Drip irrigation system for gardens, greenhouses, soilless farmland main country of buyer

When you hear aboutdrip irrigation systemsfor gardens or greenhouses, you immediately imagine Israel or Spain. But the main buyer country is Russia, and this has its own nuances that do not fit into standard schemes. Many people think that it is enough to buy equipment and connect it - and then they wonder why in the Krasnodar Territory emitters become clogged with silt, and in the Moscow region pipes burst due to temperature changes. I myself stepped on this rake about ten years ago, trying to adapt Dutch solutions to our realities.

Why Russia has become a key market

At first it seemed that the climate was not suitable - short summer, freezing of the soil. But when they started to calculate the economy, it turned out that in the greenhouse complexes of the Belgorod regiondrip irrigationpays for itself in two seasons, even taking into account water heating. It is especially beneficial for crops with a long cycle - tomatoes, cucumbers, where every percentage of humidity affects the presentation.

In 2019, we set up a demonstration zone in the Lipetsk region - the customer doubted whether it was worth changing the sprinkler system to drip tapes. Six months later he sent me the data: water savings by 40%, plus problems with fungal diseases have disappeared. But the main thing is that they were able to apply fertilizers precisely, which is critically important for soilless substrates.

Now I see a trend: large agricultural holdings are ordering systems for several crops at once, with different irrigation regimes. For example, for strawberries in hanging grow boxes and lettuce in hydroponics, these are no longer just pipes with drippers, but entire technological chains.

Errors in design for Russian conditions

The most common mistake is underestimating water quality. In the Rostov region, for example, water from wells is often high in iron. If you install standard filters, within a month the emitters fail. It was necessary to develop cascade cleaning systems with flush valves every 50 meters.

Another point is winter storage. One client in Tatarstan saved on drainage of the system by not draining the water before frost - in the spring they had to replace 70% of the pipeline. Now I always recommend blowing out the system with a compressor, even if it is indicated that the pipes are frost-resistant.

Groundless technologies are a completely different story. In the sameShandong Linyao Intelligent Agriculture Technology Co.,LtdWe first tried to use standard droppers for coconut substrate - it turned out that a special pause mode between waterings was needed, otherwise the root system would rot. I had to reprogram the controllers for Russian varieties of cucumbers.

Technical features for different types of objects

For gardens with dense planting of trees, compensated drippers are better suited - for example, in the nurseries of the Crimea, where height differences reach 15 meters. But there is a catch: if you use fertilizers that are too viscous, the expansion joints will stick. Had to with the engineershttps://www.lyzhihuinongye.rudevelop a hybrid system with periodic flushing of lines.

In greenhouses with hanging troughs, dosing accuracy is critical - even a 10% variation leads to uneven ripening. We tested different emitters until we settled on membrane emitters with a labyrinth channel. But they also have to be changed every 3-4 seasons due to wear and tear.

Soilless farmland is the most difficult. For example, when growing microgreens in multi-tiered plants, you need drippers with a flow rate of 0.6-0.8 l/h, and there are almost no such serial models. We make it to order with the addition of UV stabilizers to the plastic - otherwise the polymer will degrade from the lamps.

Integration with smart systems

Nowadays people are increasingly asking to connectdrip irrigationto monitoring platforms. But ready-made solutions do not work well with Russian SIM cards in remote areas. Had to based on the equipmentShandong Lingyao Co.,Ltdmake gateways with support for several telecom operators - in the same Leningrad region where Megafon has? the signal disappears, automatically switches to “Tele2”.

Substrate moisture sensors are a separate headache. Calibration is disrupted by pH fluctuations, especially when using organic fertilizers. Last year, in the Voronezh region, part of the radish harvest was lost because of this - the sensors showed the norm, but in reality the substrate dried out. Now we duplicate it with mechanical tensiometers.

We had an interesting experience with automation at a greenhouse plant near Kazan - they combined our system with their SCADA. It was possible to control irrigation depending on solar radiation, but I had to rewrite part of the code for local algorithms. Russian agronomists are accustomed to their own rules of thumb, which do not always fit into standard protocols.

Economics and prospects

If we take a typical project for a greenhouse of 1 hectare, then the system with automation fromShandong Linyao Intelligent Agriculture Technology Co.,Ltdcosts 2-3 million rubles. But the payback is not only calculated in terms of water savings - what’s more important is the ability to grow premium crops. For example, in the Moscow region they are now actively switching to afico-type salads, where without precise watering it is impossible to get a marketable head of cabbage.

So far they are less willing to go to gardens - perennial plantings are more difficult to transfer to new technology. But in the same Stavropol Territory there are already successful cases with intensive apple trees, where drip irrigation made it possible to increase the yield of marketable fruits by 20%.

The most interesting thing about soilless technologies is that I see potential in city farming. But it has its own difficulties: in multi-storey installations, hydraulics work differently, you have to calculate the pressure on each tier. Recently we did a project for a vertical farm in Moscow - they generally used capillary mats in combination with point droppers.

What's the result?

The main thing is not to fall for ready-made solutions. Even proven equipment fromhttps://www.lyzhihuinongye.rurequires adaptation to a specific region. For example, the Kaliningrad region with its high humidity requires different settings than the arid Volgograd region.

Now we are experimenting with systems for crops with different root systems - for example, for basil and arugula in the same greenhouse. It turns out to set up different modes on one line, but I had to install additional pressure reducing valves.

To summarize, the future lies in flexible configurations, wheredrip irrigationbecomes part of the overall climate management ecosystem. But this is a topic for another discussion, especially taking into account new developments in the field of sensors and machine learning.