Golf Applications

KISSS systems will currently outperform overhead irrigation in all of the below applications, regardless of climate and soil type.  For more specific information on why KISSS outperforms overhead irrigation see the golf resources page.

Fairways	Greens	Driving Ranges	Tee Boxes
KISSS provides fairways with a distinct advantage over sprinklers by greatly reducing water usage, and turf disease, as well as costly repairs of broken sprinkler heads.	Putting greens stay green and dry with Below Flow systems irrigating their sensitive root zones.  Turf diseases, dead patches, and over saturation of low spots is greatly reduced, if not eliminated.	Driving ranges hold up to damage much better by growing stronger root systems which also helps create a tough natural cushion of turf grass.	Have tougher, more drought tolerant tee boxes.  Below Flow strengthens turf in high traffic areas such as these by making deeper, healthier roots.

The Pitfalls of Overhead Irrigation...

Sprinkler irrigation encourages infection of the above ground portion of the plant by wetting the foliage and by increasing humidity.  Sprinkler irrigation can also increase the risk of turf disease by water logging soil. When soils are too wet, roots receive less oxygen because water displaces air from pores in the soil. If this condition persists, roots stop growing, become damaged and may die, increasing the opportunity for disease infection. 

Water logging generally occurs in soils that drain slowly because of their fine texture or drain incompletely because the porosity of the underlying soil is dramatically different. In these soils, the volume of irrigation must be carefully controlled. This is very difficult when sprinklers are used because the poor uniformity of application means they must be run for long enough to wet the driest area.

How KISSS Irrigation Overcomes Them ALL...

Many of the problems of sprinkler irrigation are avoided when the KISSS system is used with turf.  The KISSS system delivers water directly too the root zone and so does not wet the foliage. The drier conditions are less conducive to germination of diseases and to subsequent infection of plant shoots. 

Special features of the system that distinguish it from more traditional subsurface drip also reduce the risk of tunneling. Tunneling is what occurs when water from a buried emitter mines its way to the surface. Once formed, water will appear as a puddle above the emitter within minutes of an irrigation commencing. The absence of free water on the soil surface above a KISSS line prevents disease organisms spreading by mass flow and droplet splash. 

The KISSS system cannot waterlog the root zone because the soil above the system is wetted by capillary action. This is where a thin film of water spreads by surface tension over soil particles. Capillary wetting will only completely fill and exclude air from the smallest pores in the soil.  Consequently, even when fully wet, the root zone will never be more saturated then field capacity which means oxygen is rarely limiting.  The risk of water logging is further reduced because the KISSS system is an intelligent irrigation system. This means the distribution of water is influenced by soil moisture through a mechanism called moisture regulated water distribution (MRWD). The feature ensures that irrigation water flows preferentially to the driest regions of soil. This evens out differences in soil moisture within the irrigation field and helps to prevent over watering of wet areas of soil.