Filtration for Removing Weed Seeds From Irrigation Water

Background

Michigan Evergreen Nursery is a family-owned and operated wholesale nursery located in West Olive, Michigan, USA, consisting of 280 acres of field and container production.
It serves the midwestern United States and is a source for branded plant products (for example, L.A Dreamin’ Hydrangeas), as well as field-grown evergreens and staple plant varieties.

Challenge

The nursery uses impact and micro-irrigation overhead sprinklers to irrigate their plants, with the water being pumped from 2 on-site irrigation ponds using variable frequency drive (VFD) pumps. The total flow of each pump is in the range of 200-240 gpm (45-54 m³/h).
During irrigation cycles, these ponds become polluted with weed seeds, which are then transported to the plants and pots, and employees had to spend countless hours manually removing the resulting weeds.

Solution

After visiting the nursery, Amiad suggested installing self-cleaning filtration at each pump. This solution would ensure protection from the seeds, and two 4” Mini Sigma filters were installed with a filtration degree of 130 micron.

Results

Within 3 weeks of installing the filters, the nursery noticed a significant reduction in the amount of weeds and after only 2 months, 95% of pots were weed-free. The time and effort the nursery invested in manually removing the weeds and seeds could now be focused on other important tasks.

“We are optimistic in the function of the filter going forward and our goal would be to have very minimal weed growth in our containers. We believe this is possible to a large extent by not watering with contaminated pond water. It looks as though we may pay for the system by the costs we are saving on labor. We bought Amiad’s Mini Sigma filters for our hydrangea and perrenial production area, but are looking to install other systems across all production areas.”  John Bakale III, nursery owner