Affordable D.I.Y. Drip Irrigation Systems

In our last article we presented you the advantages of drip water irrigation systems and how you can also use them to fertilize in a more targeted way. Despite major advantages in efficient water and fertilizer use, the high acquisition costs, high manpower costs and time expenditure for the installation can be a big disadvantage when deciding to use drip water irrigation systems.

However, there are many alternatives for doing it yourself. Some variants also need some work and effort, but cost almost nothing. Depending on the size of the field, you can get all the materials you need from as little as 120 rupees. We've picked out three of these D.I.Y. alternatives. While they can't replace a fully fledged drip irrigation system, it's worth being inspired by these videos. All of these D.I.Y. alternatives will offer you following pros:

• they are also suitable for fertigation
• they offer sustainable water use by exploiting the full potential of available water
• there are low to no initial costs through upcycling of plastic waste

Video #1: 3 Self-watering Systems for your Plants

We found this video on the YT channel of Jugaad, whose channel also contains many other useful ‘Life Hacks’. Here three variants are suggested to you, all of them are easy to build and are especially suitable for small beds. It must be said that in variations two and three, the evaporation effect was not mentioned. Therefore, we recommend processing the plastic bottles, as in the first example.

Video #2: Bottle Drip Irrigation in Bangladesh

In video #2 the guys of Agriculture Bangla show us how to realize a similar principle as in video #1 on field sizes of 1- 2 acres. By the way, it takes about 1-2 days until a filled bottle is drained out.

Video #3 120rs drip/drop irrigation

Video three is presented by Pramod Shindhe. Here is a variation that comes closest to the real drip water irrigation system. According to the author's own statement, they only need 120rs for this. Depending on the size of the field the price may, of course, increase. Nevertheless, this is a very economical, but also somewhat manpower-intensive option to water your plants in a targeted and water saving way:

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