The 11 Oaks Drip Irrigation System

by Chris Skellenger, Director, 11 Oaks

Bucket Kit irrigation allows precious water to be applied directly to the base of the plant so that every drop is absorbed by the roots. While some clean water must be used, a bucket kit also allows the use of 'gray water', meaning water which has been used for washing dishes, dipped from puddles, or collected off of roofs. Manure tea is also applied through the system, eliminating dependence on chemical fertilizers.

It is of utmost importance that vegetables be grown by subsistence farmers even when it doesn't rain.   Why? Because when the rains fail, people revert back to the more store-able grains for their food. Nutrition is severely compromised. We like to ask our friends how they would feel if they had to eat porridge for every meal for 10 months! Your energy level, immune system, mental alertness, attitude, would suffer greatly.... you get the idea. So, by empowering farmers and families to grow veggies year round we hope to improve their health, economic status, and quality of life.

We have developed a gravity-fed drip irrigation system based on the original 'Bucket Kit' by Mr. Richard Chapin of the Chapin Living Waters Foundation. We were encouraged to experiment with his design by our personal experiences both in our garden and in subsistence gardens in Central America and Africa. Mr. Chapin is always challenging people to use their own ideas and originality to improve the way small farmers water their vegetables. So we did.

Our system consists of:

*a five gallon (20L) bucket (for single family gardens).  Obviously, if there is a source of pressurized water available (roof collection or well) we will   use that.  The efficiency of this system increases exponentially as the garden gets larger and pipe lengths increase. We have also found that on the 'family' level-growing for 3 or 4 people- it may be better to use keyhole gardens.  For communities, hospitals, orphanages, and such, drip irrigation with used or fresh water save time, effort, and lives.

*100' of Toro 'blue line' trickle pipe or it's equivalent.  You would be pleasantly surprised at how available 15mm LDPE pipe has become- worldwide. 

*one rubber grommet (22mm) gets inserted into the hole we cut in the bottom of the bucket.  Press a 15mm plastic coupler into it and you have an inexpensive and leak proof connection.

*one 15mm plastic tee ( for two runs of 50').  If the row lengths are 33 feet, two tees are needed.  If row lengths are 25 feet, 3 tees are needed....

*75 – 100 Toro em-2 (DBK04) emitters... these are non-pressure compensating emitters that are very easy to pull apart and clean.  We also use

                           a button emitter from Mikon Agri in Delmas, South Africa and it saves even more money.

*one old t-shirt for a filter across the top of the bucket

 The benefits of our system are:

* it should last about 4 times as long as the existing designs because it uses heavier grade pipe and fittings

*the emitters are very easily cleanable because they are on the outside of the pipe, not inside.

*the pipe bends without kinking, so it can be looped up one row of veggies and down the next.

*because the pipe is round, not flat, it only requires about 1 foot of head pressure (per hundred feet) to get nearly uniform distribution of water along the entire length of pipe.  But of course, the longer the pipe, the more head pressure is needed.

*and best of all, the parts are universally available- they do not need to go to Africa via freighter.

*the kit will grow veggies for a family of 3 to 4 for 20 years at a cost of about 2 dollars per year!

Hickory and Kaiser want you to know that petting and treats are nice but to really get their tails waggin'..... you need to contribute!