Landscape Contractor / Design Build Maintain

NOV 2014

LC/DBM provides landscape contractors with Educational, Imaginative and Practical information about their business, their employees, their machines and their projects.

Issue link: https://landscapecontractor.epubxp.com/i/407905

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 29 of 55

30 LC DBM "The board was a little hesitant due to the cost," said Mike Regan, owner of Pacific Green Landscape. But with the installation, the Westview HOA has reduced its wa- ter consumption by about 40 percent. Well-defined Delivery The most common types of irrigation sprinklers are fixed sprays, rotary sprays, rotors, micro-irrigation and drip. According to Toro Irrigation, drip or micro-irrigation is best for areas within five feet of foundations and hardscapes, and for planted areas that are not more than five feet wide. Shrubs and ornamental beds are best served with fixed sprays, or micro-irrigation if plant size will hinder sprays from effective dis- tribution. For planted areas five to15 feet in diameter, Toro advises fixed sprays. Rotary spray nozzles get their recommendation for planted ar- eas 15 to 24 feet in diameter; rotors for planted areas greater than 24 feet in diameter; drip irrigation for trees; and drip or rotors for steep slopes because their low precipitation rate helps prevent run- off. One very recent innovation in sprinklers comes from IrriGreen. Their Genius™ Irrigation System digitally controls multi-stream, multi-volume nozzles to shape watering patterns to a landscape's contours, including curves, angles, corners, and slopes. The idea was conceived by engineers who designed nozzles and fluid control algorithms for high-end commercial inkjet printers. The sprinklers have a digital valve-in-head and a pop-up rotor with a 14-stream, multi-volume nozzle designed to maintain uniform water distribution throughout each zone as the system automati - cally adjusts stream direction, flow and distance from zero to 35 feet. Below ground, a wired network connects the sprinklers to a server. The pattern of each sprinkler is mapped out with a wireless handheld device. "This advanced system requires just one sprinkler in the middle of each zone to cover the entire zone, watering evenly from the in- side out with minimal overlap," states Gary Klinefelter, founder and CEO, IrriGreen, Inc. "Because of this, our system uses 30 to 50 percent less water." Smarter Still The use of reclaimed water can play a key role in smart irrigation and can reduce overall costs. Pacific Green Landscape and West- view Neighborhood took advantage of San Diego's recycled water system, which began in 2007. The landscape contractor installed the necessary infrastructure and now all of Westview's landscape is irrigated with reclaimed water. ETwater recently launched a free Web service and site survey to help you create an optimized irrigation plan for your custom- ers' properties. Using a satellite view of the property and its ba- sic landscape details, a report specifying the precise amount of water necessary to maintain a landscape's most favorable plant health is automatically produced. This service is available at www.etwater.com/survey . Toro Irrigation offers this strategy to determine an efficient wa- tering schedule. On a healthy landscape, decrease the watering by 10 percent for two weeks and see if it becomes stressed. If not, keep decreasing by 10 percent until stress appears then return to the previous setting. Another way that Pacific Green Landscape lowered Westview Neighborhood's overall costs was by knowing about, and obtaining rebates through local water agencies. "The rebates and the help from Pacific Green Landscape to se- cure them was a big selling point for the board and made the up - grade much more affordable and well worth the investment," said John Kalas of Castle Breckenridge Management, the property man- ager for Westview Neighborhood. All the efforts paid off: the cost of water for the HOA was $53,611 in 2011 but only $21,107 for the 2014 fiscal year. This case study offers proof that landscape professionals can be a large part of the overall solution by educating themselves and their customers on how to maintain landscapes with less water and then recommending changes such as climate appropriate plants, weath - er-based controllers, soil moisture sensors, low precipitation rate sprinklers, and sub-surface drip irrigation. Green space, and all the environmental and personal benefits that accompanies it, will continue to be important. As long as the necessary steps to improve water use efficiency are taken today, a future of lush, healthy, attractive landscapes will not evaporate. Left: At a large residential property in Fullerton, Calif., Terra Prima installed mostly natives and other drought-resistant plants and chose to irrigate them with overhead spray from low-flow Toro heads instead of a subterranean drip system because research by the landscape company showed that the natives decline when the primary water they get is through their roots. The "river" of rocks will serve as a swale when it rains; holding some water and dispersing it slowly. (Terra Prima) Right: The Genius™ Irrigation System was installed by Common Grounds Lawn and Landscape at Plaza Park in Lonsdale, Minn., to irrigate 3,300 square feet of lawn divided into three sections bordered by sidewalks and separated by walkways, a central concrete area, and a large sand play area. Just four sprinklers total, installed in the interior of the lawn sections, were required, as was 70 percent less underground plastic pipe than a conventional system. (IrriGreen) DBM LC

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Landscape Contractor / Design Build Maintain - NOV 2014