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Show - V f r y- --v . V J i i , .- i , i 'Vy. - v t.-- - . . - -v - - . - - i x - w . After one complete growing season, p rapes at the experimental plot owned bv John Zimmemi.m in Spanish Valley have clone very well. Here Mrs. Zimmerman displays six foot runner on one of the plants. Grapes were not iSowtd to mature this year to give the plants additional time to establish root system. Unique Water System Adding to Experiment In Moab Agriculture - ' . .,t ' i ' "' 1 I " -. , - t . !'. ... . -- ' file large plastic pipe wihch is used to distribute 'ater to smaller pipes which are placed along each row is carefully aligned and ftted so that no seepage seep-age will occur, i About a year ago, the Grand and San Juan County Water Conservancy district launched a pilot project designed de-signed to find out which cash crops are ideally suited suit-ed to this area, provided enough water is avaDable to supply the needs of the plants. In the Moab valley, four one-acre plots were outlined for the project and all were planted with a variety var-iety of fruits. In San Juan County, on the Bluff bench in addition to planting the fruit trees, a new type of irrigation system was installed. in-stalled. The system, called drip-feed, provides for timed irrigation of each individual in-dividual plant through the use of hoses with seeps at the base of each plant. The project in Bluff proved the most successful of all those planted. Last week similar systems sys-tems cf irrigation were installed in-stalled on the four plots which were planted in the Moab valley. The system i one which has been used for a number of years in Israel and Australia and it uses less than half the wa-Contlnned wa-Contlnned on Page A-l i - I I i. l V v- . - " J'' f. . -r-' f . --.J;v-..A . -1 . -- -V .,r.v.i W Rinkewich, president of the firm which manufactures th : dr.fr ecd tk sy.tcm prepares to begin laying out the 400 foot roll of p pe. i n e t.Pipc is pla-stic it L easily be handled by one man Nozzles wh ,ch ar to near the base of each plant in a row are bu.lt into the p.pe at reg ulr intervals. Unique Water System Adding to Experiment In Moab Agriculture Continued from Page A-l ter required for traditional irrigation methods. Advantages Advan-tages of the system, in addition ad-dition to the fact that less water is needed per acre, include - the possibility " of adding fertilizer at. the same time that watering is done, reduction of time needed in man hours to operate the system and reduction re-duction in the possibility of giving too little or too much water to the plants. The system both here and in San Juan County was installed by Isaac Rinke-wich Rinke-wich of New York. Mr. Rinkewich is president of the company which manufactures manu-factures the drip-feed irrigation irri-gation systems. Using the drip-feed method, a timer is installed which turns the water on at the appropriate time each week and allows the water to run for a spec ified amount of time. At such times as nutrients are needed by the plants, they may be dispensed from the head of the system. The water and nutrients are then dispensed through a series of plastic pipes down each row of plants and a nozzle stationed at the base of each plant' allows the liquid liq-uid to drip at a constant rate during the irrigation time. According to Mr. Rinkewich, Rinke-wich, the irrigate! system is being installed on an experimental ex-perimental basis on some golf courses as well as in orchards, where it has been used in the past. The drip-feed drip-feed process can cover an orchard with pipe up to 1, 200 ft. in length without an appreciable drop in pressure pres-sure and with uniform distribution. dis-tribution. Pressure used by drip-feeding plants is only 20 psi. compared with sprinkling systems which need at least 50 psi. Patents Pat-ents o nthe system are pending pend-ing in 12 countries. The systems provided for the two Water Conservancy districts were installed with out charge by Mr. Rinkewich, Rinke-wich, who stated that the potential for use on a large scale in this area is great. He indicated that although the system does not lend itsc'f well to such crops as alfalfa, it does to those crops such as potatoes, cabbage, fruit and others in which plants are individually indivi-dually set. The installation of drip-feed irrigation on lands in upper Spanish Valley Val-ley would make it possible for wafcr from the Mill Creek Dam, if it is constructed con-structed to serve some 3, 000 acres. This is 2,000 more than could be served if conventional irrigation methods are used. |