Fertiliser Injection

[AussieVanda]

Considering installing a fertiliser injector to my shade house watering system. My watering system is overhead misters on 13mm piping. My water pressure isn't fantastic. I was thinking about an ez flo system but as I have somewhere between zero and nil experience with injectors thought I might see what the hipsters on OB are using.

[Ray]

Look into Dosmatic or Dosatron injectors. The Chemilizer brand is also used, but I don't know about their accuracy and reliability.

You do not want to use an EZ-Flow system.

The metering pumps above inject the same amount of fertilizer into the water stream any all flows and pressures. The EZ-Flow diverts some of the water supply into the tank of fertilizer, and then pushes some back into the hose. Over time, the concentration of the fertilizer in the tank, hence applied to the plants, gets lower and lower.

They are intended for use with turf irrigators. In those situation, it doesn't matter if the concentration is high at first, and low later, as all of the grass plants end up getting the same amount anyway.

Several years ago, I spoke with the president of the company about adding a bladder, so that the "pressurizing" injected water supply wouldn't mix with the fertilizer solution, and he acknowledged the advantage, but it doesn't add much for his market, and is actually is a negative, as you'd have to drain it. before refilling.

[AussieVanda]

Cheers for the prompt reply Ray! I'll definitely have a look at those brands and much appreciate the advice on the ez flo.

[Roy]

I've been looking for a new system als. I checked the Dosmatic when I found reference. Decided I wanted to eat & gave up. Very expensive unit here.

I'm looking for a new bag for my Young "mixer Proportioner". Its the best I've used. Had it for 40 years. Can't find an importer here now.

[Ray]

Yeah, I uses to have one of those.

Here's the manufacturer's contact page - maybe they can find you a local distributor.

[AussieVanda]

Hey Roy, have a look at qc supply, seems to be bucket loads cheaper than aus.

[HighSeas]

I went with the Chemilizer from QC Supply. I love it.

[AussieVanda]

Fixed rate of injection?

[AussieVanda]

I ended up ordering a Dosmatic 12-1%, a TwistIIClean Inline Filter and a replacement mesh from QC Supply. Even with international postage included, the entire order is still more than 50% cheaper than what I can buy for just a single Dosmatic injector for in Australia. Australia is a nice place to live but damn it's expensive!

Dosmatic 12-1% QCSupply - US$269
Dosmatic 12-1% Australia - AUD$890!!!

Instead of making it a permanent addition to the Vanda house, I'm thinking of making a portable system so I can use it for everything garden and lawn related. I'll wait and see when it arrives anyway.

[Ray]

That's actually fairly common - the standard methodology being mounting the pump and a 5-gallon bucket to a hand truck, and using garden hose fittings for inlet and outlet connections.