fertigation-ga,
Here's a definition of fertigation:
From [ http://agr.wa.gov/PestFert/definitions/Fertigation.htm ]:
?Fertigation is the application of a commercial fertilizer, soil
amendment, or reclaimed water from food processing and wastewater
treatment facilities with irrigation water. A commercial fertilizer is
a substance that contains one or more recognized plant nutrients used
for its plant nutrient content and is claimed to have value in
promoting plant growth. Also included are lime, gypsum, and mixed or
specialty fertilizer.?
*******************
Also, I'll just repost the earlier Answer below for your reference.
Thanks,
omniscientbeing-ga
Google Answers Researcher
1. ?Is fertigation the most effective way to fertilize home
landscaping? Please include "whys".?:
The short answer to this question is, ?Yes, in most cases, if it?s
done correctly.? I will outline the reasons why it is the most
effective way to fertilize most home landscapes, particularly lawns,
below.
As a biologist who has studied botany, and worked in the aquaculture
field, which is closely related to agriculture, I would like to start
off by stating that fertigation is inherently superior to traditional
?feast or famine? landscaping methods. I will illustrate this point
with an oft-used analogy. Just as a human being wouldn?t benefit from
taking thirty days? worth of multi-vitamins at the beginning of the
month, plants do not benefit from being fertilized once per month,
other than to experience maximum nutrient uptake for a few days to the
point of saturation, and then slowly ?starve? after that until the
next bombardment of nutrients.
Before we go any further, I?d like to provide a definition of
?fertigation,? just to be clear on exactly what we?re discussing.
From [ http://agr.wa.gov/PestFert/definitions/Fertigation.htm ]:
?Fertigation is the application of a commercial fertilizer, soil
amendment, or reclaimed water from food processing and wastewater
treatment facilities with irrigation water. A commercial fertilizer is
a substance that contains one or more recognized plant nutrients used
for its plant nutrient content and is claimed to have value in
promoting plant growth. Also included are lime, gypsum, and mixed or
specialty fertilizer.?
A more informal way of describing it is that fertigation is a cross
between fertilization and irrigation, and is a method of both
irrigating and fertilizing simultaneously, as opposed to having
separate irrigation and fertilization methods.
The following two articles will collectively explain why fertigation
is circumstances the most effective way to fertilize home landscaping.
The following article, by Katherine Woodford, is entitled ?What?s the
Secret? Fertigation?:
[ http://www.igin.com/Irrigation/0202fertigation.html ].
Here?s an excerpt from the above article:
??Fertigation, in the simplest terms, is a method of delivering
fertilizer through an irrigation system,? explains Ned Lips, owner of
Fertigator, Inc., in St Louis, Missouri. The key, however, is in micro
feeding, which is the process of delivering equal amounts of
fertilizer in small doses every time the system operates. Delivering a
month?s worth of fertilizer all at once with dry fertilizer, or in a
few cycles via an irrigation system, defeats most of the purposes of
fertilizing? ?The mechanics of fertigation are very straightforward.
When the irrigation system opens a valve, it pulls the desired amount
of fertilizer,? explains Darin Brasch, vice president of BioGreen.
?Our system has an adjustable feed ratio, ranging from a maximum of
two teaspoons of fertilizer per gallon of water to a minimum of an
eighth of a teaspoon per gallon. As each valve opens, each zone is
spoon-fed.? ?
The next article, entitled, ?One-A-Day Fertilizers: Fertigation has
entered the residential and commercial landscape markets,? by Steve
Smith, can be found at the following link:
[ http://www.irrigation.org/ibt/ibt02_02/p22.htm ].
Here?s an excerpt from this article:
?In the past, fertigation systems were too expensive, too complicated
or too cumbersome to make sense for residential irrigation contractors
and homeowners. However, several manufacturers recently have developed
paired-down fertigation systems targeted at the residential market.
These units range in cost from less than $200 to $1,500 depending on
the system, the market and the size of the landscape at which it will
be used.?
At this point, let?s turn our attention to the second part of your question.
2. ?What is the easiest, most dependable way to fertigate - both from
an ease of installation and from an on-going use - points of view??:
In general, the simpler the device, the better. Look for systems with
only one injector. If you provide more details about your specific
property to be fertigated, I can most likely provide more details as
to the type of equipment to be used. Right now, I only know that
you?re dealing with a ?lawn,? so I?ll list below the more common
fertigation systems that will probably be suitable for you. I?d say
that for the equipment-specific questions, your best bet is to contact
the manufacturers (such as the list I?ll provide you below) directly,
and include a photograph of your lawn and any other landscaped
property you wish to fertigate, along with a written description of
the soil type, weather conditions, as well your budget and what you
hope to accomplish (i.e. emphasis on outstanding results with some
effort expended on your part, or average results with minimal effort
expended).
The following link is to Rittenhouse?s ?EZ-Flo Fertigation Injector? product page:
[ http://www.rittenhouse.ca/asp/Product.asp?PG=1674 ].
The site offers good photographs of the equipment, and allows online
ordering through a shopping cart system. Here is their contact
information:
To contact a live sales assistant, please
call one of the following numbers from 8 to 5 EST M-F
Professional Products
1-877-461-1041
Garden Tools
1-877-488-1914
Next is a link to the website for the ?Gro-Rite? Smart Fertigation
System,? from Bear Irrigation Systems:
[ http://www.uicorp.net/Beafertigation.htm ].
This product is about $130, and has the following features:
?-Automatic flow-sensitive dispensing
-No external power needed
-Installs on new or existing irrigation system- requires back flow preventer
-Residential and light commercial?
You can view a photo of the product on the site. Here is Bear
Irrigation Systems? contact information:
?Contact us via:
Email at: underhill@uicorp.net
Phone: USA+949-305-7050
Fax: 949-305-7051?
Here?s a link to CSI?Chemigation Systems international, who sell
fertigation products suitable for residential use:
[ http://www.fertigation.com/chemigat.htm ].
?Call us for the dealer nearest you, or E-mail us at
dealers@chemigation.com ?
You may also find this next link, from Diamond K Gypsum, of interest to you:
[ http://www.diamondkgypsum.com/applicat.htm ]
?We are available to answer any questions 1 -(800)-497-7861?
I reiterate at this point that in order to determine the exact
equipment best for your situation, you should contact several of these
companies with the specific details of your property.
I will now offer the following notes on strategy. Note that if you
have a very large yard or property, it would be wise to implement your
new fertigation system in sections, rather than all at once. I have
worked in the aquaculture industry, farming shrimp, and when they need
to implement a new system to see if it improves growth over the
existing systems, they don?t convert the entire operation at once no
matter how promising it may seem, but rather set up a test operation
to evaluate it.
What you could do is perhaps divide your landscaped property into
quadrants, and then introduce the fertigation system into one quadrant
at first, and evaluate it for a month, while the other 3 quadrants of
your landscape remains under the same system you have traditionally
been using. After the first month, if the fertigated quadrant has
performed better than the traditional quads, then you could expand
fertigation to include a second quadrant of the most similar terrain,
and again evaluate after a fixed period, say one month. That way, at
least if the fertigation for some reason fails, the remainder of your
property will be the same as it has always been. Even if your entire
landscape consists of uniform lawn, I still recommend this method.
Also, the end result of this, if fertigation is completely successful,
would be that you have your entire property controlled by 4 separate
fertigation systems, rather than one large system. This is
advantageous because the redundancy offers a safeguard in case the
fertigation for some reason doesn?t work out?one fertigation system
could fail, but at least the other 3\4 of your landscape is still
normal. If you have one large, complex system, if it goes down, your
whole property is in trouble. With several smaller systems, if they
malfunction, you can simply take over that section of your property in
the traditional, manual way, while the fertigation system is repaired
or replaced.
The following series of links will lead you to additional information
both on the concepts and advantages of fertigation, and on specific
fertigation equipment and the vendors of that equipment.
Google search strategy:
Keywords,
?residential fertigation?:
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&q=residential+fertigation
,
?fertigation?:
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&q=fertigation&btnG=Google+Search
,
?fertigation applications?:
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&q=fertigation+applications&spell=1
,
?lawn fertigation?:
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&q=lawn+fertigation
,
?residential fertigation advantages?:
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=residential+fertigation+advantages
,
?residential fertigation equipment?:
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&q=residential+fertigation+equipment&btnG=Google+Search
,
?fertigation equipment vendors?:
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&q=+fertigation+equipment+vendors
I certainly hope that this information is more than sufficient to
assist you in the modernization of your personal landscape. As I said
above, if you would like to provide more details on your specific
property, along the lines that journalist-ga suggested, in order to
have me research information with regard to those specifics, feel free
to provide that information in a Clarification. I?m more than happy to
adjust this Answer if you feel that I have left anything out that is
important to you.
Good luck with your landscaping project!
Sincerely,
omniscientbeing-ga
Google Answers Researcher
CLARIFICATION:
?Request for Answer Clarification by fertigation-ga on 14 Nov 2003 06:45 PST
Let's just focus on fertigation vs. the traditional methods home
owners use to fertilze.... specifically - does fertigation produce
better health and appearance results on lawns/landscaping than the
traditional methods?
thanks very much for your continued efforts.?
fertigation-ga,
Obviously, the devil is in the details here. Fertigation, since it
involves the continual application of small amounts of nutrients
along with the water, should inherently be superior to traditional
methods of separate irrigation and periodic fertilization, both
because the plants get their biological needs better met, and because
you don?t have to go through the trouble of watering and fertilizing.
However, (and I know this is a ?yes, but?? which you are tired of),
there is a lot of variation both with the specific landscape and the
specific equipment which is chosen (and how it is used, precisely) for
that landscape.
What have your actual results with fertigation been? Have you tried
fertigating in sections, as a control, so as to compare to the rest
of your landscape under traditional care? Have you had problems with
the equipment itself, or have you just found that the results weren?t
much better than traditional? Also, have you been fertigating uniform
lawn only, or shrubs and trees?what type of landscape do you have?
I ask these questions because after additional searching, I have not
been able to find any research that shows specifically how and why
fertigation is superior to traditional landscaping methods other than
the information already presented in my main Answer.
How well it works is a function of the precise combination of
equipment, chemicals delivered through that equipment (type,
concentration and frequency), the plant species comprising your
landscape, and the seasonal weather patterns (or lack thereof).
Admittedly, this is a daunting combination of factors that not
surprisingly takes a significant amount of time and effort to get
right. But when it is right, it will be superior to traditional
methods.
When you try equipment, such as the EZ-Flo, how long a trial do you
give it? Are you recording settings? Are you implementing it all at
once on your entire lawn/landscape, or trying it on sections?
I firmly believe that your answer lies in the technical aspects of the
implementation of fertigation, rather than whether or not the concept
of fertigation itself is superior to traditional methods.
Sincerely,
omniscientbeing-ga
Google Answers Researcher |
,
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