FROM THE BOARD 



Labor-Saving Watering Practices 



Robert Demers 



The cost of labor is always an is- 

 sue for anyone running a busi- 

 ness. At the garden center, we are 

 aware of this and study our day-to- 

 day routines to see how we can 

 save time. 



One routine is watering. Water- 

 ing's an important task, but with all 

 the automated systems out there, 

 there are ways to do it quickly. At 

 the greenhouses at the garden cen- 

 ter, we use three systems — drip, 

 trough, and ebb and flow. 



If you're deciding on the system 

 for you, here are some things you 

 might consider. What are you grow- 

 ing in the house throughout the 

 year? What size material will you be 

 growing? You'll want to make sure 

 that your system can handle pot or 

 tray size as well as the different va- 

 rieties. 



Is your house a sales or produc- 

 tion area? You'll want to make sure 

 that the system in a sales area 

 doesn't scare off your customers. 

 And you want to be able to use 

 your system without the customer 

 getting in the way of what you're 

 trying to do. 



Can the system pay for itself in a 

 reasonable amount of time? There 

 are a lot of different systems and a 

 lot of different prices. 



IVlake sure you have enough wa- 

 ter. In ebb-and-flow systems, for ex- 

 ample, each 6'xl4' bench requires 

 50 gallons of water, while a trough 

 system is low-volume and requires 

 very little. With a drip system, you 

 must worry about the pressure and 

 volume needed to make your emit- 

 ters run properly. 



Make sure your system is user- 

 friendly. Let's face it — you try to do 

 everything, but you can't. Your em- 



w. 



atering's 



an important task. 



but with all 



the automated systems 

 out there. 



there are ways 



to do It 



quickly. 



CO 



ployees must be able to run it 

 properly. 



There are probably things I've 

 overlooked, but there are several 

 sales representatives out there 

 who'd be more than happy to show 

 you how a system works and pre- 

 scribe one for you. 



In our hoop houses, I decided to 

 use drip. We grow jumbo annuals — 

 about 1,200 6 1/2-inch pots — in each 

 house. We grow two rotations. I use 

 what they call a 12-way emitter 

 (dripper) because it matches the 

 number of rows I put in each house. 

 The manufacturer has a guide that 

 tells you what size pipe to use and 

 how far you can run with various 

 numbers of emitters. I used 1/2-inch 

 tubing because I could buy it in 

 large quantities and it was cheap. 

 However there's a limit on the num- 

 ber of emitters you can use with 

 this pipe size. 



I put my manifold in the middle 

 of the hoop house so I won't have 

 any length restrictions. I also put a 

 shut-off on each line. The main line 



feeding the manifold has a filter, 

 pressure-reducer, and an electric 

 solenoid hooked to a clock. Each 

 house is set up in the same way. So 

 when I check the watering, 1 turn on 

 whichever lines 1 want watered, 

 then turn on the clock, which turns 

 on the solenoid for whatever time 1 

 think is needed. For the size emit- 

 ter I'm using, that's usually about 

 twenty minutes. I do this in each 

 house in sequence. Watering the 

 five houses by hand would take 

 two-and-a-half hours. Now I check 

 them in a total of 20 minutes and 

 have two hours to be doing other 

 things. I run the hoop houses in se- 

 quence because I don't have the 

 water volume to run them all to- 

 gether. 



Also remember that the number 

 of shut-offs in a house will decide 

 the number of varieties you can 

 grow there. Some plants don't re- 

 quire as much water as others. So 

 the shut-offs give you options. I 

 usually grow four varieties in each 

 house. 



I can't stress enough to look be- 

 fore you leap. There are a lot of dif- 

 ferent watering systems employed 

 now. I've looked at several, experi- 

 mented with some, been to count- 

 less seminars — and I'm still learn- 

 ing. Find a system you like and 

 adapt it to your own operation. If 

 you're smart enough to operate a 

 business, you're smart enough to 

 figure out a watering system. 



In my next article, I'll talk about 

 trough vs. ebb-and-flow 



Robert Demers, of Demers Nursery and 

 Garden Center, 656 South Mammotfi 

 Road, Manchester, can be reached at 

 603-437-6336. 



APRIL «. MAY 



