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Regarding the increase of the travel time, the drip system, not the main pipeline, is the determining factor. At glass horticulture companies increasingly longer and thicker irrigation tubes are being used. After about halfway the hose length of the irrigation tube, the travel time of the water significantly increases and over the last 15% of the hose, the increase can even be called extreme. In practice this ensures that especially the plants near the last part of the irrigation tube will suffer the (huge) consequences of the travel time.

If you want to make a change, you thus need to supply a lot of water to also provide the last plant with sufficient agents. This requires an increasing amount of product to create sufficient effect throughout the entire crop. The irrigation water will as such become less uniform: for the plants at the beginning of the irrigation tube leaching already takes place, before the water has reached the plants at the end of the irrigation tube. This creates spillage of nutrients and crop protection agents.

Furthermore, the long travel time cause it to take longer before a change has been implemented. The latter is a particularly important point of attention during the winter: then, due to the low water irrigation, it may take a week before the water has reached the last plant. The consequence of this is that a change may arrive too late, or that an agent has lost (parts of) its effect as a result of the long travel time, with all the consequences!

If biofilm emerges at the inside of the hose, bacteria could nestle there. These bacteria convert nitrates into nitrites. Not only are these substances toxic, they are also harmful to the root points of the plant. The conversion also reduces the pH of the water! In practice, measurements of no less 3 – 3.5 pH have been identified.  

One way to shorten the travel time is to choose a thinner irrigation tube (or possibly a telescopic hose). As a thinner hose contains less water, the water will run through the hose more quickly. As a result, it will sooner reach the end of the hose, causing an earlier decrease of the EC-light, ensuring less discharge/rinse water needs to be drained and less emission will take place during discharge. Also, less biofilm is created. Using a thinner irrigation tube, you should take into account the pressure loss across the hose, but this is something we could calculate for you. 

Another option to reduce the travel time is one-sided feeding of the irrigation tube. In case of one-sided feeding, the zero point (point where the water does not run) is situated at the end of the irrigation tube. Here you will find the poorest quality of irrigation water due to pollution and here blockage will take place first. In case of feeding both ways, this zero point is at about one third from the rear of the wall. That is why one-sided feeding is preferred. This will not entirely solve the problem of the travel time, but it is a possible option to ensure that the travel time is not extended even more.

Finally, you can make use of drippers with an as high as possible nozzle pressure. In this case, after all the droppers will remain closed and the quantity of water to be applied is, as such, a lot less. That is why this dropper offers the opportunity to wash the ‘old’ water from the system and fill it up with the fresh water, without this ‘old’ water being fed to the plant.

​​​​This article is was drawn up in collaboration with our supplier Revaho.​​​​

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