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FERTIGATION –
One of the key benefits of fertigation is the ability to "dial in" your fertility program. Once your system has been installed, the major benefit is that every time y If our plant is growing a vibrant root system that will require less watering, it is only safe to assume that the healthy root mass produces a healthy plant. Insect and disease Now as a homeowner, I like to enjoy my landscape and making sure that it is vibrant and healthy. Making an investment in a fertigation system will increase the value of my home and may make marketing my home easier when it comes time to sell. Having an environmentally intelligent method of sustaining my landscape may prove to be a higher demanding option for future home buyers. Remember that your home is your castle. By fertigating your landscape, youâll have more time to enjoy your landscape instead of walking behind that fertilizer spreader. |
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water soluble form is distributed directly into an irrigation system to fertilize large areas of landscaping at one time. This technique is not a new concept but has been used in the agricultural and golf course industries for years. It is only now becoming a more popular method of distribution to commercial and more importantly residential home sites. There is abundant research available that supports the superiority of fertigation as compared to traditional fertilizing techniques. Todayâs homeowner leads a busy life and the desire to have a beautiful landscape with minimal time investment is a growing market segment.
our irrigation system runs, you are feeding your landscape. This continuous feeding is called "spoon feeding". The major difference between this spoon feeding and bucket feeding is the amount of fertilizer applied at one time. Spoon feeding provides a constant low dose of food that the plant will absorb though itâs leaf tissue. When the leaf tissue cannot retain all the droplets of water & fertilizer, remaining food falls to the ground and the plant then absorbs the nutrients through the root system. I would like you to stop and think about this scenario compared to the bucket method. We take a 50# bag of fertilizer and broadcast it over the yard. We water it in and hope some fertilizer washes off and the roots absorb the nutrients. If we get a hard fast rain, much of that fertilizer is lost in our storm sewer system. Now go back to our spoon feed method and think about how that plant uses the nutrients; first through the leaf tissue, then through the roots. There is very little wasted fertilizer. Studies have shown that fertilizer usage may be cut by as much as 70%-80%. Now here is the second major benefit of this spoon feeding system. The plant will use more efficiently the fertilizer when it receives it in a manageable dose. The plants roots will significantly increase in size and depth, which then allows for even more downstream benefits. If we have a healthier plant with a larger root mass, the plant will retain more water and nutrients, thus reducing our overall water consumption. My hope is that you will start to see that snow ball effect of the spoon feeding techniques. So now that the ball is rolling, letâs see how big we can get it.
attach unhealthy plants that are under stress. One other reason plants may go into stress is a lack of nutrients due to the time lapse between bucket applications of fertilizer. Remember the key is to keep a plant at its peak without over fertilizing. Over fertilizing with the bucket method can also send a plant into a stressful state. If we can reduce and or eliminate the use of fungicides and insecticides, that just continues to add to our snow ball effect. Also the other thing that joins our snow ball is a lack of weeds. It only stands to reason that a healthy plant will continue to crowd out weed seeds, thus lowering your overall weed population. Spot spraying weeds will now be the norm, instead of the blanket weed & feed method. Stop and consider the environmental impact, or the significantly less environmental impact of the bucket method that we all grew up with, compared to the spoon feeding system. This is the real green movement.
