Engineering Commons^™

Fertigation Basics, Charles M. Burt

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

Fertigation is widely practiced with drip irrigation, yet remains very unsophisticated. Major areas which need improvement are (i) making certain the irrigation system applies water with a high DU (uniformity), (ii) using proper injection pumps and protection hardware, (iii) recognizing that chemicals can interact with each other and with water to form precipitates which will clog emitters, (iv) understanding of nutrient ratios in plants and soil, (v) recognizing that nitrogen fertilization requires attention to the type of nitrogen, and (vi) developing programs for spoon-feeding chemicals. This paper covers the first 4 topics, plus discusses some specific fertilizers.