Last week I attended the CanWest Horticulture Show in Abbostford thanks to my employer’s generous sponsorship. And as I walked to one of the food trucks to use my $10 coupon, I noticed the Landscape Industry Certified tent. Aha, I knew all about it and it brought good and bad memories.
The worst station
By far the worst killer station is the lateral line repair. That’s because most landscapers don’t actually handle irrigation repairs in the field. Once in a while I would replace a broken head. Maybe.
First, you have to dig up the smashed up line from a sandy pit. Warning: you will get sweaty. Then, once the line is exposed you have to find the break and fix it. This involves cutting out the bad section, finding a new piece of pipe, fitting it in properly and applying glue.
Finally, you have to test the system and run to the back to show the judge how to adjust three different irrigation heads. And you have to do this in thirty minutes.
My experience
My former boss was smart so he took us to his place where we buried a piece of line and then fixed it. That really helped because there are two chemicals to apply. One is to clean the ends of the pipe and one is the glue that puts it back together. It’s obviously a bad idea to confuse the two similar looking cans. Remember, the judge is watching your every move and the clock is ticking.
When I finally dug up my broken line from the sand dune I expected to see a beautiful white pipe. Wrong. All I could see was the previous repair jobs which briefly confused me.
Lucky break
So I gave it a go and once my repair was completed I turned the system on to test it. Nothing. What was wrong?
Sometimes you get lucky. In this case the testing station failed. It sprung a leak in the middle of the two testing fields. Not my fault.
Obviously, the head judge had to be called over. And the head judge turned out to be from one of the most prominent landscape maintenance companies in the Lower Mainland. As he walked over I had regrets about calling his company a sweatshop.
Head adjustments
Since we couldn’t test my system I got a free pass on to section two. Head adjustment is just that, adjusting irrigation heads. It sounds easy but you will see monster heads you never imagined existed.
The system is on and the judge tells you what kind of coverage he wants on all three heads. I faked my way through it, spraying the judge at least once. Thanks to my free pass on the repair portion I had tons of time to adjust all three heads.
And I passed the station!
Prepare
Always prepare for testing day. There is good reason for this station to be set up at a horticulture trade show. It’s tough. So do what I did, bury a smashed up line and practice.
I still recall one dude from my company who couldn’t screw the tops of his irrigation heads back on because they were sandy. So he ran out of time and he was steamed in the candidate tent. His shouting didn’t really calm my own nerves. I just walked to the food table but all of the good donuts had been consumed by the head judge.
Certified
I highly recommend this program. Get your employer to sponsor you. Yes, you will feel a bit small on testing day but getting your certificate in the mail is a great feeling. You feel like you belong with the professionals. And you do.
Testing is twice a year in October and in July. Go get tested.
I’d need to talk with you here. Which is not some thing I usually do! I spend time reading an article that will get people to believe. Also, many thanks for permitting me to comment!