How to Maintain a Drip Irrigation System

By eHow Home & Garden Editor

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If you have a vegetable garden, a great way to care for it is to install a drip irrigation system. Keeping the system working properly and efficiently throughout the growing season is the best way to ensure a healthy vegetable garden. Here's how you can keep your system working its best to keep your garden healthy and abundant.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

Chlorine
Sulfuric, urea-sulfuric, citric or phosphoric acid

Step1

Check and clean screen or sand filters used to filter out bacteria and algae from the water running through the system. Do this approximately once per month.

Step2

Flush all tubing lines--both main and submain--regularly. Also flush manifolds. Install flush valves on all lines and manifolds. The frequency of flushing depends largely on the quality of the water being run through the drip irrigation system.

Step3

Inspect drippers and microtubing on a regular basis to make sure drippers aren't clogged and to ensure microtubing is properly in place.

Step4

Inject chlorine into the drip irrigation system. This helps control the growth of bacteria that can damage the system. If you use well water or water with a high concentration of iron, injecting chlorine is important as bacteria is more likely to form in these waters.

Step5

Make sure plant roots are not getting into the drip irrigation system and blocking it up. Adding more chlorine can help keep plant roots away from the system.

Tips & Warnings

If you have hard water, inject acid to help keep the system from getting plugged up.
If you have an automatic flushing device installed on your system, check it every other day.
Backwash sand filters frequently.