Drip irrigation scale & clogging

I use drip irrigation in my raised SFG beds.  I also live in Southern California where our liquid rock water averages high 700s for PPM.  I've gotten readings of over 1000 depending on the mix the water agency is using.

I'm also a fan of the umbrella vortex type sprayer drip instead of point drips or stream.  Like this one as I find it better at eliminating dry channels in the mix.


My problem is I have to monitor them relatively closely as they eventually clog up.  I assume it's a calcium scale type build up but I have not had any luck cleaning or clearing the issue.  I literally, cut the sprayer line removing the head and stick a new replacement head in.  I've tried flushing, soaking the head in vinegar to dissolve the build up, none of it seems to work.

Do other gardeners in areas with very hard water have this issue?

Any recommendations for dealing with it over than the continual replacement one by one?

I can't think of any solution that would clean the heads without hurting something. We had to change out heads when the water was moderately hard. Now we some treated surface water in the blend so it's softer.

Phyto-Cat Micro Irrigation Cleaning 
this is expensive, but you could ask your friends to help cut the cost or put in the aquajet irrigation system like I did which would eliminate the clogging problem. They are in California.

Aquajet-  Intelligent Irrigation LLC home of the aquajet

That Phyto-cat is an i teresting solution for agricultural scale. 

Im curious on the aquajet, what are the adaptors like.  To me itnseems like they're just a different shaped PVC with a pinhole in it.  If youve posted close ups in your other threads on it I'll find it.

In the meantime. I guess ill justmail order a big bag of the vortex sprayers ar 50 cents a piece and do more seasonal preventative of replacement at the beginning of the season.

No_Such_Reality wrote:

Im curious on the aquajet, what are the adaptors like.  To me itnseems like they're just a different shaped PVC with a pinhole in it.  If youve posted close ups in your other threads on it I'll find it.

It has adapters for the end and the start of each line and couplers to put lines together. it has an upper chamber and a lower chamber within it. the water comes into the upper chamber, then push the air into the lower chamber and out the pinholes which aerates the soil. Then the water goes into the lower chamber, thru the pinholes to water the soil by burrowing and then osmosis as the soil adapts. Finally, it drains leaving no water in the line when the cycle is completed. You need at least one coupler for a 4-foot line in an SFG bed because the water enters the coupler and assist the water into the lower chamber and then filled the cavity. You don't have to but I put a clean line in each zone or bed just to address Murphy laws in the future. This makes it simple to clean out a plugged hole in it ever happens. I still have my drip irrigation nightmares. It too much force for it to plugged from a slow drip, but something might get past the filter. I just went extra putting it together.

A soak in either Muriatic or Phosphoric acid will eat the scale off the emitters. The acids are commonly used to clean scale off tiles, concrete, water heaters, and stones. They are pretty good at removing layers of skin too- so be careful!

I forgot about pool muriatic acid.

Just don't use it on emitters in the bed. Remove them first, rinse thoroughly before replacing.

I would just eat the cost of new emitters rather than try to clean them. ??

sanderson wrote:I forgot about pool muriatic acid.

Just don't use it on emitters in the bed.  Remove them first, rinse thoroughly before replacing.

I would just eat the cost of new emitters rather than try to clean them.  ??

me too