PMDI
Precision Mobile Drip Irrigation
Craig Jones
September 16, 2015
What is Precision Mobile Drip Irrigation?
Placement of heavy wall
drip tubing that drags
behind the pivot, in
precise row placement,
ranging in length from 2’
to 100’+
Our aim is to combine
the EFFICIENCY of drip
irrigation technology
with the ECONOMICS of
pivot irrigation
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How does PMDI connect to a pivot?
• Drag line tubing connects to 6-10 ft. special flexible hose which is in turn is
connected to a drop or low line.
• The rigid drop to ground clearance is usually 18”– 30”.
• The flexible hose connects to bottom of the drop. This enables the system to
reverse the drip line by curling and leading the drip line and resisting kinking.
• Fixing a steel cable (3/16” or ¼”) thru the spans to exactly fix drops (preferably
rigid)in correct row spacing
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Two Styles of placement
A) LOW LINE STYLE
B) HIGH LINE STYLE
A) Low Line Style is a suspended cable 48”or less above the
ground for short growing crops in row spacing of 20”-80”.
(controls accurate spacing of dripper lines)
B) High Line Style is a suspended cable at approximately truss
rod height on pivot to anchor rigid drops. Enables specific
placement to control row spacing in tall growing crops. Rigid
drops may also be tied to truss rods at times to control forward
and backward movement of drop.
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Low Line
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High Line
• T-L Irrigation patented the
first version of PMDI in
Nebraska in 2001
• Terrain and tight soils
• LEPA was ineffective in
much of their key sales
area due to runoff and
evaporation
• PMDI more closely
matched the soil infiltration
rates
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• Netafim Triton X
Drip Line
• Non-pressure
compensating
• Requires regulators
on the pivot drops
• 2gmh emitter at 6”
spacing
• 45 mil wall thickness
• Black in color
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Created by Monty Teeter of
Teeter Irrigation in
Ulysses, KS in 2012.
Wanted to build upon the
idea of T-L irrigation.
In 2013 Monty purchased a
320 acre farm with a
200gmp well in order to
perfect his version of the
product.
• Netafim DripNet PC
Drip Line
• Pressure
compensating emitter
• Emitters placed every
6 inches and flow at
1gph
• Range of 6-58psi
• Orange in color
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Advantages
• Accuracy of watering for small GPM wells (100400 GPM)
• Traditional pivots deliver water at >90%
efficiency but loses occur when water leaves the
nozzle due to wind, evaporation, runoff from
unlevel terrain, and soil conditions
• Allows you to keep watering in freezing
conditions
• Reduces or eliminates wheel track problems
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Ever seen a windy day in West Texas???
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How about cold weather?
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Dry wheel tracks
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Do you need filtration???
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Yes, PMDI requires 80 mesh filtration
Scan-Kleen Filter
• Screen Filtration –
• Manually operated
without system
shutdown
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Circulating Screen
• Easy to use
• Fair cleaning
without shutdown
Manual Screen
• Easy to use
• Requires shutdown
to clean
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Hydro-Cyclone Sand Separators
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What about Germination, Chemigation,
and Fertigation?
Double Valve Assembly:
• Allows user to quickly switch
between PMDI drip lines and
a conventional nozzle
package depending on what
is needed at the time.
Dragon-Line Adapter:
• Converts Senninger UP3
nozzle for conversion to
Dragon-Line.
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Advantages of Fertigation/ Chemigation
Through PMDI
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What have we seen so far?
2013 Trials – Teeter Irrigation
Ulysses, KS
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(3) SPANS UNDER TEST (3rd
span PMDI, 4th span IWOB’s, 5th
span LDN sprays).
Crop Scout reports 50% more
available moisture to the plant in
the PMDI span than other 2 spans
during growing season
(Servi-Tech)
6’ moisture profile span 3 left at
harvest ~VS~ 2-3’ profile on span 4
& 5 (Servi-Tech)
PMDI out yielded silage tonnage
by 20%.
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2014 Colorado State University
• Performed a trial
comparing PMDI to
unregulated LDN sprays
on corn
• Only saw a 3/10 per
bushel increase with the
PMDI
• However, the PMDI used
30.6% less water
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2015 Kansas State University
2 separate trials comparing
PMDI to LESA.
The 1st is 300gmp and the
2nd is 600gpm
Using weighing lysimeters,
have found that PMDI has
40% less evaporative loss
than LESA
We will know more after
harvest
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Contact ESCO for a dealer near you!
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Thank you!
Craig Jones
District Sales Manager
West Texas & Oklahoma
806-782-6114
craig.jones@netafim.com
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