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Joliet, IL

I was asked recently about my watering system. I referred them to Scott Armstrong's article.

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/ViewArticle.asp?id=36

Click this link or go to home page and click "How To" and scroll to Misting System by Scott Armstrong for a simple and efficient method of misting plants i have used for years. I now just use dripworks black tornado misting heads as both misting and watering system for entire season. I water more than less on hotter days and on longer intervals. When 100 degrees or higher I leave on 9 to 5 and normally water/mist in hottest parts of days 3-4 hrs daily in 90 degree heat spread out and concentrated between 10 am and 3 pm mostly. I like to let leaves dry out good before dusk.

My misting heads are on 6' garden stakes pushed into ground a foot or so and this cools the air also with mist around plants and soil also like microclimatizing the environment.

Its any easy system and you can save your spaghetti tubing and stakes attached with zip ties to stake and reuse them yearly and just add new misting heads each year. At end of year cut spaghetti tubing after transfer barbs and roll spaghetti tubing around the stake. Very easy then to set up following year adding a new barb and a new head. You save your twist lock fittings and then just need to buy the cheap misting heads and 1/4" transfer barbs each year and a new 3/4" polytubing or half inch line each year too. Once you establish your main line then you add and plug in more heads as the plants grow out. I haved tweaked Scotts system but not by much. For serious growers dealing with heat...I feel a misting system is must to keep those leaves producing all day with out the droop and burn.

12/30/2013 11:19:15 PM

Anamosa, IA BPIowegian@aol.com

How far apart do you set the stakes? After 2012 with a month of 100's and 2013 with little rain in July and August
I need to do something better.

12/30/2013 11:39:27 PM

Joliet, IL

Spread out enough to get full coverage. The black tornado misting heads are a little larger droplet size I believe than the red ones and I space them about 7 to 8 foot apart on top of 6' stakes sunk in a foot. The higher the head off the ground the further I coverage. Its easiest to add them as you go and give yourself enough slack to move them as needed with observation. I can run about 45 heads with tap pressure before losing too much pressure and less coverage area per head with more than that. A booster pump would be needed for bigger areas if more misting heads needed. I used to also water with tripod overhead sprinklers and only mist when hot and needed but found over time I like to water in intervals all day. So my misting system is now also my sole irrigation system. I find dry n.e. low humidity days burn leaves worse than 85 degree days with humidity. So unless cloudy or rainy I cool leaves and water on intervals between 9 and 5 and water at least 2 hours total daily depending on rains. If 85 degrees I wills spread 3 hours total misting/watering. 90 degrees is about 3.5 to 4 hours total daily intervals. 95 degrees is 4 -5 hours total and over a hundred I leave on 9 to 5. Good drainage a must for 8 hours multiple days. I don't bury mains or secondaries which helps decrease vine rot and chance of diseases from my experience with this much moisture.

12/31/2013 12:21:55 AM

Joliet, IL

So for example. My we battery timer has 4 settings. If 80 degrees or less I will run 9:30 -10, 11-11:30, 12:30- 1, and 2-2:30 for total of 2 hours.

90-95 degrees I like 9:30-10:30, 11:15-12:15, 1-2, 2:45-3:45

The finer the droplet the less water output so if someone in hotter environments wants to mist longer then use the finest misting head droplet. I intentionally want to mist and water so I use the larger droplet black tornado misting head from dripworks.

12/31/2013 12:44:44 AM

Anamosa, IA BPIowegian@aol.com

Thanks for the info. My well/hydrant is about 30' higher than the patch so I have good pressure. Drainage and too much water are an issue for me due to previous pythium problems. My silty soil holds water and I have had to dig drainage ditches for drainage. So it sounds like I need the smaller droplet size to get just the cooling effect.

12/31/2013 7:47:09 AM

Joliet, IL

Yep....smaller droplets if just misting. And in your case I would recommend a timer with as many settings as possible. When over a hundred I would pop on and off many times on shorter intervals if misting only.

12/31/2013 10:06:27 AM

Hinckley MN

if the goal is to raise humidity and lower leaf temperature then you might consider using floating row cover or shade net over the patch to retain the humidity and shade the plants. during the summer you have more light than the plants can use.

1/1/2014 1:16:49 PM