Overhead Irrigation- What It Is
Overhead irrigation is the practise of providing water to crops by aerial means. The water is sprayed into the air using sprinklers which break it into tiny droplets, that fall onto the plant and the ground beneath. They provide wetness essential for the crops’ development. Irrigation water is delivered to the sprinklers through underground pipes or surface pipes from the water source. To determine the right sprinkler for this, every farmer must understand the crop, the soil and the cost of this technology. Sprinkler irrigation supplies a large amount of water to the crop. Consequently, the crop to looses lots of water to evaporation.
Our sprinkler types:
- Pop up sprinklers. These are timed plastic sprinklers placed at ground level to irrigate at very short heights of one foot. They are used in lawns and golf courses to irrigate the grass cover and as the name suggests, the pressure generated by incoming water cause it to ‘pop up’ from the ground and rotate at determined intervals. Pop up sprinklers are available as; half an inch, three-quarters inch, one inch, one and a quarter inch, one and a half inch and two inches.
- Impact sprinklers. They are the most common type of sprinklers used by farmers and are either in plastic or metal form. All have a male or female thread attachment at the base and are set one meter from ground level. The pressure generated from incoming water causes them to rotate at three sixty degrees or less depending on the sprinkler model. Impact sprinklers are available as; half an inch, three-quarters inch, and one inch. Their water discharge is to a maximum of two thousand, five hundred liters per hour, over twenty meters spray diameter. Impact sprinklers require low pressure to operate.
- Rain gun sprinklers. They are the most recent type of sprinklers introduced by Grekkon Limited to the Kenyan market. All are in metal form with a female or thread attachment at the base. Rain gun sprinklers are set one to two meters from ground level and they require very high pressure to operate. This pressure is provided using a high-pressure pump which must be either a petrol pump, diesel or electric pump. Rain gun sprinklers are available as; one inch, one and a half inch, two-inch, two and a half-inch, and three-inch. Their water discharge is to a maximum of thirty thousand liters per hour, at sixty meters spray diameter.