Application of subsurface irrigation in parks and gardens

When a new subsurface irrigation system appears on the market, it is logical that whoever may be interested in it will make associations with others on the market. The curious thing is that since we introduced DeepDrop® System, some people see it more as an irrigation system for agriculture and others for gardening. The truth is that our customers belong to both sectors, and because both, in many parts of the world, are essential for our ecological and food balance. And both are endangered by the drought or water shortages that many countries around the world are facing.

In this article we are going to focus on examples of parks and gardens that have opted for DeepDrop® to become more efficient in the use of water or so that plants and trees could withstand high temperatures and no longer suffer from water stress.

Sant Pau Art Nouveau Site

In Barcelona, one of the victims of the drought has been the parks and gardens which, as a result of the implementation of the Drought Plan of the Catalan Water Agency, they were only allowed were only allowed, for months, irrigation by survival.

A few months before these measures were taken, the Sant Pau Art Nouveau Site in Barcelona carried out a pilot test by introducing the DeepDrop® irrigation system in 8 trees. Despite the exceptional state of drought, it was found that the trees with this subway irrigation system were in good plant health. Therefore, the grounds decided to extend the irrigation system in June 2024 to the 36 trees on the modernist grounds. Let’s see how the irrigation has changed for each tree:

Although it has not been possible to carry out continuous monitoring due to the application of the Decree Law on Urgent Measures for Drought. Decree of the Law on Urgent Measures due to the droughtAlthough it has been possible to observe that the trees are lush and in very good health, even though the number of irrigation points has been substantially reduced, since previously hoses with integrated drippers were used with a flow rate of 2.5 liters per hour, which was much more than that required with the DeepDrop® System.

With the orange trees it has been possible to observe how leafy they have become since the incorporation of DeepDrop® and it can even be seen in the fruits they are bearing. As for the lime trees, a test has been done to see if by putting less subway and localized drippers the tree holds up well and it seems that it does, although the technical gardeners are waiting to observe the behavior for a longer period of time. The gardeners also tell us how they have been watering since the introduction of DeepDrop® in the Sant Pau Art Nouveau Site:

Landscaping experience

Mallorquina Pujol Gardening

Our distributor in Mallorca, Jardineria Mallorquina Pujol, decidedly bet on DeepDrop® System and since its incorporation in its product catalog, it has also been in its catalog of installation services. We interviewed Patricio, the gardener who gives us his conclusions and reflections after months of installing it in different gardens.

• DeepDrop® is installed after a study of the water needs of each garden. It is already systematically installed in private gardens. Patricio points out that not everything in gardening is “already”, that “we need to see an evolution”. But since it has been installed, the results have been very positive.
• A great advantage of this localized and subway drip irrigation system is that the plants adapt very well to the soil because you facilitate the way to the root system. As a consequence, the plant grows faster.
• It is also a success with respect to “weeds”, which means labor savings in pulling weeds.
• Patricio also tells us that it is important to do the installation well, knowing how to cover it properly, knowing what the plant needs and knowing the soil in which it is located.
• Patricio, like other people and companies that have opted for this subway irrigation system, combines the use of DeepDrop® with an electronic control system to optimize the irrigations he installs.

Private garden in Salobrena, Granada

Juan has a farm in Salobreña (Granada) with a plot of ^500m2, which includes a house with a porch and a swimming pool.

It has 350 to 400 cypress trees, 2 myrtle trees, 1 lemon tree, 1 orange tree, 1 cherry tree, 1 laurel tree and 1 jasmine tree, as well as pots with different plants.

He has installed about 250 DeepDrop® devices. In the cypresses he installed 1 device of 4l/h every 60 cm, in each tree 2 drippers of 4l/h and in the rest of the plants and pots 1 dripper of 2l/h.

Before installing the DeepDrop® devices, during the summer season he irrigated for 1 hour every 2 to 3 days and after the installation of the DeepDrop® devices he switched to irrigating for 20 minutes every 3 days, considerably reducing water consumption. Not only has it reduced water consumption, but also fertilizer consumption, as it uses fertigation through the devices. By delivering fertilizer directly to the root, the amount of fertilizer delivered is reduced.

Juan has been kind enough to send us pictures of his bills before and after using DeepDrop®, and the reduction in both water and bill amounts has been more than 50%.

Juan has provided us with the reading of water consumption before and after DeepDrop® where you can clearly see the reduction in both water and economic bill. We present one of his sectors.

Hospitality industry

One way to save the water footprint of rural houses and hotels that have gardens is by applying DeepDrop® in them, but we will see that there are more reasons:

Felix Zea

Felix Zea is the owner of a rural house in Alhaurí de la Torre in the province of Malaga. He is also the director of ruralidaysa portal where you can find a rural house in Andalusia to rest and enjoy the tranquility of nature.

Felix has a clear sustainability project for his farm that he wants to promote to the rest of the Ruralidays houses: to reduce their environmental footprint as much as possible. So far they have worked on

• Energy savings by also switching to solar energy have reduced their carbon footprint.
• They offset the impact of their clients’ tourism through reforestation programs in the province of Malaga itself.
• Saving water by introducing it into your garden, especially shrubs and planters by introducing the DeepDrop® System.

Felix is clear: “You don’t need to be an engineer to know that this system works because the water goes underground. Now the bushes look greener and more luxuriant. Felix explains that in addition to reducing his water footprint, he has reduced something else: his water bill. When he discovered DeepDrop® he made his own economic calculations and realized that the payback period was approximately one year. So it’s a way to reduce the water footprint and the out-of-pocket expense.

Botanical Garden

María Dolores Botanical Garden in Alora (Málaga)

Pedro Ansorena Onieba, a former event organizer, has created his own botanical garden. The María Dolores Park has an extension of 30,000 square meters next to the Guadalorce River, in the municipality of Alora (Málaga). It currently has 400 species of trees from different parts of the world. For 20 years he has been planting trees from all over the world or from certain nurseries that know him well and select some seeds that may be of interest to him. All the trees have their sanitary certificate of mobility that certifies that they are not invasive species.

The hardest thing is to acclimatize a tree to the terrain and climate of Alora, since in summer it is not uncommon for the temperature to rise above 40 degrees. At this temperature, the tree sap neither rises nor falls so the tree begins to deteriorate. However, with DeepDrop® he has been able to sustain healthy trees because by keeping the water underground, the trees have access to water and this allows them to retain their greenness. . Mientras que el año pasado los árboles se estaban secando, este año los ve con una muy buena salud vegetal. Pedro añade que, con este sistema, no se crean malas hierbas lo cual le quita de mucho trabajo. Está muy contento y aconseja a todo aquel que tiene árboles y jardines que apuesten por este sistema y más en una zona tan castigada por temperaturas tan elevadas.

Public park

Productive edible forest in Adeje

Adeje is a municipality located in the south of Tenerife. In the very center of this city of about 50,000 inhabitants, is the Central Park of Adeje, the only productive or edible public forest in the Canary Islands.

It is a park under developmentIt will cover an area of 32,000 square meters (more than 60% of which is already planted) and, once completed, will include 25,000 plant species, including fruit trees, ornamental trees, palm trees and aromatic, medicinal and culinary plants.

In one of the spaces currently under construction, medicinal plants will be planted, as well as others in which more than 1,000 DeepDrop® plants that the City Council already has in order to place them once the terraces are ready to receive the new plants.

It will be interesting to know the evolution of this park, which to date has already produced more than 15 tons of food that has been destined to the Food Bank. So, double positive triple impact:

• At the environmental level it is a:
  • Carbon absorption model, a barrier against wind, rain and noise in the city, seeks maximum efficiency in water management and a space that composts its own organic matter.
  • It produces food that guarantees food to the most needy population.
  • This is a project that allows the insertion of many people into the labor market.

Once the system has been implemented, we will continue to report on this interesting project.

Conclusions

The experience in parks and gardens is very positive, as our clients certify us that they have made great savings of water and it has also allowed them to be calm since they also counted on the humidity under the ground in the hottest moments. Whether they are private gardens, enclosures with gardens, botanical gardens or gardens in rural houses or hotels, it does not matter, in all of them the result has been very satisfactory.

In 2023, the Lancet published an article entitled: “Refreshing cities through urban green infrastructure: assessing the impact on health in European cities.“In this scientific paper, the fundamental role of parks and gardens, among others, as well as the trees and shrubs that accompany our walks through our towns and cities, is made clear:

“High ambient temperatures are associated with numerous health effects, including premature mortality. The combination of global warming due to climate change and the expansion of the global built environment means that urban heat islands (UHI) are expected to intensify, with adverse effects on the health of the population. Green urban infrastructures can reduce local temperatures. .”

In order to refresh our cities, the first thing we must do is to prevent our trees and plants from getting thirsty, and strengthen the plant health of these silent living beings that provide us with so much life. And this can be done with a simple irrigation system such as DeepDrop®. Want to know more?