d: Farming, Satorday, April 26,1980 Trickle irrigation shows promise for field corn GEORGETOWN, Del. - Trickle irrigation is a rapidly developing technology with high potential for water and energy conservation. But because trickle tubes are usually placed on the surface and thus interfere with cultivation, the system is now used primarily on high value crops. Results of a six-year study at the University of Delaware’s Agricultural Experiment Station suggest that deeply placed trickle tubes can effectively deliver water and anhydrous am monia to the root zone of field corn without interfering with tillage practices. What’s more, feeding plants this way increased nitrogen efficiency by as much as 100 percent com pared to broadcast am monium nitrate, which is a standard nitrogen treat ment Delaware extension agronomist and researcher William H. Mitchell un dertook the project because be feels that in the years ahead farmers will need a more efficient way to feed and water their field crops as water and the energy used to deliver it and to produce nitrogen become in creasingly scarce and costly. He reports that besides doubling nitrogen efficiency, the system also increases organic matter levels in the soil at the 14-inch depth surrounding the trickle tubes. Corn roots concentrate close to these lines and in time, he says, considerable organic matter could ac cumulate from this source. Eventually the roots form an organic envelope which serves to stabilize the WE MANUFACTURE HIGH PRESSURE WASHERS Portable or Stationary Detergents or Soap Fluid Injection Available WE ALSO MANUFACTURE • Custom Built Hog Cattle Gates and Head Gates to your Specifications ★ Coal Fired Bucket-A-Day Stoves WMfgl Machine Work jv & Farm Supplies Hardware f ★ Suburban Wood & Coal Stoves ★ New & Used Structural Pipe D.S. MACHINE SHOP 3816 E NEWPORT RD , RDI GORDONVILLE, PA 17529 1 Mile East of Intercourse on Rt 772 Write or Try and Call 717-768-8569 (Outside Phone) Dealer Inquires Invited channel in which the irrigation tubing lies and thereby improves its flow characteristics. It’s also conceivable that plant nutrients may be released from this organic matter as it decomposes or is broken down by microorganisms. Another big advantage of trickle irrigation, on or below the ground, is that you have greater control of your water supply. There’s no interference from the wind, and surface runoff is avoided. The water “stays put.’’ Mitchell has found that trickle lines are best placed in alternate rows for field corn. Assuming 30-inch rows, this means lateral lines are five feet apart. The porous tubing provides uniform wetting as long as lines are no more than 300 to 400 feet long. Flow rates can be con trolled to some extent by adjusting water pressure. A pressure of five psi has been found to give a more uniform distribution of water than higher pressures. A 30 per cent nitrogen solution, being water soluble, can easily be applied through the system. Subsurface tubing can be laid during a subsoiling operation, using a four-inch, hollow subsoiling chisel. Care should be taken not to drive equipment across installed lines before they have been filled with water. The feasibility of sub surface irrigation for production of an extensive crop like field com depends on a long functional life for trickle lines. Tubing removed from the soil after five years of use had a flow rate similar to the stabilized rates for new tubmg. Franklin County Honey Queen Sharon Barr of Waynesboro was promoting her product recently at the 16th annual ASCS banquet sponsored by the Ftanklin County ASC Committee. Pennay (Continued from Page D 18) the future are: land use planning; add rain; and waging biological warfare on insects rather than relying on pestiddes. Pennay also told the group that more produce is coining from less land therefore increasing the value of that land. D. Merle Baughman, county executive director of ASCS, presented the annual report. In his report, Baughman stated that "the programs assigned to the ASCS are farm programs that are passed by Congress and administered locally by our three-man elected county ASC Committee and 27 community com mitteemen. “In ASCS we deal directly with farmers and indirectly with consumers. An in creased farm income means a better economy for our THEY HAVE 2 GREAT VALUES IN 1 4500 Watt Generator... For auxiliary and emergency power. The 115/230 volt 60 Hertz output can light 45 100-watt bulbs or drive a VA h.p. motor provided it is not started under load. ★ It is Portable ★ It is Versatile ★ It is LEONARD MARTIN CO. 330 FONDERWHITE RD. f LEBANON, PA 17042 717-274-1483 POWER Radio Dispatched Trucks manufacturers, business men and laborers throughout the county, state and nation” he said. Dorlin W. Hay, district director, presented ASCS service awards to four committeemen. Receiving service cer tificates were: J. Harold Kershner, Greencastle, 20 years; Clarence C. Allison, Chambersburg, 10 years; Walter W. Grove, Ship pensburg, 10 years; and Lyle Umbrell, Doylesburg, 10 years. Franklin County Dairy Princess Carolyn Meyers, Honey Queen Sharon Barr and Apple Queen Sherri Carlin also addressed the group. Entertainment was pro vided by the “Harmony Legends,” an area bar bershop quartet. Franklin County ASC commiite members are: Kenneth S. Doyle, chair man; J. Wilbur Burkholder, and Walter W. Grove. LEONARD MARTIN CO. IS PLEASED TO SAY Low Cost ★ It is at • We sandblast barns before painting them so that paint will stick to them and last longer. • Also, RESTORATION ON BRICK AND STONE HOMES - sandblasting, repointing and water proofing. All work is guaranteed satisfactory. gebhortS_ AC Variable Volta For field welding. The 150 Amps is enough heat for 5/32” general purpose Fleetweld® 180 and 37, 1/8” Jetweld LH-70 and 1/8” Stainweld AC electrodes. I ELECTRIC I • BARN PAINTING • ROOF PAINTING • BIN PAINTING “Call the Country Boys with the Country Prices” Box 199. R.D.4 Hanover, PA 17331 Ph: 717-637*8183 or 637-0222 » Welder... 24 Hour Service
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers