1. What is a button drip emitter?

Adjustable button drippers for irrigation are irrigation accessories attached onto a high density polyethylene (HDPE) pipe.

They deliver a consistent and uniform amount of water the crop by regulating the flow. Button drippers in Kenya, button drip are common in fruit trees, forestry and hedges irrigation

A macadamia crop under button drip irrigation installed by Grekkon Limited in Iten area, Elgeyo Marakwet county. January 2021

Same macadamia crop in January, 2023

2. How do you install button drippers?

A perforation is made on the HDPE pipe with a drip punch, then the button dripper’s pointed end is pushed into this hole. This punching is done at the point where the tree crop is. But it will be away from the trunk to ensure that water flows to the roots below. The button dripper will be 3-6 inches away from the trunk. This will also prevent fungal infections and other types of diseases.

For younger tree crops, a single button dripper or emitter is sufficient. However, with older larger trees, 2 or more button drippers are provided according to the plant’s water need. In this case, have them equally on the opposite sides of the tree crop to promote even root growth. Two or multiple button drippers ensure that if one is blocked, the other one or the rest continue to water

3. How do you use an adjustable button dripper?

Once in place on the irrigation line, you will adjust your button dripper from 0 discharge to 70 liters per hour flow of water. This is done by turning the dripper to achieve different flow rates as per the crop water needs

4. How long should button drippers run?

Your adjustable button drippers for irrigation will run for 30 minutes to an hour. This is guided by the moisture requirement of the soil, as per the prevailing weather conditions

5. How many button drippers can I run on one line?

This is determined by the diameter size of the irrigation pipe. The larger it is, the more water it ferries over a longer distance. Therefore, the greater the number of button drippers. The other factor is the flow rate of the adjustable button drippers themselves. If adjusted to maximum flow rate (70L per hour), then the line will have less. If the adjustment is to half of that flow rate, then a similar line will carry twice as much

6. How do I increase the pressure in my button drip irrigation system?

They are several ways to raise the irrigation water pressure in your button drip irrigation system

i. Divide the farm into blocks, each of which is irrigated separately. This way, irrigation water is channeled to particular block under high pressure

ii. If it is by gravity flow, then by raising the storage elevation. This will work where raised water tanks are the source of irrigation water

iii. By introducing an external source of pressure, such a s water pump to boost the flow of irrigation water in the system

Adjustable button drippers for irrigation price in Kenya

The cost of a button dripper is Kes 12 a unit

The cost of a button dripper irrigation system per acre depends on the tree crop spacing. In the tabulation below, we provide 3 examples