Aspen Valley Ranch Service Trip
We installed two large fertigation systems two years ago on then 800-acre ranch estate five miles out of Aspen Colorado.
This exceptionally large estate ranch is owned by a Turkish Billionaire and Anthony Vitari the superintendent has done a great job managing the native forest areas and the open pastures using fertigation to reduce fertilizer and chemicals on the ranch.
The ranch has an elaborate irrigation system designed by Hydrosystems KDI in Denver with two large pump stations. The large fertigation systems also include large underground fertilizer tanks.
The two systems include flow sensors to accurately inject consistent PPM – parts per million – rates of nutrients lightly with the irrigation. Anthony is running a nutrient program to build the soil health injecting humic – organic carbon – and other probiotic soil amendment. Fertigation is a great tool for him to improve the soil and plant health in the Aspen Valley, which is environmentally sensitive.
I visited the ranch last week to do an annual service and training for Anthony on both systems.
The fertigation systems are installed at the two large pump stations, and treat each drop of water lightly with the nutrient blend. Anthony’s team manages the nutrient delivered in mini-bulk shipper tanks to conveniently monitor the rates and levels. This constant light feeding program is simple and very efficient for the soil and plants. They irrigated the landscapes around the houses, stables and pool areas as well as the pastures and forest areas with aspen trees.
We are also implementing a new QR Code to place on the controller of each system that will take the manager to a video on his phone that will walk him through the steps to calculate and operate the fertigation systems.
We are focused on helping and supporting our customers. Our new videos are a great method for the customer to visually watch on their phone the steps to calculate and manage the fertigation. Videos are a great way to education our customers, and we have over 60 videos on our YouTube Channel.
Michael Chaplisky – Turf Feeding Systems