Keeping Drip Lines Open for the Season

Dave Peck is with Manzanita Berry Farms in Santa Maria.  He noted that maintaining drip lines is important.  Traditionally, hydrogen peroxide or sulfuric acid,  are used to clean out the drip line residues in the conventional fields. However, Peck said that the organics are more tricky since there is a lot of fish oil-based products that are difficult to completely clean out of the lines. Hydrogen peroxide is also registered on organics, but it is only marginally effective.

However, Peck has thought of a different strategy of keeping the drip tape flowing for the entire season. “When planting, we put in an extra pair of drip tapes, so we have four rows of tape down the row,” he said.

“We hook up two for the first half of the season, when those tapes begin to plug up and we begin to notice, we’ll switch to the other pre-installed new set for the rest of the season. Pricewise, it is cost-effective compared to the chemicals people use to clean drip lines,” he noted.