How to make drip irrigation of plastic bottles for cucumbers?

Watering is an integral part of caring for any crop.It can be said that without a regular irrigation, no vegetable will grow, and if it grows, it will not please the gardener with a bountiful harvest. Unfortunately, we can not restrict ourselves to simple watering from a watering can or a bucket, because each plant has its own requirements. For example, cucumbers are located to drip irrigation. To establish such a system is possible by creating your own clever design from improvised means.

Drop irrigation is responsible for the timely irrigation of landings when using containers that can accumulate water, for example, from plastic bottles. It allows you to direct the liquid to each shoot, reaching the root zone. Plastic bottles create a direct interaction of water and earth. When the bottle is in the soil, the following process occurs: water seeps through the hole, the ground becomes wet and plugs it up. When the soil dries, the hole opens, moisture again passes into it. There is a natural regulation.

This method is very suitable for cucumbers, because this culture requires large volumes of heated liquid. Sometimes water consumption even reaches 5 liters per square meter of garden beds. With the help of a drip device, watering crops becomes very convenient. It turns out to avoid excessive irrigation, which further leads to decay and the appearance of fungal diseases. Although the stores have a sufficient number of ready-made systems for this procedure, the device can be made independently, saving money and time for installation.

Drip irrigation from plastic bottles has many advantages. Using the device allows you to significantly save water, which is much more spent in the case of a hose or a watering can. Watering does not require much time, because the system is able to work autonomously.

Often the bed remains on its own until the owners leave for the city, but the landings are not flooded and do not dry out. Drip irrigation is used everywhere: in a greenhouse made of polycarbonate, and on open ground of any composition. Plastic bottles are an affordable and cheap material that does not require any additional costs.

The process itself is very effective. Warm moisture, which has had time to warm up in the sun, goes exactly where it is needed - to the root system, and then evaporates very slowly. Fertilizers are also sent to a specific area. A hard crust does not appear around the germ, and the upper layer does not break and remains solid. In addition, there is no need to additionally loosen the ground. It is believed that the appearance of weeds is extremely unlikely on such a plot.

Unfortunately, the plastic system also has certain disadvantages. The holes are often clogged, although this point can be adjusted by using old nylon pantyhose. The volume of liquid will be limited - as much as it fit in the container, and it will not be enough for a large area. In general, the larger the area of ​​cucumber plantations, the more inconvenient the use of bottle designs - they will need too much, and the appearance of the garden will suffer.

On too hot days, some of the moisture will not reach the roots, evaporating along the way. In addition, the system will not be able to participate in heavy soils, as the bottles will often become contaminated.

There is a certain amount of opportunities to install a dropper with your own hands. Some of them are suitable for both open and closed ground, and some can only be used in certain conditions.

In a greenhouse, a variety such as suspended drop watering is often installed. In parallel with the cucumber rows, a plank and wire construction is made. Bottles are cut off the bottom; they are suspended by neck downwards from two sides. The cover should also be cut through the hole. The amount of moisture used for irrigation will depend on the number of punctures. It is necessary to mount the structure carefully, because if water gets on the leaves illuminated by sunlight, burns are likely to occur.

The height of the structure varies from 30 to 50 centimeters, and the length depends on the length of the bed itself.

If you put the bottle cap up, you get a universal system. A plastic bottle is taken in which holes are to be made in certain places with the help of awls. They begin at a height of 3 centimeters from the bottom, and end where the narrowing begins. About 10 holes are usually pierced, but this number usually depends on the structure of the earth and the volume of the tank itself. After that, a hole is dug near the cucumber bush.

The bottle should be placed in it so that only the neck is left above the ground - the upper conical part, in which there are no holes anymore. Before digging in the container is wound with a cloth. Then it settles in the hole, gently filled with water, and the lid is filled.

Homemade drip irrigation with a lid down makes it even easier. The bottom of the bottle is cut off and the cap is tightly screwed. Punch holes out of a circle. The bottle is buried in such a way that the planting is adjacent to it, but the roots are not injured - a gap of about 15 centimeters should be maintained. Top watering can wrap gauze to avoid trash. This method is also universal.

The following type of watering has received the name radical. To create a system, small bottles are taken, the volume of which does not exceed 1.5 liters, and covers are pierced from them. Between the lid and the neck, the gauze or a piece of nylon fabric is pulled, then everything is tightly twisted. After that, the container is placed at a slight inclination, and the neck should be tried to bury as close as possible to the root system. The bottom cut should also be made oblique.

There is another unusual way to create an artificial dropper. A rod of a ballpoint pen is taken, washed with a solvent to remove all ink residues, and closed on one side, for example, with a piece of wooden stick. Somewhere at a distance of 5 millimeters from the end of the rod an awl is made with an awl — usually half the diameter of the rod. The bottle is placed either on the bottom or with its clogged neck in the ground. In the second case, the bottom is to be cut off.

When the bottle is at the bottom, a notch is made at a height of 15 or 20 centimeters from the bottom, where the core is inserted. If the bottle is buried with the neck down, the hole will be located in the area of ​​the neck narrowing, and the rod will be fixed there again. Tanks are filled with water, and then placed next to the landings. It is important to close the lid tightly so that the water does not evaporate quickly. It is very convenient that such a structure can be moved and watering the bushes in turn.

The system will work effectively if you initially choose the right size of containers. According to gardeners, one liter of water can irrigate the planting for five days, three liters for ten days, and 6 liters for two weeks. Therefore, it is better to use bulk containers, especially if you have to leave the summer cottage for a long time. Ideally, the volume of the bottles should be 2 liters, if necessary - 5 liters.

The number of punctures and the size of the bottle also depends on the condition of the soil. When watering cucumber plantations have to withstand the temperature, because the temperature below the ambient temperature can cause irreparable harm.The optimum heat of water varies from +18 to +20 degrees in the case of open ground and from +20 to +25 degrees in the case of the greenhouse. If the heat comes, reaching up to +30 degrees, then the water should be increased to +25 degrees. Ideally, a settled liquid should be used, heated naturally.

Irrigation intensity is determined by the number of holes and their diameter, so it is very easy to adjust. All this is selected individually depending on the needs of the plant. In principle, it is considered optimal when in a few minutes one drop of water flows out. According to specialists, the rate of irrigation in open beds reaches 4 or 5 liters of water per square meter of soil before cucumbers bloom, and then from 10 to 12 liters per square meter during the formation of ovaries and ripening of fruits. In the case of drip irrigation, this volume is reduced to 80%.

Additional protection against soil and other debris should always be provided. Bottles should be wrapped with burlap, nylon or some kind of non-woven material. Usually one bush is taken for each bush, but if the territory is small, then one tank will be enough for three or four plantings. It would be good to install drip irrigation even when planting occurs, which will eliminate the situation of damage to the roots. It is not worth to bury the bottle too deeply, because cucumber roots are located quite close to the surface.

How to make drip irrigation from a plastic bottle, see the following video.