I spent a lot of trial and error finally getting fertigation right, so I thought I'd share. I have a 13 zone irrigation system that does my entire yard and includes lawn with regular lawn sprinklers, rose beds (we have 100+ roses) with drip, and many planters and other flower beds with micro irrigation. 3 years ago I got completely fed up with the time and expense it took to get everything properly fertilized and decided I needed a better way to automate everything and cut costs. Fertigation seemed to be the answer, and injector pumps seemed the best way to go about it. I first thought about buying the injector pump set-up with the cart and just wheel around the garden fertilizing everything, but decided that wasn't much of a labor savings. So why not just inject the fertilizer right into the irrigation system and automate everything?

But what to buy, and what ratio(s) to use? I ended up using a Mixrite 571CW injection pump that I spliced directly into my irrigation system after the backflow. I purchased the optional Tip Kit (57-11-1) which allows the injection ratio to be either 750:1, 1000:1, 1500:1, or 2000:1. With these small ratios I can buy the concentrated 5 gallon jugs of liquid fertilizer and pull directly from them with no mixing at all. Just put the jug under the pump and stick the pickup hose inside and I'm in business. It stays on 24/7 and every time we irrigate, we dispense a small quantity of fertilizer.

The results were spectacular! We've always been good gardeners, but everything in our yard jumped to the next level. The grass was positively lush, the roses the happiest they've ever been, the trees and other plants absolutely thriving.

And the window boxes! You know how hard it is to keep those looking good. Well, we added micro sprays to them and now they get watered and fertilized automatically. All we do is plant them and hang them, and after that they are maintenance free and look incredible.

The savings were also incredible compared to other methods of buying fertilizer. We buy from a garden wholesaler and use Nature's Source 10-4-3 and I think we pay around $40 per 5 gallons. We go through around 6 jugs a year. In the spring when the plant need for fertilizer is high and the irrigation need is low we use the 750:1 tip. After the roses bloom we switch to the 1000:1, and by the end of the summer we are using the 2000:1. We stop fertigating after Labor Day.

There is only one drawback to the whole thing, and that is this: Even though they are non-electric, injection pumps are very loud. I had to build an insulated box to put my in, or we (and the neighbors) would have gone nuts. But we live in the city. If you can stick yours out in the back 40 you might be okay.

We are in our 3rd year with fertigation and wonder now how we ever went without.