The rain gun is a type of sprinkler used for irrigating crops through the spraying of uniform droplets of water. The rain gun is the main component of the rain gun irrigation system.
The rain gun can be used to irrigate almost all types of crops. However, crops with fragile flowers should not be irrigated with rain gun sprinklers.
Despite the merits of using the rain gun sprinkler as an irrigation equipment, it has some disadvantages. The disadvantages of the rain gun irrigation system include the usage of a lot of water, expensive power requirements and increasing the chances of fungal diseases in plants.
Disadvantages of the Rain Gun Irrigation System
The disadvantages of using the rain gun irrigation system include the following:
- Usage of huge volume of water
- Expensive power requirement
- Increase of fungal attacks on plants
- Flower abortion
- The need for technical expertise for installation
Usage of huge volume of water
As compared to the drip irrigation system, the rain gun irrigation system uses a lot of water. A single rain gun can use 80,000 litres of water per hour while a drip irrigation system that will irrigate the same size of land can use as low as 5,000 litres of water per hour.
The usage of a lot of water by rain guns makes this type of irrigation system not environmentally friendly.
Expensive Power Requirement
The rain gun irrigation system needs more power to work. Unlike the drip irrigation system that can work with a gravity system, the rain gun irrigation system needs diesel or petrol or electricity powered generator. This is usually costly and damaging to the environment.
Increase in Fungal Attacks on Plants
The water spraying effect of rain guns on plants can increase the chances of the plants getting fungal diseases.
Fungal diseases can change the colour of the leaves to yellow or brown, this can affect photosynthesis and lead to a dip in the overall crop yield.
Flower Abortion
For some types of crops like tomato, the use of the rain gun irrigation system can cause flower abortion.
The force of the spraying water can remove the flowers from the plants. Flower abortion can affect pollination and significantly reduce the crop yield.
The Need for Technical Expertise for Installation
Unlike the drip irrigation system, the rain gun irrigation system needs technical knowhow for installation. You will need technicians and engineers skilled in irrigation system installation to set up your rain gun irrigation system.
For large farms, you may also need to expertise of irrigation design engineers to design the rain gun irrigation system layout.
Do you use a rain gun irrigation system? If yes, can you share with us the disadvantages of the rain gun irrigation system you have noticed?
You can order a rain gun here.
Read our article on components of a rain gun irrigation system.