Ruth Bancroft Garden - Walnut Creek, CA
Improved water quality, reduced maintenace, water savings and more.
OVERVIEW
Walnut Creek is a picturesque town in Contra Costa County, California. It is located near the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, about 16 miles east of Oakland. It’s soil is nutrient-rich and supports a beautiful mix of plant life.
One of the city’s most loved citizens was Ruth Bancroft, a water-conservation advocate who loved to educate the public and share her expansive collection of plants. In 1973, she founded the Ruth Bancroft Garden, which showcases an expansive collection of plants from desert and Mediterranean climates.
PROBLEM
The Ruth Bancroft Garden relies on well water that can be quite harsh. The scale would often cake on the plant life and cover the sprinkler heads that help maintain adequate water supply. As a result, staff would spend ample time cleaning the sprinkler heads.
Additionally, the harsh nature of the water makes it much harder for an organic garden to thrive. Hard, clumping water makes it much harder for soil and plant life to absorb water molecules. When this occurs, soil becomes more compacted, less oxygen rich, and nutrients less potent.
During the summer months, there is very little rainfall, which makes watering efforts and maintenance all the more tedious and important.
SOLUTION
A Magnation Aquabolt was installed in 2016 with the following purposes in mind:
(1) To make the water more bioavailable and break the bonds between chlorine and ammonia.
(2) To significantly reduce scaling and caking on sprinklers and in the greenhouse. This would significantly reduce the need for maintenance staff to clean and replace the heads.
(3) To reduce the amount of water used. By making the water more bioavailable, less water would be required.
RESULTS
The Ruth Bancroft Garden has seen several positive results. First and foremost, have been able to reduce the amount of water needed for the garden. Sprinklers are programed to work if conditions become dry, and the maintenance crew has seen a significant decrease in water being used on a daily basis.
Secondly, scale and caking has dramatically decreased - both on sprinklers and in the greenhouse. Instead of the maintenance crew having to spend hours scraping scale off sprinkler heads, they are abe to simply wipe off scale that is soft and chalky.
And finally, the garden’s appearance has improved overall. Plant life is vivacious and the soil has been much healthier overall.
Conclusion
The Ruth Bancroft Garden is further proof that Magnation’s technologies are extremely valuable for organic gardens. At a time in history where water is becoming harsher and less beneficial to plant and soil life, a technology that breaks down the bonds between chlorine and ammonia and dramatically improves its bioavailability is a powerful breakthrough. Not only does plant life become more productive, but more environmentally friendly as well.