The problem
Irrigation on a small farm is often laid out by eye: a line down the middle, a few heads where they seem to reach, and drip tape on whatever is left. The trouble shows up in July, as a dry corner, a bed that drowns while the next one wilts, or a zone with more heads than the hydrant can feed.
Working out spacing, overlap and flow by hand is slow, and it has to be done again whenever the beds move.
How it works
Water mode works on the same plan as your beds, so the layout always matches the field.
- A source, such as a hydrant, with its flow and pressure.
- Pipes drawn from it, and sprinkler heads placed on or near them, or drip set as the watering method of a bed.
- Auto-place, which proposes heads in zones across the beds you select, or the whole field, and shows its figures first.
- A coverage map laid over the beds, with CU and DU for each zone and the dry spots hatched, updated while you drag a head.
- Zones and run times, and hydraulics warnings when a zone needs more flow than the source gives, heads get less pressure than they are rated for or it varies a lot across a zone, water moves too fast in a pipe, or a head is not on a pipe, grouped into one sentence per zone.
- A parts list, and the whole layout to print or download as a CSV.
In 3D the pipes, risers and drip lines are drawn over the crops, and the sprinklers can be shown running, so the layout can be followed from one end of the field to the other.
What it does not do
It is a layout and a check, not an engineered design. Head flow is taken as rated and is not adjusted for the pressure at each head, and drip on a wide hedgerow can show a long run time because its flow is spread over the whole strip. A pipe is moved point by point rather than as a whole, and zones do not yet have a color of their own on the map.
Measure the flow and pressure at your own source, and check the figures against the maker’s charts for the heads you buy.
Questions
- What do CU and DU mean?
- They are two common measures of how evenly sprinklers water. CU (the coefficient of uniformity) compares every spot with the average; DU (distribution uniformity) compares the driest quarter with the average. Higher is more even.
- Can I mix sprinklers and drip?
- Yes. Each bed has its own watering method, so some beds can be on drip and others under sprinklers, and the run times and parts list follow.
- Will it place the sprinklers for me?
- Auto-place proposes heads and zones across the beds you select, or the whole field, and shows its figures before anything is added. You can move any head afterward.
See also
- Garden bed planner: Draw beds, paths and structures on your own outline to scale, and see how many plants fit in every row.
- Crop rotation planner: Rotation by crop family bed by bed, with warnings, a nitrogen budget and next year suggested.
- All features, and pricing: one subscription for every flat field you own.