For Color Spot Nurseries, one of the nation's largest bedding and pot plant producers, a state-issued cease-and-desist order turned into a blessing. A mandate to eliminate all runoff at its Fallbrook, Calif., facility forced the company to get its act together.

Color Spot implemented drip irrigation and improved the efficiency of its overhead emitter systems. The company spent more than $1 million at this location on high-tech irrigation, water recycling and filtration equipment, but the system will pay for itself in just two years.

An average of 400 gallons of water a minute continually ran off the facility prior to implementation. This was reduced to zero. As an added bonus, the system has decreased labor and operating costs and greatly improved crop quality. For achieving these actions, Color Spot Nurseries has been named a GMPRO Innovator.

Governmental problems at the facility date back before Color Spot owned the property. The operation, which covers 211 acres, has been in horticultural production for decades and has had numerous owners. Although it is now a consolidated growing location, in the past it had been several adjacent but separately owned production facilities.

In 1983, a complaint sparked the State Water Resource Control Board to issue a mandate to stop runoff from the facility, but few actions were taken and there was no enforcement, said Jim Crockett, former Color Spot manager of environment and regulatory affairs. In December 1998, Color Spot was issued a new order from the board requiring the company to eliminate runoff. Twelve months later, Color Spot was ordered to give the board its plan of action or face fines that totaled $1.5 million per year, which would be issued retroactively to 1998, Crockett said.

Deciding to move

The company was mismanaging the runoff problem, Crockett said. The management team at the time did not know how to handle the situation.

"The company had an opportunity to respond, but didn't do so vigorously enough," he said. "There was a misconception that the board would tell us what to do, when it was actually up to us to develop a plan of action."

David Barrett took over as chief executive officer, and he hired Crockett to handle the situation. Crockett had previously worked with Color Spot on the issue as a consultant. Now as a staff member he began implementing a plan he had put together for the company in 1999.

By August 2001, the goal of zero runoff was achieved. The company now captures and reuses all water at the facility. The only exception is when the area receives more than 1/4 inch of rain. The company isn't obligated by law to capture runoff under these conditions.

"What's interesting is that there had been so much steady runoff from the property for about 35 years, that the California Fish and Game Commission considered reclassifying the area as a running stream. But in the end, they decided to keep it as a dry arroyo," Crockett said.

Homeowners downstream appreciated the beauty provided by the running water flowing through their lots. Shortly after Color Spot eliminated the runoff, a coalition of 26 homeowners threatened a lawsuit claiming that the company's actions had devalued their properties. Color Spot responded by telling the coalition to take the matter up with the State Water Resource Control Board, and the matter was soon dropped.

Drip, overhead watering

Total water use at the Fallbrook facility has dropped dramatically -- from an average of 1 million gallons of water a day in 2000 to 250,000 gallons a day in 2001.

Keys to the water reduction were implementing drip irrigation in the facility's 60 acres of greenhouses and using high-efficiency emitters for outdoor production. Prior to drip irrigation, a lot of hand watering occurred. This not only led to inefficient water use, but also increased labor costs.

More than 3,000 5-gallon-per-minute, high-angle overhead emitters were replaced with low-angle 2.7-gpm Netafim heads. While the new heads decreased water use, their design actually allows more water to reach containers.

Previously, the greenhouses (used for poinsettia and bedding plant production) were almost exclusively irrigated by hand. Now all poinsettias are grown on drip irrigation, and bedding plants are irrigated via overhead systems.

"The drip system paid for itself in about three months, once you factor in reduced water and fertilizer usage, less labor and improved crops/less scrap," Crockett said. "The quality of the poinsettias improved dramatically. There was a perception that Color Spot always grew poor-quality poinsettias, but that has really changed. Now we have incredible consistency and we're producing florist quality by comparison."

Installing drip irrigation also forced the company to be more accurate with its poinsettia spacing. The result was the same amount of plants being produced in less space. This year the additional area will be used to produce more poinsettias.

Maintain water quality

The Fallbrook irrigation system, complete with sophisticated injectors, monitors, 10 injection stations and computer controls, went into use in July 2002. Shortly after the system was up and running, Crockett's position was eliminated and he now works as an independent greenhouse consultant out of Brentwood, Calif.

Scott Coleman, maintenance manager for the facility, is in charge of keeping the system up and running.

The company has three water sources at Fallbrook:

* Recycled water, which is captured in basins around the property.

* Reclaimed water, which is treated municipal sewage.

* Potable municipal water.

About 80 percent of the water that's used is recycled and reclaimed water with most of that being recycled. The reclaimed water is only needed during drought periods. The 20-percent potable water is used on sensitive crops or to blend with reclaimed/recycled water to reduce electrical conductivity (EC) levels. EC can reach as high as 1.6 during the hottest periods of summer, and the growers try to keep levels around 1.2 for optimum crop quality.

Of the 10 injector stations that were installed, six are equipped with H.E. Anderson injectors. Netafim Compact systems are used for automatic control flow, pressure regulation and flushing of the system.

The other four stations have Netafim Ferti-Jet systems. These more advanced machines come with weather stations that track temperature, solar light levels, rainfall, humidity and other factors that impact how much water needs to be applied.

Cost savings

The now antiquated watering practices at Color Spot's Fallbrook facility have been replaced by some of the most advanced irrigation equipment available, said Bryan Foley, Netafim district sales manager. Integrating environmental controls with irrigation controls has proven to significantly impact water and fertilizer usage.

"As a greenhouse grower, you want to work at a constant peak -- using the optimum amount of water and fertilizer. That both reduces operating costs and increases crop quality," Foley said. "Fertilizer platforms with injectors that integrate with environmental controls can save 10-20 percent of fertilizer costs if you already have a well-managed system. You can save 30-40 percent if your system currently isn't managed well."

Color Spot Nurseries Location: Fallbrook, Calif., facility Crops: Bedding and pot plants sold primarily to chains. Production: 211 acres, including 60 acres of greenhouses. Including all West Coast and Texas facilities, Color Spot has 1,445 acres in production. Employees: 400. Ownership: Kohlberg & Co. in Mount Kisco, N.Y., is primary shareholder. David Barrett is Color Spot chief executive officer. For more: Jim Crockett, 873 Mickelsen Court, Brentwood, CA 94513; watermagic@earthlink.net. Scott Coleman, Color Spot Nurseries, 258 Elm Tree Lane, Fallbrook, CA 92028; (800) 554-4065; fax (760) 731-2076; scottc@colorspot.com. Bryan Foley, Netafim USA, 2852 Via Del Robles, Fallbrook, CA 92028; (888) 638-2346; bfoley@netafimusa.com; www.netafimusa.com. H.E. Anderson Co., P.O. Box 1006, Muskogee, OK 74402-1006; (800) 331-9620; fax (918) 682-3342.

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