In a Porter Ranch neighborhood marked by brown lawns, dying ivy and sparse gardens of native plants, Dick and Linda Rudell’s front yard stands out. Its lush, green lawn and summer flowers attract butterflies and bees as well as hummingbirds, finches and doves. “I cannot be out front without someone stopping by to say how beautiful my yard looks,” Linda Rudell said. But the Rudells are not water hogs. In fact, instead of watering every day like they used to, they have their sprinklers timed to run for eight minutes just three times a week. A quick look at their July water bill shows their water usage is down by a third compared with last year. Their secret? Fertigation. The term is a mash-up of “fertilizer” and “irrigation” that the Rudell’s landscaper, Ted Howard, borrowed from commercial users like golf course managers, who have used the process for years to keep water bills low and grass green. “We install tanks that deliver water-soluble, organic fertilizer to your plants through your existing irrigation system,” he said. The extra nutrition keeps plants flourishing with far less water, said Howard, who founded North Hollywood’s Ted Howard Gardens Inc. in 1976. The two-employee firm has enjoyed long-term success planting and maintaining seasonal flower gardens. The service, Flowered by Howard, costs about $2,000 annually. Howard has always recommended that customers use soil-moist granules and bio-stimulants and employ drip irrigation to reduce watering costs. But with California locked in a four-year drought and homeowners accessing Metropolitan Water District subsidies to replace traditional landscaping with succulents and native plants, Howard recently found his client base shrinking. That’s when he decided to experiment with fertigation, a process he investigated 15 years ago but abandoned because it was only available for use with synthetic fertilizers. Now, however, organic fertilizers work with the tanks and equipment Howard purchases from Northern California-based EZ-FLO, a fertigation specialist. That company has developed a microdosing process that uses just a quarter teaspoon of fertilizer for each gallon of water. “A 1.5-gallon tank will take care of a half-acre yard,” Howard said. He installed his first fertigation system earlier this year at the Rudell’s home; about a dozen clients have followed suit. The cost for labor and materials ranges from about $350 to $1,500 depending on the size of the yard, Howard said. He hopes to get more clients now that the MWD’s turf-replacement rebates have dried up. Linda Rudell said she’s happy she can conserve water without ripping out the lawn. “What they’re putting in now is so ugly – all that gray rock,” she said. “And you know, as soon as it rains it will all come up weeds.” – Karen E. Klein
