5.4

Installation in Commercial Operations

5.4.1

Soil Preparation.

The following method is a general rule, but is essential for highly compacted clays and heavy loams. It is also essential if the soil is to be planted within a month of installation and water or time is not available for soil conditioning (i.e. bringing soil moisture levels up to where capillary action can occur). Soil must be ripped to the depth the plants tap roots can be expected to grow. This can be us much as 40cm for tomatoes, corn and sunflowers.

Where Leeaky Hose has been laid in the centre of a bed that has only been superficially tilled, plant tap roots will grow vertically until the hard pan, then horizontally towards the centre water source, halving the water available to their inside neighbour.

5.4.2

For Optimum Installation

1. Unroll the hose along side the target bed without dragging. Then whip and shake until the hose lies flat and shipping coils are released.

2. Connect water at feed end at 6-10 litres per hour leaving other end open until the full length waters evenly.
2.1 Uneven Watering. If sections are not watering evenly leave water flowing and clamp off flow after the first tight section nearest the feed end and leave for 1 - 2 hours or until flow from section matches rest of section. Do this for each ‘tight’ section until full length waters evenly.

3. With water still flowing, lay hose without kinks into pre-prepared trench 30 -40cm below surface.

4. Check open end to see that water is still flowing at pre-installation rate. If flow is reduced, check for kinks. When flow rate is satisfactory, plug end and fill trench.

5. Leave hose flowing for 2 - 4 hours at a time with 2 - 4 hour intervals (or until surface wet spots occur), to bring sub-soil water content up over the 43% level. (This can be verified by digging a spade depth down at the estimated spread level for the type of soil. i.e. 1 metre from trench on clay).