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Water wise with every source

A recently completed irrigation solution for a large scale olive grove in ‘The Cups’ at Rye illustrates Rosebud Irrigation’s philosophy of treating our water as a precious commodity, regardless of its source.

The scale of the grove - 3200 trees over 48 acres - demanded an intelligent
and easily managed bore sourced irrigation solution.
Rosebud Irrigation is as concerned about our groundwater supplies as our mains reserves.
“The aquifers into which more and more bores are tapping are finite resources which, just as dams, are not being replenished with rainwater through this drought,”, said Ross.

“Watering every day with older systems which overwater is not treating our groundwater as the precious commodity it is.

“Our mains water reserves are down to 33 per cent and it’d be prudent to consider groundwater aquifers in similar terms.”

The nature of ‘The Cups’ presented challenges too: sandy loam with a silica (water repellent) content, highly exposed to sun and wind.

Ross and the team installed microsprays “rather than drippers which wouldn’t deliver enough water over a big enough mass of root system under the ground”.
“With drippers in these particular conditions, the tree transpires more than the root system can pick up,” Ross said.

“Our solution is able to keep the low volume spray to about half the footprint of the established plant. We’ve also fitted a triangle automatic filtration system which is set and forget, and also a Dosatron fertiliser injector all running of a new bore to replace an 18 year-old unreliable one.”

For the grove managers we’ve employed new technology Hunter control systems to make their job easy: it’s fitted with an IMMS and an ET Weather Station that can be logged into from a phone, laptop or office/home computer.
The technology isn’t just about ease of management, it’s about better monitoring and that means reducing water use.

On a big job like this, enormous water savings of between 20 and 30 per cent will come from this type of system over a traditional system.

“Of course, there are also bad points of overwatering for the crop including leaching of fertilisers and reduction of hummus in the soil. Modern irrigation solutions enable the grove managers to establish and maintain optimum conditions for their specific plants’ health,” Ross said.

If you’re running an older bore system Rosebud Irrigation is the team for a thorough appraisal of the most efficient, water smart, update solution.

 

 

Nixie’s water smart message

Rosebud Irrigation’s new kids’ tshirts are about helping children see graphically the relationship between water and all the things that delight them in their gardens and in our parks.
Our tshirt artist Nixie Lepore is a 10 year-old from Red Hill with a love for all creatures great and small – especially her horse Tela.
You can buy them from Rosebud Irrigation in a range of kids’ sizes for $20.

Tips & tricks for the warmer months

Rodents and drip lines

Rodents and your drip lines are a bad and potentially costly combination – particularly after they’ve been baited. The first thing they do is go looking for water, and they’ll chew through driplines and other irrigation hoses to get it. Put a large, low profile dish of water out after baiting, rodents will go for it rather than your system.

 

Fertilise now

Fertilise your garden beds by the end of this month and water in.
Program controllers to come on three or four times a week, not every day – gardens for 15 minutes, lawns for about 20 is the suggested time (check your local regulations)
If it’s still looking a bit thirsty increase your run times per station but not the frequency of the program.

 

Treat black beetle now

Start looking for African Black Beetle larvae in your lawn areas. “They’re very aggressive lately,” said Ross, “look for a white grub which lives about 45mm under the soil which eats all the roots of the plant.” Treatments are available at the nursery. Get them at larvae stage then 10 days later re-treat to break their cycle. Magpies and crows busy pecking into your lawns are a good sign that the larvae are present.

 

‘Cycling’ bores

If your bores are ‘cycling’ – turning off and on lots – give us a call.
One of the causes can be that the valve sequence has to be adjusted – if not checked, you could blow up the pump. Bores should run consistently through the whole cycle.