Drip fertigation, water soluble fertiliser, venturi, schedule, clogging.
How to set up drip fertigation and which fertilisers are safe?
SSridhar Iyer1yr ago · 366 views
4 Answers
🌾Farmer.in Krishi TeamExpert ✓1yr ago
Drip fertigation delivers water-soluble fertiliser directly to the root zone through the drip system, saving water and fertiliser and improving uptake. Use a venturi, fertiliser tank, or dosing pump to inject fully water-soluble fertilisers such as urea, MAP, mono potassium phosphate, potassium nitrate, calcium nitrate, and 19:19:19, plus chelated micronutrients. Do not inject ordinary DAP, SSP, or anything that leaves residue, as it clogs emitters; keep calcium and phosphate/sulphate sources in separate tanks to avoid precipitation. Run the system, inject in the middle of the irrigation, then flush with clean water at the end. Split nutrients into small frequent doses matching crop stage, and clean filters regularly. Get a crop-specific fertigation schedule from your KVK or company agronomist.
MMurugan Velu1yr ago
Always flush with plain water at the end of each fertigation. Skipping the flush left fertiliser sitting in my laterals and I started getting algae and clogged drippers near the far end.
HHarpreet Bajwa1yr ago
Do not mix calcium nitrate in the same tank with phosphate or sulphate fertilisers; it forms a white sludge that blocks emitters. Keeping them in separate tanks and injecting at different times fixed my clogging problem.
SSangeeta Rao11mo ago
Many small frequent doses beat one big shot through drip. Splitting the nutrients across the week matched my tomato crop's uptake better and wasted less, but I got the schedule from the company agronomist for my crop.