The Benefits of Fertigation

Rod Blanchard ?EUR??,,????'??? Manager of Product Development Fertile Earth Corporation

 

A properly tuned fertigation system does more than just water the plants. It can control fertilizer and pesticide application, manage the microbial content in the soil, and protect newly transferred nursery stock. Not just for the agricultural sector anymore, fergitation systems are being implemented in golf courses, municipalities, and residential areas. This is a lawn in northern Utah that has run on a fertigation system for over a year.

Early Stages of Development

The first sector to adopt and develop fertigation was the agricultural industry, which clearly had the most to gain from such technology. Individuals whose livelihoods depend on producing healthy and abundant crops sought to increase nutrient absorption by plants while reducing the amount of actual fertilizer and other harsh chemicals.

In recent years, fertigation has been introduced to the residential and small commercial markets. Today, fertigation is being adopted in various sectors of the industry. The initial motivation has been the overall labor savings involved by allowing the irrigation system to do more than just apply water, as other advantages are emerging. Here are a few of the other advantages of fertigation.

Fertigation is better for the environment.

Traditional methods of applying fertilizers often allow excessive chemicals to leach into aquifers or run-off into waterways. Properly-tuned fertigation systems allow for application only in the amount of fertilizer that the plants will readily utilize for every watering. Application rates can therefore be reduced by as much as 50%.

Fertigation allows the microfeeding of a landscape in smaller dosages over a period of time, often providing a better and much longer lasting result. These pictures are of a garden in Palm Springs, CA, two months apart.

Slow apply is better than slow release.

Many slow release products on the market rely on ingredients that can retard microbial activity in the soil. This can prevent premature release of important elements such as nitrogen. With slow apply fertigation, there is no need to harness microbial activity, allowing the beneficial soil bacteria to continue to perform the critical role of breaking down organic matter, facilitating nutrient uptake, helping salts leach out of soils, naturally aerating the soil and improving its balance and friability.

Fertigation minimizes transplant shock.

Most nursery stock comes from a fertigated environment. When these plants are transplanted into foreign soil without daily nutrition they often struggle. With a fertigation system in place, the transition is much easier. Fertigation is better for plants than traditional methods of applying chemicals.

Plants prefer to be fed slowly and consistently. Steady growth without peaks and valleys makes plants more pest and disease tolerant, healthier and more productive. Many nutrients are readily absorbed through plants foliar surfaces. Fertigation readily promotes foliar absorption of essential nutrients.

Pestigation: An additional way to put sprinklers to work

One of the advantages of having an injector incorporated into an irrigation system is the ability to make frequent applications. This facilitates the application of safe EPA exempt active ingredients as natural pest repellents. In the past these pest repellents have not been used because of poor residual properties and the impracticality of daily applications. Today, repelling a variety of insects from mosquitoes to ants can be done automatically with a fertigation/pestigation system.

Though it is important that when considering implementing fertigation into residential or small commercial installations, it is imperative that one review the local municipal guidelines for backflow prevention. Such guidelines can and do vary among municipalities.

Fertigation: The Competitive Edge

As mentioned before, one of the main advantages of fertigation is the overall reduction in labor. Some municipalities have reported that since installing fertigation systems, labor savings have reached as high as 80%. Another municipality recorded that they went from spending six weeks fertilizing to just less than six days.

Individual contractors that once focused entirely on design and build are finding that by installing fertigation devices, they can effectively compete in the maintenance sector of the industry. Fertigation is also gaining steam as a solid and viable upgrade to any irrigation system. Whether you experimented with fertigation in its infancy and were disappointed or have been waiting on the sidelines, now is a good time to turn those mundane tasks of applying fertilizer and pesticides over to the sprinklers. It may be a blow to our egos but the fact is that sprinklers do it better than we can.