Steps To Designing Your Irrigation System

We know that proper irrigation is essential to growing success. To provide your crops with the irrigation they require, you need the right system.

But the thought of designing and installing an irrigation system can be daunting; where do you even start? This article will discuss the first steps to designing the indoor irrigation system of your dreams, as recommended by TC Control Group’s expert engineers and installers.

Step One: Understanding Your Needs

The first step to designing an irrigation system is to understand your growing operation’s needs. Take your crop’s requirements and your physical growing space into account. How much water will your plants need, and how often will they need it? Will the plants benefit from an overhead or a substrate irrigation system? What is your water source? Is a fertigation system necessary?

Addressing these questions and understanding what you’re working with is the first step. Once you have a good idea of what you’ll need, you can begin to choose your equipment.

Step Two: Choosing Your Equipment

Filtration Equipment

Filtration is essential to an irrigation system because it rids the water of all contaminants and ensures that your water is pure H2O—nothing else.

Choosing your water filtration is where understanding your source water becomes important. Source water could be utility water, well water, pond water, rain, condensation return, or recycled water. Each of these types of water must be treated differently, and the filtration equipment you choose for your system will depend on where your water is coming from.

Some types of water filters that you may utilize in your system include media filters, ultra filters, or a reverse osmosis (RO) skid. The experts at TC Control Group will help you choose the filtration equipment that works best with your source water.

Fertigation Skids

A fertigation system is not absolutely necessary for irrigation, but many growers find it useful due to the benefits it provides. Once your water has been purified by your filter, you can add fertilizer, nutrients, and other additives through a fertigation skid.

When deciding whether to include fertigation, consider your plants’ needs. Would the nutrients benefit the plants enough to justify the cost? What kinds of fertilizer and nutrients would you be adding to the water? You should keep these questions in mind when choosing which fertigation system you want to install.

If you do decide on including fertigation, the experts at TC Control Group will install a system that allows you to control and monitor the additives in your water, down to the last drop.

Nanobubble Technology

One element of fertigation you might consider is nanobubble technology. With nanobubble technology, the water that is delivered to your crops is infused with microscopic bubbles of oxygen.

Although nanobubbles are not a vital element of irrigation, they do offer many advantages, such as increased growth, yield, and quality. Consider the benefits that nanobubbles may provide for your crops while designing your fertigation system.

Pumps and Valves

These elements will depend on the size and complexity of the irrigation system you’re designing. You will need to decide how your facility will be watered—if it will operate in sections, how often the water will be delivered, and how much will be delivered at one time.

Your pumps and valves will work together within your system, and how they operate will depend on your method of watering. The scale, sequence, and frequency of irrigation will impact which pumps and valves will be used, and how they will be designed to work together.

Step Three: Putting All The Parts Together

No two irrigation systems are the same, as no two growing operations have the same requirements. Our expert engineers work with growers to understand, design, and install a system that’s perfect for your individual facility.

TC Control Group’s experts will aid in the design and engineering process to ensure that the result is exactly what you envision and what your operation requires. Our "Design With The End In Mind " approach means that you get the exact solution you requested without change orders, change in scope, or major delays.

Ready to begin designing? Learn more about our irrigation and fertigation capabilities here, and contact our experts here.