Product Highlight – Asta® Drip PC Spike – The watering spike does it right…

Every irrigator, from the home gardener to the professional nursery manager, knows the challenge of putting the right amount of water onto each plant. Differences in elevation, in distance from the water source and plant water requirements all contribute to this challenge. For nearly every situation, Antelco have come up with a great solution with their Asta® drip.

The Asta® drip is a spike-mounted, pressure-compensating dripper that applies a precise amount of water wherever it is installed. There are three different flow rates - 2, 4 and 8 L/hr - to choose from ensuring that, whatever plant water needs are, there is a dripper available for the task. The features of the Asta® drip mean that it can be used in a wide variety of situations. It’s perfect for the home gardener as well as being a great solution for many commercial nursery and landscape situations.

Home gardeners love to mix and match plants of different types, in pots, in garden beds and on patios and verandas. While the result is often a stunningly beautiful array of colours and shapes it can be a challenge to water. The Asta® drip is the perfect answer. The pressure-compensating feature, which operates over a wide range of pressures from 100 to 300 kPa, means that regardless of position each plant gets the water it needs. The plants on the veranda get the same amount of water as the ones of the ground. If some plants have slightly different water needs, the simple colour-coded nozzles mean it is easy to select a flow rate that suits.

The Asta® drip is stake mounted with a 4 mm barbed fitting for easy connection to a 4 mm supply tube. With Antelco’s 4 mm fittings, including proprietary elbows and joiners, tubing can be discreetly tucked away so the focus of the garden is on the plants and not on the irrigation system. The specially designed stake on which the Asta® drip is mounted can be securely pushed into any potting medium ensuring the dripper stays in place and provides water where it is wanted.

Some gardeners use rainwater to water their gardens, which can sometimes lead to blocking problems in drippers and small sprays. The turbulent pathway of the Asta® drip minimises blocking problems and a unique self-flushing feature, which is activated when the water is turned off, gives added protection.

Of course, home gardeners are not the only ones facing these types of challenges. In commercial nurseries, both production and retail, getting watering right is critical. Poor watering can result in significant losses in production and income.

In production nurseries even, watering has been identified by the Nursey and Garden Industry Association as a key contributor to profitability. The features of the Asta® drip, particularly its wide range of pressure compensation and the high cv, mean that each pot receives exactly the target amount of water. The Asta® drip is stake mounted and supplied through a 4 mm tube which can be fixed to the lateral at any point, giving flexibility in spacings between pots and drippers. The Asta® drip has also been installed successfully in tree lots and shade houses, where the product’s features ensure uniform watering and putting water where it counts.