Brett,

You seem to have a good specification for the system so you have done research on this. Google is a good tool for searching. Below is a link that I got from using google. I believe your wasting your money trying to automate this gardening function but what the heck go for it. Whatever system you choose just cover it with a box or fake looking rock or some sound proofing material and that should make it almost unnoticeable. Aloha.

http://www.ezflofertilizing.com/

Unfortunately, the EZ flow fertilizers are not proportional. They claim to deliver a constant concentration of fertilizer, but I just don't believe it.

I have also tried the soundproofing with my current fertilizer injector, however since they are attached to a hard surface for stabilization the sounds just gets transmitted to that surface.

I would disagree that automating fertilization is a waste of time. This is how many commercial fruit groves do their fertilization, and it is done highly successfully. Delivering a constant supply of a complete fertilizer is much better for the plants than the occasional higher dose fertilizing regimens that most people use.

Does anyone else have any suggestions for a quiet fertilizer injector? Thanks.

-Brett

Hi again y'all,

I believe this fertigator is for home use. For an orchard or farm a low aspect sprayer on a vehicle works best. Easier maintenance. Fertigation clogs your drip systems and you already have problems with hard water from wells. Large use has a much bigger pump and usually is well away from the farm house for noise. A small home garden unit is a waste because it is easier to hand deliver the fertilizer with more efficiency and with cost saving on material, less material used per area. There is no noise and you know exactly when it was delivered instead of hoping you didn't clog your irrigation emitters this time. No need to intermix the systems, there is not much time savings. Rebuttals welcome. Aloha.

Unfortunately in California we get absolutely no rain during the time of optimum plant growth. Thus, the efficiency of fertilization by manually applying fertilizer to the soil is actually quite limited when using a drip type watering system because only very localized portions of the soil are irrigated. Also the irrigation tends to be very localized at the surface, but then spreads outwards as it goes deeper. With this in mind, to fertilize efficiently you would have too precisely apply fertilizer to specific regions which correlate with the drip emitters and then to dig down relatively deep to achieve maximum coverage. I just don't have the time to do this.

Also, clogging of the drip emitters is much more prevalent with solid dissolved fertilizers. I am doubtful that using a fertilizer such as Dyna-Gro in the relatively diluted concentrations that I hope to use (e.g. concentrations appropriate for constant fertilization) is going to have any significant clogging effects.