Aquamat dramatically reduces water use for gardenia grower

Problem: Overhead irrigation wasted water and promoted weed growth.

Solution: The Aquamat system reduced water use and runoff.

Details: Carroll Brothers Nursery in Clearwater, Fla., looked for a solution to water waste from its overhead irrigation system. Owner Richard Carroll wanted a low-pressure system for his containerized grafted gardenias, so he tried drip irrigation. It cut water use by 78 percent compared with overhead irrigation. Next he tried the Aquamat Irrigation System, which cut water use by up to 96 percent compared with overhead irrigation.

The Aquamat Irrigation System, from Soleno Textiles, is a multilayered textile mat. The layers act as reservoirs, and water is displaced evenly.

With overhead irrigation, Carroll used 1,103 gallons of water per 1,000 square feet on 3-gallon tubs. He used 175 gallons with drip tubes and 39 gallons with Aquamat.

“It blew my mind,” Carroll said.

Carroll grows gardenias in 1-, 3-, 7- and 10-gallon pots on 137-foot rows. He weighed pots from the beginning, middle and end of the rows. With overhead irrigation, the pots at the front of the row received almost three times more water than the plants on the end, based on weight. With drip irrigation, he was overwatering the pots at the front of the row almost twice as much as plants on the end.

Because there’s almost no runoff with this system, Carroll also reduced fertilizer use by 30 percent versus overhead irrigation.

“Growers need only 80-100 ppm of fertilizer with this system. And it’s a contained unit, so there’s no leaching into aquifers,” said Rick Villemaire, owner of Barville Facilitators, an irrigation consulting firm, who has worked with growers installing the Aquamat system.

He also saves at least 30 percent of labor from weeding because the system helps suppress weeds.

Besides the savings, the plants are more uniform, Carroll said.

The system can be used on greenhouse benches, and Carroll plans to try it in his propagation houses.

“Using the Aquamat keeps a much cleaner greenhouse,” Villemaire said.

This type of system is eligible for a cost-share program through the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Villemaire said. NRCS will pick up some of the costs of replacing an existing irrigation system with a new, more efficient one.

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For more: Carroll Brothers Nursery, (727) 535-5888; www.thecarrollbrothersnursery.com. Jim Ralles, Soleno Textiles, (650) 593-6700; www.aquamatsystem.com. Rick Villemaire, Barville Facilitators, (813) 363-5734; uffda1997@verizon.net.