Current Status of Drip Irrigation for Vegetables in the Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic United States

Abstract

Responses to a 1993 survey showed that drip irrigation was used on 36,400 ha of commercial vegetables in the southeastern and mid-Atlantic United States. Florida led with 44% of total drip-irrigated vegetable area, followed by Georgia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania, with about 10% each. Drip irrigation was used most commonly on tomato, pepper, and watermelon crops. The most-important benefits of drip irrigation were improved water and fertilizer delivery efficiencies compared to other irrigation systems, such as overhead sprinklers and subirrigation. Challenges with drip irrigation included high installation cost, emitter clogging problems, need for filtration, overirrigation problems, disposal of tubing, and lack of readily available expertise. Most drip irrigation was used with polyethylene mulch and most tubing was thin-wall disposable rather than thick-wall reusable. Eighty-one percent of the drip-irrigated vegetable acreage was fertigated with N and K. Survey responses indicated that drip irrigation use for vegetables is increasing.