking into account the needs of plants in water. You can set different watering modes for the lawn, flower beds, garden or for each group of plants separately. Depending on the model of the system, watering can be programmed for a week, a month or a year ahead. Such a system includes a minicomputer, various sensors: soil moisture or rain (if, for example, it has recently rained, weather sensors can cancel watering); electromagnetic valves, a pipeline, a pumping station. The system can also include a mobile weather station. Keep in mind, despite the apparent complexity, in fact, the principle of operation of the equipment is quite simple.

To install automatic irrigation, you should contact specialized companies. The cost of the system depends on the equipment configuration, the area of the plot and ranges from 1500 – 1800 UAH per hundred, and installation work will cost 70-80% of the price of equipment and materials. After installation, the company usually undertakes to prepare the system for winter and carry out a planned launch in the spring.

 

The high cost of such systems is more than compensated by their advantages. So the automatic irrigation system is able to accurately dose the amount of moisture for each of the groups of plants, turning on only for a certain time, which saves water and electricity. The owner of the site can make changes to the operation of the equipment not only manually, but also remotely – using a phone or the Internet. The irrigation angle is adjustable from 25° to 360°, which allows you to adjust irrigation so that only plants are watered, and not benches and gazebos. And the most important thing is that automatic watering will provide high–quality hydration of plants throughout the site, which is very difficult to achieve with manual or semi-automatic devices. In addition, avomat allows you to introduce fertilizers dissolved in water into the soil – so they are more easily absorbed by plants.

Drip irrigation

Drip irrigation is recommended for some plants. In this way, it is better to water flowers, strawberries, thuja, boxwood, medicinal crops and vegetables both open and protected ground. Drip irrigation is also used on heavy dense soils, where continuous irrigation is not enough – moisture will not be able to absorb well, and the roots of plants will become waterlogged, over time they will begin to rot. On loose soils, the opposite is true - water is absorbed too quickly, and the top layer of soil with plant roots remains dry. In this case, it is also recommended to join the cost-effective method.

With drip irrigation, water is supplied to the roots of plants in small doses using a drip irrigation tape. The main advantages of this method are that the space between the beds remains dry. Thanks to this, the plants can be approached even during watering, and the weeds growing between the beds do not receive moisture. Watering can be carried out even in hard-to-reach areas where it is impossible to install sprinklers. Water flows evenly directly into the root zone, which protects the plant from waterlogging and fungal diseases. The portions of water are so small that during irrigation there is practically no compaction and flushing of the soil layer, so the roots of plants breathe well and require loosening of the earth to a lesser extent. The top layer of the soil does not dry out, and a crust does not form on it, preventing plants from breathing. Consequently, they develop faster, begin to bloom and bear fruit earlier, and crop yields increase. The only drawback of drip irrigation is the fragility of irrigation hoses, which on average withstand two to three seasons.

There is an opinion that drip irrigation systems are expensive, and only large farms can afford them. In fact, this is not the case. The equipment is available even for an amateur gardener, and you can assemble and install the system yourself.