What is Fertigation?
Precise application of fertilizers and soluble nutrients through the irrigation system — typically drip — controlling EC and pH at the root zone for higher yield, quality and input efficiency.
What is Fertigation — what do buyers need to know?
Fertigation is the application of fertilizers, soluble nutrients and, where required, chemistry through the irrigation system — typically drip irrigation. It gives precise control of nutrient concentration (EC) and pH at the root zone. Fertigation is the delivery method; fertilizer is the nutrient product being delivered — the two are not interchangeable. Results depend on crop, climate, water quality, system design and management, so no specific yield, quality or savings outcome can be assumed.
Straight answers for project buyers
Short, direct answers to the questions commercial growers, developers and EPC contractors ask before issuing an RFQ. A dedicated sourcing specialist — not an automated form — works through your brief with you.
What is a commercial fertigation system?
A fertigation system injects fertiliser stock solutions into the irrigation line under automatic control, holding target EC and pH at the emitter. A commercial unit includes stock tanks, injection channels, EC and pH sensors, a mixing chamber, a controller and safety interlocks. It is sized to the peak irrigation flow of the largest zone, not to the greenhouse area alone.
How is a fertigation system sized?
Sizing depends on greenhouse area, crop and nutrient programme, number of irrigation zones and peak flow per zone, raw water quality and buffering capacity, the number of separate stock solutions required, and automation level. Water with high bicarbonate or salinity changes both the acid channel and the treatment upstream. Precise nutrient recipes should come from your agronomist, not from a supplier brochure.
Manual or automated fertigation for a commercial project?
Manual batch mixing has low CAPEX and suits small soil-grown areas with tolerant crops. Automated dosing with continuous EC/pH control is standard above roughly one hectare, and effectively required for substrate hydroponics, where root-zone buffering is minimal and dosing errors show within a day. Automation also produces the irrigation records lenders and retail auditors ask for.
Commercial fertigation projects
Peak flow, dosing channels, stock volume, zones and recipes at the target area.
Per-zone recipes, EC/pH control, logging and traceability.
Why fertilizer use rises, and why water analysis comes first.
Normalise offers written to different scopes.
Related planning
Fertigation system RFQ checklist
A fertigation system is specified from the water analysis and the nutrient recipe: suppliers size dosing channels, stock tanks, filtration and EC/pH control to those inputs and to the peak irrigation flow.
| Input | What suppliers need from you |
|---|---|
| Crop and growing system | Crop, plant density, soil or substrate, and whether drain water is recirculated. |
| Area and zones | Irrigated area, number of valves or zones, and planned expansion. |
| Climate and peak demand | Peak evapotranspiration (ETo) for the design month, or the peak daily litres per m² you plan for. |
| Automation | Manual, timer or climate-computer control; EC/pH dosing channels, sensors and data logging. |
| Water source and quality | Source, flow available, storage and a recent laboratory water analysis (EC, pH, bicarbonates, iron, sodium). |
| Certifications and standards | Electrical and pressure-equipment standards and any food-safety or export certification on the farm. |
| Budget | Budget band and whether the irrigation package is part of a wider greenhouse project from USD 250,000. |
| Destination and delivery terms | Delivery site, Incoterms, spare-parts expectations and who installs and commissions. |
How to compare irrigation and fertigation offers
- Check that each offer states the design flow (m³/h), pressure and number of dosing channels it was sized for.
- Compare filtration and water-treatment scope separately from the drip lines and emitters.
- Confirm which controls, sensors and software licences are included and which are optional.
- Compare spare-parts lists, warranty and service availability in your country.
Sourcing platform, manufacturer or contractor?
SeedMatchGroup is a buyer-first sourcing and RFQ platform, not a greenhouse manufacturer or contractor. Buyers use it free; managed projects start at USD 250,000. A sourcing specialist reviews each request before any supplier is contacted, and supplier identities stay private until a project is reviewed.
- SeedMatchGroup (sourcing and RFQ platform)
- Reviews your project brief, prepares a structured request, invites suitable independent suppliers privately and lines up their offers on the same scope.
- Does not manufacture, stock, install or operate equipment, and does not guarantee availability, prices, delivery dates or crop results.
- Greenhouse or equipment manufacturer
- Designs and produces its own structures, systems or inputs and quotes its own product range.
- Normally quotes only its own range, so it is not a neutral comparison of alternatives.
- Contractor or EPC / turnkey builder
- Takes contractual responsibility for engineering, construction and installation within the agreed scope.
- Scope, warranties and site responsibilities depend on the specific contract you sign with that contractor.
Plan before you request quotes
- Irrigation water and flow calculator — Daily volume and system flow from ETo × Kc
- Fertigation calculator — Dosing and stock-solution planning
- Pump sizing calculator — Flow and head before pump quotes
Calculator results are planning estimates, not supplier quotes.
Market pages
- United Kingdom — commercial glasshouse projects — Heating, LED and grid capacity planning
- South Africa — greenhouse modernisation — Energy, cooling and water efficiency
- United Arab Emirates — CEA greenhouses — Cooling, water reuse and automation
- South Africa — drip irrigation — Commercial drip projects
- Brasil — fertirrigação (Português) — Fertirrigação e fertilizantes especiais
How the request works
- 1. Plan the numbers
Use the planning tools for area, water, energy or seed quantity. Results are estimates, not quotes.
- 2. Send one brief
Complete the request form with the checklist inputs above. Nothing is sent to suppliers at this stage.
- 3. Specialist review
A sourcing specialist checks scope, completeness and fit, including the USD 250,000 minimum for managed projects.
- 4. Private supplier invitations
Where the project fits, suitable independent suppliers are invited privately to quote on the same specification.
- 5. Compare like for like
Offers are lined up on the same scope, exclusions, validity and delivery terms. Responses depend on project fit and supplier availability.
Reviewed by a sourcing specialist before suppliers are contacted. Free for buyers; managed projects start at USD 250,000.
RFQ readiness — what suppliers need from you
Quotations are only comparable when every supplier answers the same brief. Have these points ready and the first round of offers arrives on one scope. Anything you do not have yet, a sourcing specialist will work through with you.
- Greenhouse area and number of irrigation zones
- Crop and growing method (soil, substrate, recirculating)
- Peak flow per zone (m³/h) and required injection accuracy
- Full raw water analysis, including bicarbonate and sodium
- Number of stock solutions / dosing channels required
- EC and pH targets and whether recirculation is planned
- Automation level and integration with climate control
- Stock solution room space, power and drainage available
Related systems in this project cluster
Commercial projects are specified as one package. These pages cover the systems most often quoted alongside this one.
Drip design, zoning and hydraulics upstream of dosing.
Fertigation & climate controllersController coverage in the screened supplier network.
Irrigation filtration systemsProtecting emitters and dosing hardware.
Turnkey greenhouse projectFertigation inside a full project scope.
Greenhouse climate control systemsClimate and root-zone strategy on one controller.
Industrial agricultural pumpsPressure and flow for the dosing loop.
Scoping a fertigation system
A fertigation head is sized from water quality, peak flow and the number of recipes it must hold — not from the area alone.
Water first
- Laboratory analysis: EC, pH, bicarbonate, sodium, chloride, iron and manganese
- Pre-treatment where the raw water cannot carry the nutrient recipe
- Filtration upstream of the injection point
- Buffer tank and peak flow the head must serve
Dosing hardware
- Venturi injectors, dosing pumps or a packaged fertigation skid
- Number of independent channels — typically three to six plus acid
- Stock tank volume and concentration factor
- Mixing tank, recirculation loop and inline EC/pH probes
Control
- Recipes per crop stage with automatic EC and pH correction
- Zone-level control where compartments differ in crop or age
- Logging, alarms and safety shutdown on out-of-range EC or pH
- Integration with the climate computer for radiation-based starts
Drain and compliance
- Drain measurement and target drain percentage
- Collection and disinfection for recirculating systems
- Nutrient discharge rules where drain is not reused
- Calibration schedule for probes and dosing accuracy
What affects project cost
- Peak flow the head must deliver
- Number of dosing channels and recipes
- Water quality and pre-treatment required
- Recirculation and disinfection scope
- Level of automation, logging and traceability
Information needed to quote
- Crop, area and growing medium
- Water analysis and source flow rate
- Peak irrigation flow and number of zones
- Required recipes and control granularity
- Whether drain water is recirculated
- Available power and control-room provision
What does a fertigation system need to be quoted?
A water analysis, the peak irrigation flow, the number of zones and recipes, the growing medium, and whether drain water is recirculated. Those five inputs set the dosing channels, stock tank volume, filtration grade and controller specification.
Frequently asked questions
Fertigation is the application of fertilizers, soluble nutrients and, where required, chemistry through the irrigation system — typically drip irrigation. It gives precise control of nutrient concentration (EC) and pH at the root zone. Fertigation is the delivery method; fertilizer is the nutrient product being delivered — the two are not interchangeable. Results depend on crop, climate, water quality, system design and management, so no specific yield, quality or savings outcome can be assumed.
A dosing unit (Venturi injectors, dosing pumps or dedicated fertigation head), stock tanks, EC and pH sensors, filtration (screen and disc/media), pressure regulation and, in advanced systems, a controller with multiple channels and recipes per crop stage.
By crop, growing system (soil, substrate, hydroponic), water source quality, area, number of irrigation zones and target automation level. Water treatment is often required upstream.
Between the water source/treatment and the irrigation/hydroponic distribution. It is a core sub-system of greenhouse, hydroponic, open-field drip and nursery projects.
Fertigation systems: dosing methods compared
Short answer: a fertigation system consists of a dosing method, stock tanks, filtration and, for controlled systems, EC/pH sensors and a controller. The dosing method sets how precisely nutrients follow the recipe. Ask suppliers to quote the same method and number of channels so offers can be compared.
| Method | How the dose is controlled | External power | Typical fit | Check in the quotation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venturi injector | Suction from a pressure difference across the injector | None (uses system pressure) | Simple drip blocks with few recipes | Pressure loss, and how the dose changes when flow or pressure changes |
| Proportional (water-driven) injector | Dose follows the water flow through the unit | None | Single-zone or mid-size blocks with a steady recipe | Flow range of the unit against your zone flows |
| Fertigation unit with electric dosing channels | Controller adjusts each channel to EC and pH setpoints | Power and controls | Greenhouse, substrate and multi-zone projects with several recipes | Number of channels, sensor calibration, logging and service support |
Buyer path
From water analysis to a fertigation request
- 1 · Define
Crop and site details
Define the crop, growing system, area, water analysis, peak flow, irrigation zones and required control level.
- 2 · Calculate
Size the critical systems
Use the focused tools below. Results are planning estimates, not engineering designs or supplier quotations.
- 3 · Request
Create one reviewed brief
Add the figures to a private project request. A sourcing specialist reviews it before any relevant supplier is approached.
Recommended calculators
For commercial projects from USD 250K. Supplier participation and response timing depend on scope, country, availability and brief completeness; neither is guaranteed.
Move what is fertigation? into a structured RFQ
Editorial · not a sales pitchThis page is reference material. When you are ready to convert planning into pricing, a structured RFQ replaces weeks of unstructured email with days of comparable, supplier-neutral offers.
The facts a complete, supplier-neutral request on this topic includes. Use it as a checklist before submitting.
- Irrigated area, block layout and topography/elevation change
- Crop, spacing and peak daily water requirement (mm/day or m³/day)
- Water source (borehole, canal, reservoir, municipal) with yield and analysis
- System type: drip, sprinkler, pivot, micro-sprinkler, fertigation
- Required flow (m³/h), pressure and number of zones/shifts
- Power availability: grid, generator or solar pumping
- Automation and control level required
- Water analysis report and borehole test results
- Field/plot map with dimensions and elevation
Opens the RFQ Builder scoped as an irrigation package so suppliers quote hydraulics, filtration and dosing consistently. You stay in control — nothing is submitted until you review and confirm.
Free to submit · supplier-neutral · reviewed by a specialist before any supplier is contacted.
What to do next
Most organizations move through these four steps in order. Each one can be started independently, and nothing is shared with suppliers until you approve the scope.
Turn your project scope into one supplier-neutral request qualified manufacturers can price consistently.
Site, water, energy, permits and documentation — the readiness work lenders and EPC contractors expect before quoting.
Debt, leasing, blended and export-credit structures for commercial agriculture CAPEX, assessed alongside the technical scope.
Supplier-neutral guidance on greenhouses, CEA, irrigation, nurseries, packing houses and project finance.
How this guidance is produced
We do not manufacture equipment and do not represent a fixed vendor list. Guidance reflects the project, not a catalogue.
Content is prepared and reviewed by sourcing specialists working on live commercial agriculture projects, supported by proprietary technology.
Practice drawn from greenhouse, CEA, irrigation, nursery, packing-house and processing projects across multiple climates and regulatory environments.
Project details stay private. Nothing is published, listed or shared with suppliers without your approval.
Editorial approach and company background: About SeedMatch Group.
Prefer WhatsApp?
Send a quick message with your project type, crop and country. A sourcing specialist will review it and confirm the next steps; timing depends on the request and available information.
Start a brief
Scope a fertigation system
Share crop, area and water source. A specialist scopes suppliers and engineering.