Across the United States each morning, millions of moms and dads begin the day by handing their children brightly colored, fruity tasting vitamins fashioned in the shape of cartoon characters. Each dose, composed of the right mixture of vitamins and nutrients, keeps the children healthy and growing.
Jeff Prink, park maintenance supervisor, City of Aurora, Colo., does the same thing for the parks and recreation areas in his care. For the last two years, Prink has experimented with fertigation, the recurring delivery of small amounts of liquid fertilizer and soil nutrients through an irrigation system. The process has been used for decades in the agricultural and golf course markets but only recently made its way into residential and light commercial settings.
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 pared-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 on which it will be used.
FERTIGATION ADVANTAGES. The chief benefits of fertigation are:
• Fertilizer applied through an irrigation system can be done in small, regular doses (like a once-a-day vitamin), eliminating the feast/famine cycles associated with typical granular applications. "Growth spurts are nonexistent because you are not dumping out the next three months of fertilizer all at once," Prink says. "The growth is a little more constant, so you don’t have to deal with the mowing problem that usually follows a week or two after you fertilize."
• Increased flexibility and control over the fertilization program. If the homeowner is dissatisfied with the lawn’s appearance, the fertilizer type or concentration can be altered quickly and easily – something that is often labor intensive and impractical with granular applications.
• Contractors can reduce overall fertilizer use by delivering it in liquid form direct to turf and plant material.
• Contractors can reduce labor costs for contractors who sell/maintain fertigation systems in lieu of routine applications of granular fertilizers. The combination of reduced material and labor costs means higher profit margins for lawn maintenance operations. Additionally, the contractor would make a profit on the initial sale and installation of the system.
"The biggest benefit I see is how weak the fertilizer is," Prink observes. "By the time you are putting it into the irrigation, it is so diluted that it becomes less harmful to the turf."
Prink also has noticed healthier root zones in the turf he fertigates. "The fertilizer is right there in the water, so it gets in the root zone well. I’ve seen first hand some improved root zones."
FERTIGATION DISADVANTAGES. What makes fertigation such a logical proposition – use of an existing irrigation system to spread fertilizer – can also be the chief downside of the technology. The fertilizer only goes where the water goes, so if the irrigation system is poorly designed and achieves lackluster uniformity, the fertilizer will be patchy as well.
"Application of the fertilizer is only going to be as good as the uniformity of your irrigation systems, which on a residential system is probably not all that great," says Brian Vinchesi, president, Irrigation Consulting Inc., Pepperell, Mass. Likewise, high heat or wind, the same forces that evaporate or diffuse irrigation water, can have similar negative effects on fertilizer applied through a sprinkler.
"If I were a contractor, I would be concerned with the liability of it," Vinchesi adds, referring to the combination of fertilizer in irrigation water. Reduced-pressure backflow prevention devices are required to prevent contamination of the water source, and there is the concern about the liability of fertilizer carried by the wind into a neighboring property.
Before going too far with fertigation, contractors should carefully investigate state and local codes on the issue. In many states, certifications and licenses are required to apply fertilizer. "It may be that since the homeowner owns the system, they don’t have to be licensed, but that’s certainly a question I would want to ask somebody," Vinchesi notes.
Fertigation also involves increased sales activities. It is one thing for a contractor to sell a customer a periodic $35-fertilizer application but quite another to ask a homeowner to purchase a $500 fertigation system they may not entirely understand.
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RESIDENTIAL Fertigation Systems |
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Several different fertigation systems are available for use in the home and light commercial markets, ranging from simple venturi-type arrangements to more sophisticated injection systems. Basic parts of all systems include a backflow prevention device to protect the water source, a storage tank for the fertilizer and an injector or similar component that adds a controlled amount of fertilizer into the irrigation system. All the systems include a way in which to control the amount of fertilizer metered into the water, whether it be a complex metering injector and controller or a simple orifice, which widens and narrows. For example, some systems can beset to disperse 1/8 teaspoon to 2 teaspoons per gallon of water, says Darin Branch, vice president of Bia-Green, Las Vegas. "On the slowest setting, it takes 15,000 gallons of water to empty 5 pounds of fertilizer," Branch adds. |
Jason Maddox, agricultural and irrigation sales representative, Dosatron International, Clearwater, Fla., says some contractors are designing programs to help homeowners defer upfront costs by spreading fertigation equipment and installation costs over time as part of a monthly fertilization contract. And, so far, Maddox adds, the key customers have been upper income residences and light commercial accounts, which are less cost conscious.
MARKET GROWTH. Though residential fertigation systems remain somewhat rare and limited to upscale clientele, there’s no question the idea of fertigation is growing, says Ned Lipps, chief executive officer, Fertigator, St. Louis. Mainstream irrigation distributors, such as John Deere Landscapes, Ewing Irrigation, Horizon and United Green Mark, have begun carrying multiple brands of residential fertigations systems.
"I think in the next five years it could be our biggest market," says Jim Fields, horticulture sales manager, Dosmatic U.S.A., Carrollton, Texas. "The retrofit market is where a massive amount of business is going to take place in the next few years."
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