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Kutztown, PA

Unless I paint everything white or cover everything up there's no way I can think of to avoid giving my plants a does of very hot water if I just turn on the drip system and let it fly. So, I was thinking I'd just take the end caps of the terminal ends of the 1/2" supplies and let some cool water run out before I turn them on. Problem is, if I set the timer up to water/feed three or four times during the day I wont be home to bleed out the hot water every time. I figure the tape itself will be mostly empty but the supply lines won't. What do most people do to overcome this, if anything?

6/6/2023 11:37:47 AM

Syracuse, NY

It helps to remember what one might have said to re-find it later, lol---I can't believe it found this and please read everything, esp. mine and Rmen's comments, lol (mine for the effort of my finding it again and Rmen's for obvious reasons, lol, but EVERYbody's comments, of course!);

My comment NOW is that I've been dealing with this since my watering system is over 1000 feet long around my 2.7 acres and someday I'll heat my house with it;
1. A pre-watering relief mechanism is advisable butt inconvenient at the farthest point past the plant being watered;
2. No color (not even shiny!) that I know of does NOT heat up to (and therefore heat the hoses?)
to skin-burning temperatures and
3. Whatever is used to cover the pipes or hoses must be
non-heat-conducting (wood, piping insulation, DIRT!!! or a loosely-not-fitting substance -
even intentional WEEDS).
This is similar to plastic covering a pumpkin from frost = no touching the fruit! - same here.
Recall the term 'piping hot'.

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/MsgBoard/ViewThread.asp?b=3&p=725087

6/6/2023 12:14:24 PM

Syracuse, NY

For anyone overhead watering, if you CAN run it a pace so slow that the sprinklers do not actually activate/spin around, doing so for a few minutes and checking at the sprinkler for the cooler water's arrival is advisable and then starting in at full speed -
if the hot water happens to be directed right AT the small plant, though...Hmmm...eg

6/6/2023 12:20:40 PM

Colorado

Some hot water in your drip system isnt gonna be a problem.Id think about watering (through drip)twice a day, not 4 times.

6/6/2023 12:59:06 PM

Bethlehem CT

Yeah i think you will be OK... especially with drip... but even if it was overhead I think you would still be ok. The droplets coming off the sprinkler are quite small and cool rapidly in the air and on the plant leaf. I would be interested to learn if anyone has burned there leaves with irrigation water and see some pictures of that damage and what it looks like.

6/6/2023 1:14:06 PM

Kutztown, PA

I'd also like to add that I have concerns regarding the tape being laid over or below the vines. Since the tape will no doubt get hot too.

6/6/2023 1:54:54 PM

Kutztown, PA

pumpkinpal2, you have a long memory. That was the thread were I mistakenly posted that my well water came out at 70 when it actually comes out at 53. One of my many mismeasurements. LOL
If I water just twice a day, I can keep to a 6:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. schedule, thus drain the 1/2 " supply pipes before watering. I do still have the problem of hot tape touching vines.

6/6/2023 2:02:25 PM

Oak Grove, Mn

If my water hasn't been ran all day and it is a warm sunny day..it comes out of the 300 ft of hose scalding. It takes me about 5 minutes of letting it run before it is a cool temp to touch. Now that I have the drip lines installed, i have the system spit into 4 zones. I start watering at 6 am. The line is cool then. I water the furthest section first. It goes from 1/2 hour to 2 hours depending on the percentage on moisture meter and the forecast for the next day. The the next furthest section gets watered. I water everything in sequence once per day. At the latest, the system shuts down at 2 pm, with everything dry enough for when I get home from work to bury vines etc.

6/6/2023 5:52:17 PM

Syracuse, NY

I put myself in the plant's or pumpkins shoes and right up there with lifting strap damage, minimization of any damage is beneficial, whether visible or unseen; I've accomplished one of the two - strangely, fittingly or ironically, sheathing of the offending item(s) is the solution (strap damage=piping insulation and overly-hot watering water=simply covering the hoses); Even yes, minimizing the MAIN supply lines would be beneficial, as water sitting still in dozens to hundreds of feet can simply resurface at the exit points.
Just...stick your hand in it and like I've done, think about running your house's hot water with it. I'd already have the outdoor piping/hoses bought, lol---eg

6/6/2023 6:15:35 PM

New Castle, Indiana

Yeah I always pull the hose off the sprinkler and give the grass the hot water before I water the garden. The grass can take it...or not..whatever...lol.

6/6/2023 11:49:52 PM

valtierra/spain

I have 2 solenoid valves, with Wi-Fi plug

At the end of the drip circuit, and nebulization.

I program them to flush water several times a day.

I have the nebulization with white hoses, and in

The area of the dosatrones, all painted white. Even so, on very hot days, if you don't throw water every so often, you can burn the

Especially leaves with black hoses. In the irrigation

By drip, it is better to water in the morning, and if you water in the afternoon, prepare several solenoid valves so that

Throw water before the

Irrigation.

6/7/2023 6:07:46 PM

Oak Grove, Mn

rmen..i am not totally understanding. If you are placing a solenoid valve at the end of the drip line, would not the hot water be already releasing on the plants before the cool water has flushed the hot. I realize that not much drips from my lines in 5 minutes but I am thinking that a solenoid temperature release valve before the drip line would be preferable. Or maybe not..the release of the drip emitters while flushing might be less than the benefit of quickly cooling the drip line hose.

so much to consider when setting up my irrigation system

6/8/2023 7:58:56 AM

Torrance, Ca.

Now that's a system Rmen!

I'm impressed!;)

No wonder you grow 2500 pound fruit each year! He\she who works the hardest usually gets the most lucky come weigh off day.:):):)

6/8/2023 9:21:53 AM

Kutztown, PA

So Rmen, what I'm reading is your solenoid valves come on when the pump starts opening your supply lines at the ends. That drains all of the hot water out of the supply lines. Then the valves close and the tape is filled and pressurized with cool water mixing with whatever residual hot water might be inside. So, that's eliminating the need to manually drain the supply lines. So, I'm guessing your solenoid valves are battery driven - right? That sounds like a pretty good idea to me. Rmen can you please send me the money ( in Euros) to install the solenoid valves and buy the white spray paint? LOL

6/8/2023 11:31:05 AM

valtierra/spain

No, my main pipe is 1 inch, which runs through the entire greenhouse, 4 solenoid valves come out of it, 3 of them to water the 3 plants. My drip lines do not stay with water inside. There is only water left in the 1 inch 50 meter long pipe. If I put that water at the 3 solenoid valves, surely on very hot days, I would have that water at more than 120F, possibly at 140F on the hottest days. That's not good for the roots, plus that water at that temperature can develop pathogenic fungi. So what I do is that this 50-meter pipe has a solenoid valve that opens several times a day, to renew the water, and always also before the irrigation that the 3 solenoid valves have programmed, one for each plant. The nebulization pipe is the same, about 50 meters, it only throws water at the hottest hours, so that the nebulization water is fresh.

6/8/2023 5:28:45 PM

valtierra/spain

No, my solenoid valves are 220 V, a current that I feed with solar panels. Both my wifi, as well as all the smart plugs, music, fans, humidity sensors... everything works with solar panels and battery and inverter. They are not battery solenoid valves. All the solenoid valves are connected to the electrical network, with a wifi plug. I program everything from the mobile phone, the irrigation cycles, the opening cycles of the solenoid valve to throw hot water...etc. In addition, I can program the nebulization in two ways, either to keep the humidity at 60% all day, or to turn it on when the temperature is over 25 C... and when I'm at work, from my mobile, I can watering, stopping irrigation, seeing the soil humidity sensors, seeing the humidity in the greenhouse... even looking at everything with the surveillance cameras. What I do not have automated is the opening and closing of the windows, the days that it gets very windy, I have to go quickly to close them. Maybe in 2024 put some motors to open and close side windows.

6/8/2023 5:34:25 PM

valtierra/spain

Rmen can you please send me the money ( in Euros) to install the solenoid valves and buy the white spray paint? LOL
---------------------------------------------------------
solenoid valves are $20, wifi smart plugs are $12 each. It is not an expensive item. It is only to investigate and buy good and cheap.

6/8/2023 5:35:50 PM

valtierra/spain

the wifi issuer works with a telephone card, it costs $30, and the card fee is 7 euros per month. The surveillance camera, $30...

6/8/2023 5:36:41 PM

valtierra/spain

The most expensive are the solar panels, but you have 400 w for $150, and they will serve you for many years. Those of us who farm in the mountains do not have an electrical network, we must try to do the best we can.

6/8/2023 5:37:57 PM

Syracuse, NY

Well, for those manic enough to do anything about it, I saw some fiberglass insulation like the kind you'd use to wrap piping in sub-zero climates in particular for like $9.99 for a 4-inch wide, 25-foot roll of it and I did not pursue nor peruse it further butt I'll bet it can be cost-effective hereon, since one of the topmost growers ever has said it's a large concern.
In MY case, the resulting temperature at the plant is generally the average of the hot spots and cool spots that the water experiences on the way to the plant, influenced mostly by the last prominent section it just went through.
Therefore, to ONLY (of course - what HAVE I been thinking?) shield the areas that get any sunlight throughout the course of the day would reduce even further the costs associated - or, in my case, the hose sections that would need to be buried...for just the effort involved, lol; I actually dug a slight trench today to fit the bottom edge of a piece of fence into, and the dirt smelled just like potatoes and the rocks were the size (and shape) of them also; The Devil's Tail hoe I used made it FUN to perform this chore!
I just need to kill a billion weeds before doing more of, what it this,
'trenching'?
'Vine burying'?
I must investigate this activity more, once these fence things are also up.
Thank you, Rmen for the info -
Perhaps solar panels are a good companion crop for pumpkins, eh?
Later---eric g

6/8/2023 10:39:30 PM

Syracuse, NY

OH - the fiberglass tape/roll stuff is to merely cover the
main supply lines with perhaps a few fabric pegs here and there,
not necessarily to be used (unless you want to, lol)
to wrap the hoses with -
that would be a 'pal2 move - no, no, no, lol!
laters---eg

6/8/2023 10:42:48 PM

Kutztown, PA

What's the ideal water temperature to apply relative to soil temperature? Now you guys have me wondering if the IBC tank I have warming up water are a good thing or a bad thing????

6/9/2023 9:02:32 AM

Syracuse, NY

I would expect that the ideal watering temperature would be the soil's temperature plus or minus a degree or two - similar to if a person gets into a bath or a pond, it is always nice to feel a little warmth or coolness (coolth?), but not a shock in either direction - also considering the soil's inhabitants otherwise.
There are probably accurate numbers somewhere.
My resultant water is so cold that I can be seen (and heard!)
running away if I'm fixing a sprinkler head and it starts working, lol.
eg

6/9/2023 2:01:10 PM

Kutztown, PA

That makes since. I'm with you on the running away. I'm on a well that's super cold. I stand back from the hose bib quickly when I turn pull the lever just in case I have a bad hose washer. The way I have my two totes set up I could mix water until it closely matches soil temp. Not sure how far I wanna go with that though, but maybe.

6/9/2023 3:58:35 PM

valtierra/spain

If your water is very cold, it is always

Better to water in the morning, the roots won't notice the difference.

Always a watering in the morning for the whole day.

Steve Daletas does it like this..

6/9/2023 4:31:25 PM

Boscawen, NH

Gary, before you spend a lot of time or money with altering your water temps do this simple test. Place a soil thermometer 3-5 inches in the ground and then take a 5 gallon bucket with very hot water (130 ish) and pour it in a 3' x 3' area around the thermometer and track changes, if any, in the soil temp and also note how long they last. One of our University Ag. experts who is well versed in geo-thermal principles suggested I do that several years ago and I was shocked by the results. You can also do the test with very cold water. As explained to me, the earth is the biggest heat sink imaginable and the very small amount of btu's we apply to it in watering and feeding doesn't move it .

6/10/2023 8:56:37 AM

Torrance, Ca.

Who are these Paton brothers and Steve Daletas guys you are talking about?

Must be new growers? lol

Love your posts Rmen, please don't stop like a lot of the heavy hitters have over the past 15 years.

Just ignore the noise around us, because there's a lot of us that are very interested in what you have to share!

6/10/2023 9:34:09 AM

Torrance, Ca.

Excellent post Geddes!

6/10/2023 9:35:25 AM

Grittyville, WA

The best things are free... Id say find a solution that doesn't require spending money.

6/10/2023 11:01:58 AM

valtierra/spain

So.Cal.Grower I like to talk about everything, I don't have any kind of secret, the same as the paton brothers, and all those who have gotten big pumpkins. This is the most important thing about our sport, communicating and commenting on everything we do. I'm very sorry if my google translator translations aren't the best, but I can't write in English directly lol... This year, my pumpkins don't want to grow strong, and I also have a major knee injury, I can't even bury knots. The computer is where I'm best :)

6/10/2023 4:44:52 PM

Syracuse, NY

Little Kins - You and I best get out our shovels.
I'm afraid of mine since I had an accident with both feet slipping offa the top edges.
Saying 'I'll get OVER it' doesn't apply! Ha HA---eric g

6/11/2023 2:12:40 AM

From what I have seen since I have been on the site is one of the biggest secrets the consistent big growers have is learning how to tweak things in order to optimize the growing conditions for the enviroment in which they grow. I cannot recall them ever complaining about others being in the sweet spot but just making their own spot sweet.
And I agree with So.Cal on the posting

6/11/2023 10:06:10 AM

Kutztown, PA

The thing I like about this site is the info I get here is credible and from folks who know what they're talking about. Always good ideas and advice.

6/12/2023 9:08:47 AM

Torrance, Ca.

lol Ruben and sorry to hear about the injury.:(

That just means you'll have more time to help us growers trying to hit personal bests!!

Thanks and heal well!

Missed seeing you at the convention this year!

6/12/2023 10:25:03 AM