On March 13, 2008, McLean, Jordan, and Becky attended Live Roof training and became certified in installation. Just what is LiveRoof, you ask? It is a modular system of plant trays used to create an instantly green rooftop. Picture a roof blanketed by low-maintenance plants, cutting down on air conditioning costs and absorbing rain water to lessen run-off. It’s a cool concept!
March 19, 2008, Dana and Becky attended a Blue Thumb seminar in Roseville. The Blue Thumb program is something to get really excited about; the program promotes and educates people on the fine art of installing raingardens. Raingardens are one of the weapons in a growing arsenal to combat water run-off, thus lessening pollutants that make it into our water sources and recreational areas. Not just a pretty face, these gardens are as functional as they are beautiful…for more in-depth information, it will be coming soon under the Recent News posts.
FROM THE FIELD: Spreader Calibration Tip
By: J.B. Toorish and Michael Steve
February 2006
URL: http://www.lawnandlandscape.com/articles/article.asp?ID=2976&CatID=&SubCatID=/
We all know that we should brush our teeth three times a day, but how many of us actually do? Studies show only one in three Americans meets this mark, and that doesn’t including flossing. We all know the risk and potential pain associated with poor dental care, but, for some reason, we choose to take the chance.
The same can actually be said of applying granular turf products. Everyone knows they should calibrate their spreader regularly (ideally before each application of a new product), but how many lawn care professionals do this? Not nearly enough, despite the potential downsides.
Consider the benefits associated with regular and proper spreader calibration:
SAY AAAHHHH. Let’s take a look at how easily lawn care professionals can calibrate a granular spreader. Calibrating requires a measuring tape/wheel, scale, bucket, calculator and cones or marking paint. Once you have the tools, follow these steps.
First, make sure the holes in the bottom of the spreader are completely open, set the spreader according to the recommended application rate on a bag of fertilizer that you will use for this exercise and find a concrete or paved surface where you can measure out 1,000 square feet. You need this size space because most fertilizer labels make recommendations based on the pounds of fertilizer per 1,000 square feet.
For this example, assume we are calibrating a spreader with an 18-24-12 fertilizer at 4 pounds per 1,000 square feet.
Next, determine your effective spread width. This should be between 6 and 10 feet. Assume the spread width is 7 feet for our example, so then you want to divide 1,000 square feet by 7 feet, which is essentially 143 feet. With a 7-foot spread width, walking 143 feet means we essentially applied product to 1,000 square feet (7 x 143 = 1,001).
Now that you have that number (143 feet), use the measuring tape and cones/marking paint to mark off that distance in a straight line.
Next pour product into the bucket and weigh it on the scale (at least 10 pounds, which we will assume for this example). This product needs to be poured into the spreader hopper after being weighed.
With your spreader ready to go, push it the exact length of the distance you marked off (143 feet in our example). Do not push the spreader any further. And be sure to walk at your normal application speed because that influences how much product gets put down.
If our spreader is calibrated properly, we should have applied 4 pounds of product since we originally set the spreader on the 4 pounds per 1,000 square feet setting. But we need to confirm what really happened, which means we need to dump the remaining fertilizer from the hopper back into the bucket and weigh it again. Subtract the amount in the bucket now from how much you began with, and that tells you what rate you applied at.
Getting an actual rate that matches up with the spreader setting means your spreader is accurately calibrated and ready to go to work. If you have too much or too little product left in the hopper, then adjust the calibration arm accordingly and repeat this process.
Spreaders do not need to be calibrated every hour or even every day, but they should be calibrated regularly because their performance will change over time.
• Normal position for center dial is in the “Run” mode.
• “Off” mode should be used when Owner wants system shut off.
• To change all run times on all stations, use the Up and Down Arrows to the left of the display screen (these are your seasonal adjust buttons). All run times are set and initially at 100%. If you use Up Arrow, it will increase run times; using Down Arrow will decrease run times.
• The system has a Rain Sensor. When the sensor is wet, screen will read “Off Sensor.” (The Rain Sensor does not measure precipitation amounts—it only senses if it is raining or not.)
• The run times are determined by the time of year (daylight hours per day, temperature, etc) and amount of precipitation received, and will need to be adjusted accordingly as conditions vary throughout the year.
• If water continues to run after the controller is off, you will need to turn off the water where it feeds the irrigation system and call us for help.
• If you would like to manually start your system, this can be done by rotating the center dial to “Manual All Stations” and then back to “Run.” This will run your zones as you have them programmed one time time through.
If an individual zone is all you need to run, turn the center dial to “Manual Single Station,” arrow Up or Down to the desired zone, and then turn the dial back to “Run.” This will run the zone you selected one time.
AFTER YOUR SYSTEM HAS RUN MANUALLY, THE SYSTEM WILL SHUT OFF AND YOUR NORMAL PROGRAMMING WILL RESUME. For example, if you normally run your system twice a week, but you need to manually run the system a 3rd time that week because of a lack of rainfall, to water fertilizer in, etc, once you complete the steps above to run the system manually, the controller picks back up with the twice-a-week schedule. NOTHING DELETES THE PROGRAMMING, AND YOU DO NOT NEED TO RESET IT.
• If you would like more detailed information please visit our website, click on the links page, and choose “Hunter Industries.” Go to the “Resources” page where they have more in-depth literature you can peruse.
