Fertigation is the combination of fertilizer injected into the irrigation water supply and distributed by the irrigation system. The irrigation system provides the method of distribution for fertilizer and thereby provides immediate benefit to the turf and plants covered by the sprinkler system. This is not a new method as it has been used for many decades by the agriculture and horticulture industry.
I have installed several dozen systems and my clients have experience a better looking and healthier landscape. I really like the bio stimulants that improve the soil. If you research soil, water, plant relationships like I have over the past three decades you will learn that great soil contains all kinds of living creatures and non living creatures that plants have relationships with. This organic matter and that soil actually provide all the ingredients for plants to thrive. The problem with landscapes for homes and businesses is that the soil that was originally at these locations has been damaged, removed, or disrupted to the extent that fertilizer has to be continually applied to support the lawn and landscape. If you use synthetic fertilizers that are granular and apply them with a spreader than you need lots of water to break down the granules and dissolve them to make available to plants. Synthetic fertilizers do not add life to the soil they actually harm the soil by leaving a residue. This is why I recommend organic fertilizers only and combined with soil improving biostimulants adds life to the soil. These biostimulants have ingredients such as beneficial bacteria, microbes, mycorrhizae fungi, humic acid, fulvic acid, and trace elements. When enough organic matter is created then the soil can support the landscape and fertigation aides in achieving this goal. Having great soil actually will reduce the amount of irrigation required because the soil will have much greater water holding capacity that they can make available to lawn and plants.
A few of the many benefits provided by fertigation are:
1. Consistent application allows better looking and healthier plants.
2. Consistent application allows for smaller doses of fertilizer to be distributed, therefore no peaks and valleys or anemic looking plants.
3. A smaller dose - micro dosing -of fertilizer prevents waste and provides the correct amount that plants can absorb.
4. Water soluble fertilizer is more readily absorbed and provides immediate benefit.
5. Plants have demonstrated greater health and more developed root system.
6. Increased resistance to disease and fungus. Healthy plants and soil that is alive have much greater resistance and stress much less.
7. Little or no waste of fertilizer. Because of frequent and regular irrigation cycles very little fertilizer is used in each gallon of irrigation water. Approximately 1 teaspoon per gallon is either absorbed immediately by the plant being watered or infiltrated into the soil and absorbed by the plants roots or is used by organisms in the soil.
8. The more you use fertigation, the healthier your plants are, the result is that over time you require less water and fertilizer. The effect of fertigation over time is cumulative and this is reflected in a better looking landscape.
9. The fertigation system can also be used to deliver other products such as: soil improvement products, calcium, gypsum, mosquito control, geese repellant, rabbit repellant, and more. All organic and all natural.
10. Reduced cost and less expensive when compared to conventional application methods. The conventional application method of coming to your home 3-4 times per year and spreading granular fertilizers all over the place is eliminated. What happens to your investment when the next day after the application we have a big rain storm? Good bye to that application and hello to two headed frogs!
11. Much better for the environment. There is little or no run off onto streets, storm drains, wetlands, aquifer that occurs with granular fertilizers.
12. Safer for children, pets, and wildlife.
As the world shrinks and resources become finite fertigation makes sense. As population grows and competion for drinking water increases then water cost will increase. Fertigation reduces water consumption. Traditionally, when water becomes scarce due to natural droughts (or manmade) the first control on water usage is to reduce or eliminate water for sprinkler systems. Long Island usually suffers from a drought every 11 years. During those years it is critical to make every drop count and keep your landscape investment alive. Additionally, many communities, like my own Suffolk County, have banned application of fertilizers for certain times of the year. It is November 1 thru March 31. This is due to all the fertilizer run off into the surrounding bodies of water and into the aquifer. There is also a lot of talk about a ban of phosphorus in fertilizers because of the algae blooms it creates.
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