by Keith Baldwin, CFSA’s Farm Services Coordinator
With Spring approaching, it’s time to think about that new drip irrigation system for next year. What’s it going to cost and how much water will you need to run it? Let’s look at a vegetable crop situation. “Standard” drip tape (such as T-tape or AquaTraxx) for vegetable crops comes in 7,500 foot rolls. One roll costs about $165. Most vegetable producers would buy 8 ml tape with an emitter spacing of 12 inches. The specs for this standard tape state that it emits 0.45 gallons of water a minute (at 10-12 psi). The table below indicates that the amount of drip tape that would be required at different bed spacing (center to center) and the amount of water “capacity” that you would need to run the system.