How to Prevent Clogged/ Blocked Drip System in three easy steps.

Drip irrigation systems are perfect ways of irrigating your farm.
It can, however, be problematic if not tended to well.

One of the problems that comes with the drip lines is clogging of the drip line (Drip lateral or drip tape).  As a saying going, prevention is better than cure and here is how to prevent clogging of your drip lines.

1. Installing a water Filter

A picture of a one inch water filter and several drip irrigation accessories being packaged to be sent and installed in Rusinga Island. .

Most of the drip irrigation kits use gravity to feed the drip lines from an over head tank. Water from the tank flows to through the installed pipes (main pipes and sub main pipes) into the drip lines.
If a water filter is installed in between the tank outlet and the driplines,it filters out any debris which could have clogged your drip line.

Having installed a water filter is not all. You must be flushing the water filter at least once a week. This removes all the filtered dirt from the filter and enhances the filtration and extends the life span of your filter.

 2.Flush Drip Lines Every Season

Capsicumdoing well under drip irrigation. (Installed By Dripsol Company, www.dripsol.com)

Drip lines saves not only time spent on farm watering  crops but also saves labour costs. At the onset of every season, its advisable to open the dripline ends and flush them (let water freely flow). This washes off any fine perticles which could have bypassed the water filter the previous season. If not flushed out, the particles end up clogging your driplines. 

3. Regular System Flush out

Farmers being trained on hot to irrigate using Dripsol Company's Drip Kits in Njoro, Nakuru, Kenya.

Your drip irrigation system will require system flush-outs on at least a monthly basis, and more depending on the type of water that’s flowing through the tubing. Non-potable water contains more particles and can more easily clog filters and drip emitters. This is achieved by having a wash-out at the end of the main pipe. 

By D.W.G

DRIPSOL COMPANY: SMALL OR BIG, WE WILL MAKE DRIP IRRIGATION WORK FOR YOU

 Article copied from Saturday Nation, The Seeds of Gold pull,

Saturday November 26 2016

 

David Weru (29) and George Kiambuthi (28) are not only close friends, but also agribusiness partners.

Ordinarily, you will meet them together, but then if you meet Weru alone, Kiambuthi is usually not far away.

The 2013 graduates of Egerton University have cultivated their friendship ever
 since they studied water engineering at the college.

After graduation, they got jobs in the same firm dealing in drip irrigation installation in Nairobi.

Less than a year into the job, in July 2014, they both quit and started Dripsol, a firm that deals in irrigation systems. It is based in Limuru.

“We had a little savings from our job and approached a customer who needed our services. He offered us a deposit of 75 per cent which we used to do the work. So far we have installed 86 drip kits in different farms countrywide,” says Weru.

They target smallholder farms as small as a 50 by 50ft plot.

“Our decision to work with farmers owning the tiniest pieces of land stems from the fact that an increase in human population means a decrease in farming land,” says Weru. With proper management, small farms offer hefty returns.

They have four regular employees and occasionally hire casual labourers.

“We take on average two days to install drip kits on an acre. We normally import the kits and install the system after receiving 75 per cent down payment out of the Sh120,000 we charge for an acre. But if the land is smaller, the price drops to even Sh50,000,” Kiambuthi says, adding the remainder is paid on completion of the work.

The two participated in this year’s Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship and emerged finalists in the top 1,000 young agri-entrepreneurs in a pool populated with thousands of contestants across the continent.

“One has to have a start-up agribusiness capable of growing by creating employment,” they say of the requirements of the entrepreneurship.

The duo, however, have to contend with challenges ranging from getting the right equipment, funding, skilled workers and gaining customers’ confidence and trust.

“First you must identify your scope and field of passion and check its viability in your location, then forge ahead without giving up or listening to the negative voices,” Kiambuthi advises young people wishing to join agribusiness.

–By Brian Okinda
  

Watch Kales under drip irrigation on you tube https://youtu.be/bz5nZeH_WgY

 Click HERE for the original article.