A Q&A w/ National Commercial Sales Manager of DIG Corporation

Here at Ecogardens, we have recently begun selling some of the products we’ve been using for years.

By championing The products that we’ve found to be resilient and reliable, we hope to share with you some of the tools that have been the very foundation of our work.

To kick off this exciting new phase, we recently sat down with Mike Merlesena, National Commercial Sales Manager of DIG Corporation.

Based in California, and successfully manufacturing and distributing drip irrigation accessories since the 1980s, DIG started out providing a line of low-volume irrigation products to both the DIY retail market and the commercial turf market. From the beginning, they’ve taken the resilience and sustainability of their products and services seriously.

While DIG has always provided advanced, eco-friendly irrigation technology solutions, when they acquired the LEIT controller product line in 2000, they could confidently claim to have the greenest irrigation technology on the market.

Q: Mike, could you explain what sets DIG apart from other irrigation manufacturers?

The LEIT controller is truly the greenest irrigation controller in the world. It runs off ambient light, which means it doesn’t need direct sunlight to power the controller. In fact, it can sit in a dark closet and still work for three days. It can work in full sun, full shade or a combination of the two.

The LEIT controller also doesn’t use batteries of any kind, so there’s no need for replacement or disposal. Battery waste can be a big problem in this industry, and although we were the first company in the country to use battery-operated controllers, we’re committed to finding solutions to battery waste and alternative power sources. The LEIT controller also uses a super capacitor which has a really long lifespan – decades long – and really gives the user a permanent solution.

Q: How do these products run if they aren’t hooked up to an electricity source?

This is one of the major features that sets us apart. In fact, our slogan is No Power? No Problem because no matter your energy source – batteries, solar power, city electricity – as long as you have water, you can start to irrigate.

This is more than a marketing slogan for us, but a true sustainable and beneficial feature for our clients.

For example, say a city wants to irrigate the medians on their streets, but power doesn’t go out there, or would be really expensive to run to the middle of a busy road. Our products can help cities save a ton of money, because you can irrigate those median strips, or really, anywhere difficult to get power to (like rooftops or anywhere that needs to be retrofitted), without any electricity, or any power source. All you need is one of our ambient-light controllers and a hookup to water and you’re ready to irrigate.

Q: It seems the whole world is talking about ways to reduce plastic waste, but in the irrigation industry this can be a particularly tough problem. How does DIG work around this? And do you think older materials like brass and copper still have a place in new systems?

Well, brass and copper are still great, easily recyclable, and last for a long time. If you are interested in this kind of material, be sure to double check your local codes, as some cities have mandates on using brass valves.

With plastic there’s major transportation-related emissions saved compared to a heavier material like brass because plastic is much lighter to ship. And the manufacturing, while far from perfect, can have a lesser environmental footprint than pure brass or copper.

At DIG, we’ve adapted our own recipe to use as much recycled plastic in our materials as we can, without sacrificing the quality and integrity of the product. Plus, plastic valves and tubing are very durable.

Q: Some of your timers and controllers have rain sensors or site-specific weather stations that measure humidity, wind and other conditions. Can a user set this up to be automatically responsive to changing weather patterns?

There are easy to use water budgeting controllers on all our professional products. This way, you can make your irrigation decisions based on site-specific data from the controllers. This is really great for places that have concentrated, varied microclimates, so you can use real data from what’s happening on the ground to set your schedules instead of using broad weather classifications or zip codes.

Q: What about older systems that just need repairs or upgrades? Do you have to start from scratch, or can you retrofit systems?

Yes, we have seven different adaptors, and can retrofit a large majority of valves on the market. If you’re going from AC to DC, we just take the solenoid out and reuse the splice. This saves you from having to replace every valve and is good for contractors and clients alike. It’s also another aspect of our sustainability initiatives because it encourages reusing what we can instead of replacing unnecessary parts.

Q: Are there any innovations on the horizon coming our way? Any game changers you can talk about?

Later this year we’ll be introducing the LEIT Link, which will be a completely revolutionary product. It will have all the benefits of the LEIT controller, but instead of the standard 28 stations, this one will have 32 stations and be cloud based. We can use this in really big installations and areas that otherwise would need more complicated setups. This will also help in projects where we are retrofitting a system, and we can use it in new areas without any power. We see this product line helping municipalities and places where the budget is constantly squeezed because they won’t have to allocate any electricity or power to keep their landscapes functioning.

Questions about any of the cool features here? Feel free to contact us here at Ecogardens to learn more about where to buy these products, how we use these resilient and sustainable products, and check out the DIG website for more information.