Fertilizer Injector

[Rusty on Pine Is.]

I just recently got a fertilizer injector, or proportioner.

It meters fert, (in this case a 15-5-15 water soluble) into my irrigation lines....i use pot stakes which spray a small fan...the ones i use are rated at 8 gph.

i have used EZ Flow, and some venturi based units, and they worked, but never very well or precisely...the MiniDos is mechanical, so rate of flow and pressure do not affect the mix rate, which i have set at 100:1......i have the mix so that it is at abt 190-200 ppm's of N.

I use this every 3-4 weeks per zone, and stop when the rainy season begins.

Do any of you use this setup for your fertilization?

[Moose]

Jim Glock down in the Keys. He rarely visits Palm Talk - says he gets burn't out from the computer with his job.

Rusty - you gotta mulch heavy with this sytem or the weeds will get to Bill Sanford proportions.

[LJG]

I use both. Injectors like this and Dosatron are very accurate but also require more space to set up and expose more pipe. EZFlo can be dropped into an irrigation box however it is not accurate at all. Even worse on long drip runs. If I had a central location I would do a Dosatron for sure. But since my irrigation has koi fill lines and pool autofills attached with no way to change out do to large concrete pours, I am stuck with EZFlo. Which does work if you don't mind variation in dosing strengths.

By the way Rusty, you will love the injector it is a game changer in gardening in my book.

[Rusty on Pine Is.]

Jim Glock down in the Keys. He rarely visits Palm Talk - says he gets burn't out from the computer with his job.

Rusty - you gotta mulch heavy with this sytem or the weeds will get to Bill Sanford proportions.

Thanks for the heads up, Ron...been using water soluble fertilizer for abt a year, and you are so right about the weeds!

Thanks

Rusty

[Rusty on Pine Is.]

I use both. Injectors like this and Dosatron are very accurate but also require more space to set up and expose more pipe. EZFlo can be dropped into an irrigation box however it is not accurate at all. Even worse on long drip runs. If I had a central location I would do a Dosatron for sure. But since my irrigation has koi fill lines and pool autofills attached with no way to change out do to large concrete pours, I am stuck with EZFlo. Which does work if you don't mind variation in dosing strengths.

By the way Rusty, you will love the injector it is a game changer in gardening in my book.

Thanks Len, i remember some time ago you talking about your WSF (water soluble fertilization) system.....and you are correct abt the infrastructure, but i already had 75% of the pipe and injectors in place, so it was almost 'plug n' play'........i did try EZ Flow, and it did work, but it was either my math or their system and i couldn't seem to lock the ppm's of N in.......

There are drawbacks to any system...in this case this injector will have to be rebuilt at some point since it is mechanical.....

And you are so right about the results...i started using WSF last year, and geez........The growth has been amazing!!!!!!

Thanks again

Rusty

[kahili]

I use both a lot. They both have their places in my operation. I use the EZ Flo for where I don't need a stronger solution of fert (plugs etc) and just want to make up a small amt or am drenching with a fungicide etc. EZ Flo's are more reliable in a few ways once you understand that the ppm that you get is based on the pressure of your water. The injectors are not, which is nice. But if your EZ flo is not working, you will know faster because it either your solution is not going down in the bucket (and it goes down fast), or you will hear the air in the water coming out of the hose. With the injector if it stops, you don't know as easily or as fast unless you check the EC level coming out of the hose (or look for the blue), and because I use a 200:1 ratio, it takes longer for the solution to go down in the bucket. It takes 2 seconds to fix the EZ flo and at least a half hour to an hour to take apart the injector and either clean or replace parts/rings. You also have to recalibrate it at least once a year or your EC level can be way off. If you run clean water through it after each use, it will help with keeping the parts cleaner. But you can make two buckets of solution and go for a good 6-8 hours without having to do more-thats really nice. I think I have a love/hate relationship with both!

Rusty, are you also using a slow release fert, or just using 200 ppm once every 3-4 wks? Are you leaving the system on long enough to really drench the soil or just mostly spraying the leaves etc?

[Rusty on Pine Is.]

I use both a lot. They both have their places in my operation. I use the EZ Flo for where I don't need a stronger solution of fert (plugs etc) and just want to make up a small amt or am drenching with a fungicide etc. EZ Flo's are more reliable in a few ways once you understand that the ppm that you get is based on the pressure of your water. The injectors are not, which is nice. But if your EZ flo is not working, you will know faster because it either your solution is not going down in the bucket (and it goes down fast), or you will hear the air in the water coming out of the hose. With the injector if it stops, you don't know as easily or as fast unless you check the EC level coming out of the hose (or look for the blue), and because I use a 200:1 ratio, it takes longer for the solution to go down in the bucket. It takes 2 seconds to fix the EZ flo and at least a half hour to an hour to take apart the injector and either clean or replace parts/rings. You also have to recalibrate it at least once a year or your EC level can be way off. If you run clean water through it after each use, it will help with keeping the parts cleaner. But you can make two buckets of solution and go for a good 6-8 hours without having to do more-thats really nice. I think I have a love/hate relationship with both!

Rusty, are you also using a slow release fert, or just using 200 ppm once every 3-4 wks? Are you leaving the system on long enough to really drench the soil or just mostly spraying the leaves etc?

Wow, what a voluminous reply...well, i will answer the last part of your post, all of which is really cool btw....anyway, i make sure that prior to fertilization i water the same zones at least 3 times before fertilization...,,,i have nothing in the way of data to go upon, but i think my soil profile needs that much water in the rhisophere..it is a guess....

None of the application is applied to the foliage, so all the benefits must be derived via the root system.....the calculations are based upon label directions, and then applied to match the mechanical aspects of the proportioner.

When it comes to the proper amount, i am doing it by guess....my larger palms have 3-4 emiitters, @ 8 gls per hr........ each zone takes abt an hr to work....this is scientific method is by trial and error, but so far it seems to work...lol....and at the end everything gets abt 190 ppm of N, at varying application volumes.

BTW, i assume that none of the fert i use is slow release.....

Thanks for your post!

Rusty

.

[kahili]

I didn't mean to give such a long answer but I work with both every wk for 20 yrs so I guess it sort of poured out....lol . I was mainly warning you, I think, about the fact that the injector will stop working at some point. Find a good parts supply place! They sell repair kits. I think that I have replaced every part in it, some parts 4-5 times.

The reason that I asked about the amt of fert that you were using was that I didn't think that 200 ppm was enough for larger plants in the ground once every 3-4 wks. I use 200-300 ppm every wk on small 3.5" potted annuals, and we drench the soil when we fert, and by the end of the week they have used it all, so I was surprised that you are getting by with what you are doing and not supplementing with slow release. Soluble fert usually is used up pretty fast, thats why its so laborious to fert that way. I use slow release on my plants in the ground so that I don't have to fert each wk. But if what you are doing is working, thats great! And no, if you are only using 15-5-15 soluble, then you are not using slow release. That would be a granular that you broadcast over the soil and walk away from fertilizing (except for watering to release the fert) for anywhere from 3-9 months. Much cheaper/easier and faster than soluble fert like what you are presently doing. The good (and only) thing about soluble is that you can adjust the strength weekly and switch ferts if you want to alternate between an acidic and a base fert, or change your delivery of nitrogen or some ferts have more (or none) of a particular micro nutrient. Soluble fert was really designed for quick crops like annuals.Because the fert only lasts a wk, if there is a problem, you can switch ferts easily-its like a balancing act sometimes. You can also add sulfuric acid to the solution to lower the PH , which I do for some types of annuals that need a lower PH.

It does sound like you are drenching the soil though! You really don't have to water 3 times before fertilizing though if you don't need to. The biggest trick is to not fert a super dry plant because the salts tend to rise to the surface in dry soil and they are concentrated there and could burn roots.