Fertigation

Discussion in 'Planting, growing, nurturing Plants' started by frosty, Mar 4, 2008.

  1. frosty

    frosty Junior Member

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    does anyone use this method to distribute compost teas and other fish/seaweed fertilizers through drippers and/or sprinklers ?

    seems a good idea to us but we need to find a small unit to do it all I can find are big commercial units or units where you have to buy their non organic chemical type cncentrated fertiliser

    thanks
    frosty
     
  2. ho-hum

    ho-hum New Member

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    Frosty,

    I have done it with compost tea that I made in 2l batches. The vegie garden used 6 circular sprinklers on 19mm poly with 3' risers.

    I used a bayonet clip to get the water from the main 50mm line. I would run the sprinklers for a few seconds and then lift the pipe so some drained. Pour the tea in and re-insert the bayonet in the main line.

    This was only done in the evening and I left the sprinklers on after that. The area covered was about 9 x 8m. Sometimes I used 4l of tea.

    A thread a few years ago determined for me that part of my process was to solarise the tea in the sun for a few days. I now know that this would have probably killed off the microflora that would have been so beneficial. We live and learn.

    cheers..
     
  3. ppp

    ppp Junior Member

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    Just an idea:

    mixing liquid fertilsers etc into a stream of water could be done using a "venturi". A venturi works through a flow of water actually "sucking" liquid out of hose put into the stream at an angle to the stream.

    I have seen setups for mixing bentonite and drilling muds into a water stream, made of a small steel piece connected to hose at each end. The bentonite powder, was "sucked" into the stream, by putting the small tube coming off the metal piece into a container.

    I googled this, but couldn't find any products on the market though :-(

    Just a thought here, but I think I saw a product on Gardening Australia (by Jerry Coleby Williams) a little while back which allowed you to clip a liquid fertiliser bottle onto a hose, allowing it to be mixed into the stream. This would almost certainly work through this "verturi" effect. Perhaps you can look into one of those?
     
  4. Duckpond

    Duckpond Junior Member

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    there is an ofthe shelf unit sold through Total Eden that is built into your retic system. Its only about $200. It is sold alongside the root juice fertilizer, but any liquid will be ok as long as there is no particles.
     
  5. frosty

    frosty Junior Member

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    thanks for the replies everyone :D

    we have been using a bottle on a hose ( old seasol bottle ) but for pasture it needs too long a hose :lol: :lol:

    hubby knows about the venturi type system and thought of making one but then we thought it would be easier to buy one ! we will invetigate Totoal eden's when we go to Perth !
    regards
    frosty
     
  6. ColinJEly

    ColinJEly Junior Member

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    Fertigation

    Hello Frosty
    When I worked for the Dept of Conservation, Forests & Lands here in Victoria we used to use these for injecting firefighting foam on our fire trucks;

    "www.hortec.com.au"

    Sorry too long ago, can't remember how much we paid.

    Cheers

    Col.
     
  7. milifestyle

    milifestyle New Member

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    I had a 1 by 1 metre cage which was set 2 feet off the ground with wheels on one end and handles on the other I would toss grass clippings, compost, sea weed etc in it (usually partially composted) and move it around the garden each day (during the rainy season).

    When it finished leaching i would empty it, dig it under and refill and start again. It worked well.
     

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