We were discussing about the bacterial solution we prepared in the last episode. Now, one of the options is to feed that solution directly to the plants after some dilution. This has multiple effects.
The bacteria would grow in the soil around the plants, providing them nitrogen, phosphorous and potash. In addition, whatever leaf mulch we may gather around the plant would automatically get decomposed by these bacteria, providing in-situ compost. If what Dr. Krishan Chandra claims is true, these bacteria would also stimulate earthworm growth, making the soil further fertile and well aerated.
We used a small device called Venturi to feed the plants with this bacterial solution.
My friend has around an acre of land with more than 100 fruit plants. He waters them using a ¾ inch hose pipe. The water is supplied from a tank with only gravitational pressure. The pressure of the water is obviously not very high. So, we were not sure whether the Venturi would help in such a situation.
My friend bought a very low cost ¾ inch Venturi from amazon. It is a simple plastic tube, may be 8 inches long and ¾ inch diameter. This tube has a constriction halfway through. From one end of the tube, the tube suddenly tapers restricting the flow of water. Then the tube gradually expands to its full diameter.
At the junction of these two conical shaped sections there is a constriction. At that junction, a narrow side tube is provided. Probably, there is a small non return valve to prevent the water flow to outside from this narrow tube.
When water flows through the venturi, first the pressure builds up because of the constriction. Then gradually the pressure is released beyond the junction. As a result, a small vacuum is created at the junction. This vacuum enables the water to be drawn inside the Venturi, through the narrow side tube at the junction.
The net result is that when you pass water through the venturi, the flow of water also sucks in some liquid that may be provided through the side tube. The sucked in liquid mixes well with the flowing water. The rest is pretty simple.
Just pass the water through the venturi. Dip the side tube in any liquid you would like to mix with the running water. As the water flows, this liquid would also start flowing along with the water at a constant proportion.
The liquid could be any liquid fertilizer if you intend to ‘fertigate’ the plants. In our case, we used the bacterial solution instead. The bacterial solution is poured into a drum and the narrow side tube of the venturi is dipped into this solution in the drum.
There are certain minor issues.
You need some control on how much of solution flows along with the water. That decides the dilution ratio of the solution fed to the plants. Even though Dr. Krishan Chandra says that there would be no harm if you feed the plants with concentrated solution, we decided to use diluted solution, both to conserve the solution as well as to avoid any harm to small plants.
This proportion can be controlled in many ways. You can fix a valve at the inlet of the venturi and control the water flow. To avoid reducing the final outflow, the venturi is normally connected in parallel to the main pipe line. So, by tweaking the valves fitted on the main pipeline as well as the valve at the inlet of the Venturi, you can control how much water flows into the venturi and how much flows bypassing it.
A further control can be achieved by fitting another valve at the end of the side tube as well. That way, you can restrict the flow of liquid through the side tube.
One most important thing to note is that the arrow mark printed on the venturi should be aligned with the direction of flow of water. Otherwise, the Venturi will not work.
With all these arrangements, we managed to achieve a steady flow of 50 liters of waste decomposer solution per hour. This liquid gets thoroughly mixed with the main water supply that flows through the venturi as well as through the parallel main line. It is a bit diluted, but we thought it is safer and cost effective.
As they say, a picture is worth more than 100 words. So, do have a look at the image on the screen that would give you a clearer picture.
One last thing before I close this Venturi venture. You probably need to fit a small filter at the inlet of the side tube to prevent clogging of the Venturi by any impurities that may be present in the solution.
Such filters are available online. But my friend devised a simple no cost filter. He fitted the tube end to a small plastic bottle using a tight-fitting cork. He made small pin holes at the bottom of this bottle so that filtered liquid can flow through it. A clever contraption indeed.
So, effectively venturi would greatly simplify feeding the waste decomposer solution to the plants. It is already a month since my friend has started using this Venturi system. At the moment he is feeding solution once in 15 days. Other days, all that he has to do is to close the Venturi valve and fully open the main valve and water as usual.
I will probably update you with any interesting results we may see from this experiment. So, keep your fingers crossed 😉
Let us continue our discussion in the next episode.
A series of weekly (every Monday 12 PM PST) talks on new ways of Gardening by Dr. King. © Dr. King 2019
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