Ensure Distribution Uniformity, Prevent Costly Repairs, And Make the Most of Your Water, Fertilizer And Energy With FGS's Water Treatment Program
For any large growing operation, regular irrigation maintenance is an essential part of keeping your crops healthy and protecting your irrigation system from long-term damage. At FGS, we offer a program that helps ensure proper distribution uniformity from the first tree all the way to the last.
Well water
Well water pulls water our of the ground to irrigate crops. Unfortunately, well water also contains several minerals that can clog the types of precise irrigation systems needed for watering. The most experienced growers know they need to maintain a healthy irrigation system in order to avoid costly repairs or replacements. With drip systems, high bicarbonate and high calcium can build up, causing clogs in emitters. FGS uses a special chemical shock treatment in order to dissolve and break up scaling, followed by a separete treatment used for regular maintenance.
Surface water
This type of water is free from most of the minerals found in well water that clog systems, but is exposed to algae and bacteria from the air that can be harmful to an irrigation system. Algae and bacteria can create havoc in irrigation lines because as they build up, they restrict a system's flow, negatively effecting distribution uniformity while wasting precious water and energy.
Our Water Treatment Program helps both watering sources in the long run by ensuring proper distribution uniformity helping take irrigation systems back to their original design specs, distributing the same amount of water and fertilizer from the first tree to the last.
Why Is Water Treatment So Important?
Water in California is a precious commodity, and is becoming even more scarce due to increasing regulations caused by drought. When irrigating crops, you need the same amount of water and fertilizer delivered to each and every tree in your orchard. You need to target your crops exact needs for water and ensure you're not overwatering or underwatering. Not to mention, you use the same watering system to fertilize as you do to water. With the costs of water, energy and fertilizer increasing, you don’t want to waste time and money on costly repairs or waste prcious water and energy.
The Costly Dangers Of An Untreated Irrigation System
With plugged emitters on one side of the orchard, you're at risk of overwatering in some areas and underwatering in others. Overwatering usually leads to diseases including phytophthora which causes root and crown rot. Since you’re using the irrigation system for water and fertilizer distribution, you’re potentially putting more nitrogen in one area and that can lead to other types of disease by overwatering past the root zone. As a result, your energy and water rates go up. When something is plugged you’re using more energy than is necessary to get water and fertilizer through your system.
What Is The Water Treatment Program?
We offer a regular schedule of visits and maintenance activities that are designed to prevent the harmful buildup of minerals, algae, and bacteria at the emitters in your micro irrigation system. By taking precautionary measures, we help ensure your irrigation system during the on-season, has a much longer lifespan, preventing the need for early system replacement, and ensuring water flows freely throughout the system to ensure distribution uniformity and the largest possible yield.
What Does The Water Treatment Program Include?
As part of the irrigation maintenance program, you will receive monthly site visits from our team to monitor and report on your system, ensuring it’s running optimally and your crops are receiving the right amount of water and fertilizer they need, -- the way your irrigation system was intended. In addition to the monthly visits and analysis, you will also receive:
- Monthly water analysis
- Monthly drum level monitoring and treatment
- Monthly inspections to check for leaks in the filtration system and/or broken and missing parts
- Monthly monitoring of the system pressure and flow, if applicable
- Verification of sand levels in media tanks after the irrigation season or upon request
- A service report that includes:
- Metering pump calibration setting
- Drum size
- System pressures and flows
- Meter readings
- Drum levels
- Dates serviced
As well as the services we’ve already mentioned as part of our standard irrigation maintenance program, we can also provide additional system reconditioning if the system shows signs of plugging, prior to beginning the maintenance schedule, and after the irrigation season is over to ensure the system is left in impeccable condition.
Your Irrigation System Belongs In Experienced, Capable Hands
For over 100 years, Fruit Growers Supply has been serving the needs of California’s growers with corrugated boxes and food-grade citrus wax. Today, we are also pleased to offer our comprehensive water treatment preventative maintenance program as well as general farming supplies at our retail stores in Orange Cove, Woodlake, Riverside, Porterville, and Santa Paula. Please contact our friendly customer service team or fill out the form below to schedule your free consultation about irrigation maintenance.
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