It uses a lot of water, but you said you only have to water every ten days or so, while with the other systems it was almost every day. So it seems the amounts used by both systems might be close. Additionally, the surface evaporation area is reduced as the water soaks in sideways under drier and deep soil, which acts like a evaporation barrier. Dirt becomes it's own mulch, so to speak. I've started doing this on my fruit trees. But I make a circle furrow around the base with somewhat raised sides. Not deep, just about 8" or so total. When I water, I let the "moat" fill up, and when it's full, I stop. I have checked the soil moisture every few days to see how effective this system is working for me, and it seems to keep the water in really well. I've used it in the past, as sandy soil will throw off water unbelievably fast and nothing gets to the roots on a shallow water. The moats need re-forming every so often, but it just takes a minute. I can put my fertilizer or Epsons Salts in the moat and it doesn't wash away. It seems people don't use the furrow method much any more, maybe it's just my imagination.
very nice video. would you please explain more about gates in the 6 inch pipe, how you made these gates and what maximum length of furrow can be easily irrigated in this method and also explain how you established your whole set up. it's very interesting needs detailed video how you cover whole field, dimensions of the field, length of furrow etc. Thanks
Never furrowed irrigated... have a good friend who does several thousand acres of corn and beans using what is called poly pipe which is recycled yearly. He told me that on sandy loam soil you have to water down every middle 36 or 38 inch rows but on his heavy clay/gumbo he can do every other middle The sandy loam has a tendency to seal up to tight foe water to effectively wet the rows.
