Fertilizer Injectors?

TorontoJoe

TorontoJoe

Administrator
Is anyone here using these with their drip systems?

I've been looking at these two, trying to decide if it's worth it. I don't particularly like the fertilizer routine with hundreds of hungry plants.... I've been on the fence for a long time about getting one of these...

I'm trying to figure out the pros and cons of these two types

ezfloinjection.com

EZ-FLO – 2.5 Gallon Fertilizer Injection System | EZ-Flo Injection Systems

Tired of refilling your fertilizer tank every other week? The EZ-FLO 2.5 Gallon system gives you 3x the capacity of the standard model, which means fewer refills and more time enjoying your yard. It connects directly to any outdoor faucet in minutes and automatically mixes water-soluble...
ezfloinjection.com


Both look pretty straightforward



In either case I'm not sure how one determines how to determine the correct amount and frequency.
 
@TorontoJoe I never used fertilizer system and only have 3 trees so take it for what its worth 😀 but in general your questions are valid but the answers depends on your setup, for example :
1- are you going to have 1 single line 400 feet for you trees or 4 line at 100 feet each?
2- based on your setup the accuracy of dispensing amount will be more accurate the shorter the lines are because no matter what the flow would be the tree closer to the pressure point will get more flow than the furthest so you have to factor that in
3- but high level math, I would divide the amount of liquid fertilizer by the number of feeding points for example if you have 200 oz of fertilizer and 100 pots to feed then you can assume each pot gets 2 oz, its not going to be exact but that the best you can do. I would keep it this simple
4- I am sure other people will have an actual experience with this method way better than me
5- I maybe totally wrong
Good luck and keep us updated what you end-up doing. My opinion knowing you having hundreds of trees to feed , this is a very inexpensive system to help you and save time if you can figure out the math
 
Figneer said:
@TorontoJoe I never used fertilizer system and only have 3 trees so take it for what its worth 😀 but in general your questions are valid but the answers depends on your setup, for example :
1- are you going to have 1 single line 400 feet for you trees or 4 line at 100 feet each?
2- based on your setup the accuracy of dispensing amount will be more accurate the shorter the lines are because no matter what the flow would be the tree closer to the pressure point will get more flow than the furthest so you have to factor that in
3- but high level math, I would divide the amount of liquid fertilizer by the number of feeding points for example if you have 200 oz of fertilizer and 100 pots to feed then you can assume each pot gets 2 oz, its not going to be exact but that the best you can do. I would keep it this simple
4- I am sure other people will have an actual experience with this method way better than me
5- I maybe totally wrong
Good luck and keep us updated what you end-up doing. My opinion knowing you having hundreds of trees to feed , this is a very inexpensive system to help you and save time if you can figure out the math
Click to expand...

I just figured there would be some sort of chart that would provide a general idea or starting point based on number of lines.

I have four zones that go at different times. Each zone has up between ~ 70-90 drippers. Currently all the figs are on 4 LPH (1 GPH) emitters that run three times a day for 20 min.

I don't know how dispensing accuracy would be managed if distance from the unit is a factor. In my case that could be anywhere from 5 to 50m. So it varies a lot.... That said, I use pressure compensating emitters... so in theory, the flow should be consistent.... I would need to shut off any micro sprinklers on the zone and continue to fee manually there.

Saving time is definitely what I'm going for here. Hopefully I'll learn enough, quickly enough that I can start using it before feeding is done for the season.
 
@TorontoJoe, I have a Dosatron 25f. It is one of the best things I've done for my orchard behind the irrigation system itself.
Very very easy to use. You just need to figure out the concentration of Nitrogen you want on the output. Once you mix your "stock tank" to the specified concentration. Every bit of water that goes out will have a precise amount of solution carried with it. No need for guessing pressure and flow rates with the siphon type injectors.
Dosatron has an excellent calculator that will guide you with the amount of fertilizer by weight to mix in the stock tank to get a desired output in the irrigation system.
 
DCallahan said:
@TorontoJoe, I have a Dosatron 25f. It is one of the best things I've done for my orchard behind the irrigation system itself.
Very very easy to use. You just need to figure out the concentration of Nitrogen you want on the output. Once you mix your "stock tank" to the specified concentration. Every bit of water that goes out will have a precise amount of solution carried with it. No need for guessing pressure and flow rates with the siphon type injectors.
Dosatron has an excellent calculator that will guide you with the amount of fertilizer by weight to mix in the stock tank to get a desired output in the irrigation system.
Click to expand...

Very cool. I'm going to look up the Dosatron 25f now. Thanks!
 
TorontoJoe said:
Very cool. I'm going to look up the Dosatron 25f now. Thanks!
Click to expand...
I have many different zones on one injector, they run at different times, each has a different flow rate , because they all have different amounts of emitters but they all receive the same precious blend , the injector compensates how much it applies by how much water flows through it.
I actually have two injectors, one each in two different locations on the property. One uses a 55 gallon barrel and the smaller patio system uses a 6 gallon bucket as a stock tank.
The calculator on Dosatrons website is under the resources tab, and water soluble tab after that. Play around with it to get a feel for the ease of use.
My units have a 1:128 ratio
 
DCallahan said:
I have many different zones on one injector, they run at different times, each has a different flow rate , because they all have different amounts of emitters but they all receive the same precious blend , the injector compensates how much it applies by how much water flows through it.
I actually have two injectors, one each in two different locations on the property. One uses a 55 gallon barrel and the smaller patio system uses a 6 gallon bucket as a stock tank.
The calculator on Dosatrons website is under the resources tab, and water soluble tab after that. Play around with it to get a feel for the ease of use.
My units have a 1:128 ratio
Click to expand...

This is excellent! So, you just set it up with a bypass for when you don't want to feed? I'll have to do some work to reconfigure the system to accommodate everything...

I'll also need to set it up so I can easily disconnect on either end to roll out the entire unit come winter. I can't leave it outside or it'll freeze and get damaged. Maybe I can mount the whole thing on plywood vertically with casters to roll it away as needed

Doseatron seem like very good units.... Do you think overseas units like the one in my link are worth looking at or just junk that I'll need to replace?
 
TorontoJoe said:
This is excellent! So, you just set it up with a bypass for when you don't want to feed? I'll have to do some work to reconfigure the system to accommodate everything...

I'll also need to set it up so I can easily disconnect on either end to roll out the entire unit come winter. I can't leave it outside or it'll freeze and get damaged. Maybe I can mount the whole thing on plywood vertically with casters to roll it away as needed

Doseatron seem like very good units.... Do you think overseas units like the one in my link are worth looking at or just junk that I'll need to replace?
Click to expand...
My local Greenhouse supply is a dealer for Dosatron and Mixrite. They told me they are both of the same good quality. And the bonus is that they are both serviceable. And they can do that work in-house.
My small setup is mounted onto a board as a single unit , I screw it onto the back of my gas grill,LoL. Winter time that whole unit comes inside.
The large setup, the Dosatron has a pipe union on each side to disconnect for winterizing, I also detach the timers and remove the filter cup, the rest of the piping remains.
Don't forget to plumb in a hose bib on the output side for hand watering and foliar application
 
Here's a picture from July last year, it's a bit different now , but on the same mount.
The Dosatron has been moved around to feed all timer circuits.
 

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DCallahan said:
There may be a corrosion/reaction issue down the road but it gives the best strength in mounting. And I have a great old fashioned hardware store that sells it on the cheap.
Click to expand...

I love the idea of having a rigid setup like that. The plastic mainline pipe is sloppy. I might consider 3/4 pex but the IP is nice and clean.

I see the 4 timers in your pic. You switch the hoses up to the ones on the top-left when you need to fertliize? I was thinking of making a bypass right around the injector with ball valves.
 
That picture was an incomplete install, but the best I have on hand at the moment now
The injection went to the young trees, and the mature trees got plain water.
When I wanted to fertilize the mature trees, I hand applied, I would mix a solution in a 5 gallon bucket, that would give me a 400ppm concentration output, switch the pickup tube around from the everyday stock tank. Then utilize the hose bib off the Dosatron. Doing this once a week.
 
I use the EZ Flow set up and like it very much. I didn't consider the other system, but it looks very good to me also. For me, doing drip irrigation and then the fertigation were total game changers. Watering and fertilizing are so time consuming, and the more figs we all keep adding, the more time it takes. Automating these very time consuming and mundane tasks was pretty liberating! I don't think there would be any way that I could keep the number of trees I have if these tasks weren't automated. I think I would have burnt out on it by now. And I know I was not fertilizing as much as I should have been in the past when I did it by hand, since it was such a pain to do. :D

For the EZ Flow system, I read the instructions and still had trouble deciding if and which flow restrictor to use and if I should use the "slow" flow rate for the "fast" flow rate. I kind of glazed over when reading the differences and the information that was provided. For me, just using it and trial and error over a pretty short period of time worked the best. One thing that helps me with this set up, is that I put food coloring into the tank so that I can actually see when the tank solution has been used up. When I first used it, I used one of the flow restrictors and put in quite a bit of fertilizer... way too much fertilizer. I didn't hurt my plants, but I ended up emptying the tank with a lot of fertilizer solution still left in it. It worked better when I figured out approximately how much I used in the past when I hand fertilized and then used that same amount And, for me, I don't use the flow restrictors anymore and just set it a "fast" and get the fertilizer into the pots and then done.

Good luck with whichever you choose. I think you will be happy you took the leap to automate the fertilizing process.
 
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