Not so underground anymore

With increased regulation of water usage and drought hitting some regions of the country, the use of drip irrigation is only expected to grow nationwide, system manufacturers say.

Mauricio Troche, director of landscape and turf at Netafim, says his company has been helping contractors retrofit large swaths of turf grass with drip irrigation systems on an increased basis.
 

A narrower price point.

Stuart Spaulding, customer and technical service manager for DIG, says he has read studies showing the difference in cost for installing a

drip irrigation system compared to a traditional sprinkler system has narrowed.

“Obviously, you’ve got to do more digging with a sprinkler system than you do with the drip system,” Spaulding says.

There used to be a need for general education in some areas of the country where drip irrigation isn’t as prevalent as it is other areas, like the Southwest, but that need has declined in recent years, Spaulding says.

“The product knowledge in the Southwestern states with the commercial contractors is pretty good because they’ve been using drip irrigation and low volume products for a while now and so they kind of know the ins and outs of it,” he added.

While drip irrigation can also be used in landscape beds, usually buried under a few inches of mulch, the bulk of training classes offered today by Netafim reps focus on turf installs.

“Drip irrigation is … listed out at 90 to 95 percent efficient, meaning that the water you’re putting down is being used. Most sprays and rotors are around the 60 percent, 65 percent range. So you’re just using your water more efficiently, using less of it. So that’s probably the number one selling feature in my opinion,” Troche says.
 

Few misconceptions remain.

Some contractors mistakenly believe drip irrigation systems require more maintenance than traditional sprinkler systems, but that isn’t the case, Troche says.

Today, system emitters are protected and housed inside drip irrigation tubing. Tubing is placed under soil or mulch, making systems low maintenance and not easily kicked up or damaged during normal yard maintenance or use, he says. Basic maintenance includes flushing the system to remove any debris that may have entered the lines.

In the past, drip line users experienced issues with roots entering emitters and clogging them up, but those issues have been addressed, Spaulding says. At DIG, this meant educating contractors on proper scheduling so that the turf roots don’t get stressed out looking for water, Spaulding adds.

“We’ve gotten feedback from people who seem to think that a drip system is something that just stays on 24/7. Of course, it’s not. It has a longer duration than a typical sprinkler system but you still never leave it on all the time,” Spaulding says.

Leaving the system on for too long does not promote healthy plants and turf.

Running the system too long can waste water through deep percolation, where water runs below the root systems of the plants. “Although it does end up in the water table, it’s not being utilized by the plants,” Spaulding says.
 

Improved technology and ease of use.

Emitter technology has improved and today they can filter out more soil and put out water at adjustable flow rates, depending on soil type, Troche says.

At Netafim, product refinement is a constant process. The company is currently on its 31st iteration of its emitter, with each change helping make the product more reliable and efficient, Troche says.

“I think the other misconception is having to use the top flow rates in clay soil where you’re putting down too much water for what the soil can take, so therefore you start creating runoffs,” he says.

At DIG, engineers are working on solar-powered timers, controllers and systems to give added sustainability benefits to an already earth-friendly system, Spaulding says.
 

An easier sell going forward.

While drip irrigation is still most popular in the arid climate of the Southwest, where plant root zones are only a few inches beneath grade, Troches says these systems are beneficial in any climate.

In the Northeast or Northwest, where rainfall is more prevalent, that natural rainfall is actually more helpful in reviving a lawn or landscape bed where drip irrigation was recently installed.

“Because you’re going to get some rain to back you up and be able to help cover some of that area,” Troche says. “Some guys (in the Southwest) would do supplemental irrigation and spray over the top for a few weeks while the turf gets established.”

Contractors that offer drip installs have a competitive advantage when many of their competitors are only offering spray heads, Troche adds.

"Runoff from sprinkler systems can carry fertilizer into places where it doesn’t want to go and with drip you don’t have to worry about that,” he says.

Drip irrigation manufacturers know firsthand the challenge of selling their product.

“Sometimes it’s hard for people to change. Sometimes you have to kind of push them, and one of the things that’s pushing them is the high price of water and restrictions that are being imposed in some parts of the country,” Spaulding says. Because of that, manufacturers say customer requests for drip irrigation are only expected to increase, due to constraints on natural resources.

“They're going to want to know if a contractor has the ability and the knowledge and the experience to do that,” Spaulding says. “If a contractor is not up to speed on drip, I think it would be a very good business decision to look into it because it’s definitely going to be growing segment going forward.”

The author is a freelance writer based in Cleveland.