GUIDE: How much tape should I buy for my crop?

Among the irrigation systems used in agriculture worldwide we have the drip irrigation system which is currently one of the most used in agriculture worldwide, being the most efficient in the use of water and in the long term the most economical.

The drip irrigation system consists in the conduction of water from the source (well, river or tank) through a PVC or HG main pipe to a secondary distribution using an irrigation pump with engine (fuel or electric) or by gravity (in the latter the source should be higher than the plot to be irrigated), This water will be distributed to the plants of our crop by a black polyethylene hose (drip irrigation tape or drip irrigation hose) which has some holes where the drippers are integrated. The discharge of these drippers is variable according to the pressure we have in the system.

At the moment of installing the drip irrigation system, questions arise: how many linear meters of tape or rolls of tape will be used in a given area to be planted, what dripper spacing should I use?

At CHAMSA we have the following belt models:

To answer this question we will do the following exercise:

Let's assume a farmer planting 1 hectare (10,000 mts2) of corn for corn, at a row spacing of 0.80 mts and a plant spacing of 0.25 mts.

The formula for calculation of linear meters is:

For our example it applies as follows: Linear Meters (ML)= 10,000 ÷ 0.80 = 12,500 Linear Meters

In this case the distance between plants helps us to choose the distance between drippers, which in this case we can use 0.20 meters.

With this information the producer consulted his nearest Chamsa distributor and said that he needs 12,500 linear meters of tape, with this information the commercial advisor offers him the 8 mil tape at 20 cm of separation between drippers, this roll brings 2,500 linear meters. Therefore, the producer would need 5 rolls of this tape model.

The following formula is used to calculate the number of rolls of tape to be used:

Rolls of Tape to be used = 12,500 ÷ 2,500 = 5

It would take 5 rolls of tape. *For this example, 2500 linear meters of irrigation tape is used as a reference.

Other considerations when selecting the tape:

 Dripper spacing depends on the crop to be planted and soil type.  Irrigation tapes are available in different sizes.

 The number of linear meters per roll of tape may vary according to model and brand. 

 Each crop has its own characteristics, and may vary from country to country.