Chris Stäger, owner of SwissScape, has installed rooftop
gardens for some of the most well-known and influential
personalities living in Manhattan. Stäger got his start in
landscaping in Switzerland before moving to the United
States. Since then, his attention to detail and preference
for remaining small so that he can personally oversee
each job, has earned the confidence and business of many
clients, some of whom are among the wealthiest of New
York.
Even though working on a penthouse garden in mid-town
Manhattan or the Upper East Side can create a feeling
of being on top of the world, the noise from gigantic air
conditioning units and the traffic below is deafening. As
such, rooftop gardens are rarely used for hosting parties
or dinners, but are rather are designed for the residents
and their guests to look onto from the interior of their
apartment.
Chris has installed Netafim products on a multitude of
landscapes in New York City, from multi-million dollar
penthouses on the Upper West Side, Madison Avenue and
Central Park South to foundation plantings along Fifth
Avenue. His most preferred Netafim products include
Techline dripperline, PCDj and BD drippers, 3/4" disc filters
and Aqua Pro Controllers to keep the gardens looking
great all summer long.
ISSUES TO BE ADDRESSED
Keeping the plant material green and vibrant on top of
some of New York’s tallest apartment buildings is not
simple. Rooftop gardens tend to be very windy. "The
wind can gust up to 80 miles per hour up there even if it
appears to be a nice day," Stäger commented. Because of
that, spray from pop-up or overhead sprinklers would be
blown everywhere except on the plants themselves and
could soak guests on the patio. And every garden has its
own micro-climate that can vary from garden to garden or
within the garden itself as it continues around the corner
of the building.
In addition to high winds, water pressure at the top of
apartment buildings is rarely ideal for irrigation systems.
"It is either 80 lbs. of pressure or 5," explained Stäger,
"the new buildings have way too much and the older
buildings barely have enough!"
Appearance, or lack thereof is another issue Chris faces.
Whether it is the natural look of a rooftop garden or the
necessity to hide irrigation components in a streetscape
project, Stäger needs to make sure that the products he
uses are "out-of-sight and out-of-mind".
Many of the city’s co-op boards require precise
calculations of how much water the irrigation system
will draw before the garden can even be installed. This
information helps determine how much of a weight load
can be supported and if the roof’s drainage system can
handle the water flow.
Furthermore, rooftop drains are not always located at
the most convenient locations for runoff from irrigation
systems. Many times the drains are in the
middle of the terrace far from planter boxes
and pots that tend to produce such runoff,
Stäger explained. "The clients do not want
to see water trickling across the middle of
their patio," he said, "and with Netafim’s
drip irrigation I can control the amount of
water put into the system. I can run it for
5 minutes several times in a row, which
helps avoid runoff and still provide enough
water for better absorption into the planter
boxes!"
In addition to the concerns with water
volume, pressure and runoff, an even more
significant consideration for Stäger is the
ability to move material in and out of the job
site. "One-third of our entire job is actually
getting the materials to the job site. I have
to coordinate someone to meet me on the street corner to
unload the equipment for the job. Then I must drive around
until I find a parking spot and walk back," he explained.
"Getting the materials up to the job can be just as difficult.
We must use the service elevator, which is usually very small.
Typically a building with 80 to 100 apartments has only
one service elevator and if that is in use we have to wait or
payoff the superintendent or the elevator man. Getting up
to the job site can take between five minutes and two and
one-half hours!"
These one-of-a kind problems associated with installing
irrigation in New York City landscapes sometimes leaves
Chris scratching his head and looking for advice.
THE NETAFIM SOLUTION
Techline dripperline is a great solution for Chris’ clients
because they can be discreetly placed among the garden’s
plants and in planter boxes feeding water directly to the
areas needing it, eliminating the potential for over spray
from the wind. With a variety of Netafim Techline flow
rates and spacings to choose from, Chris can match the
plants’ water needs with an appropriate application rate for
optimum performance. When it comes to the controller for
the system, Chris depends on the flexibility of the Aqua Pro
Controller. It allows for more or less frequent watering on chosen areas within their own "micro-climate". Since
the controller is completely waterproof and does not
need to be plugged in, he can install it anywhere on
the job.
To combat extreme water pressure differences
Stäger uses Netafim pressure regulators to bring the
operating pressure into an acceptable range, and
relies on the outstanding performance of Netafim
disc filters to clean the water.
Especially important in urban applications, subsurface
Netafim systems eliminate the potential for vandalism
along streets and sidewalks and avoid the accidental
damage caused to sprinklers. Additionally, Netafim
systems can be run during the busy Manhattan
workday without the worry or liability of overspray
onto sidewalks, buildings, streets or passerbys.
Because of the straightforward packaging of
Netafim products, Stäger is able to remain
organized and make sure all of the materials
are easy enough to handle and fit into
a service elevator. The simplicity of the
systems eliminates the need for a number of
cumbersome tools making the job easier to
handle.
EASY TO DESIGN AND INSTALL
Garden designers Jeff Mendoza of J.
Mendoza Gardens, Inc. (a.k.a. "King of
Rooftop Garden") and Robert Monteleone
rely on Stäger for the design and installation
of irrigation systems for the gardens they
design. Mendoza and Monteleone choose
Stäger for his quality of work and his choice
in drip product.
Monteleone also teaches rooftop gardening
at the New York Botanical Garden during
the winter months and is very particular about the
products he allows on his sites because he knows the
complications that inferior products can cause.
EASY TO MAINTAIN
Some of Stäger’s Netafim installations are 17 years old
and still work flawlessly. Not only does the product
exceed expectations, but his interactions with Netafim
personnel have also been equally impressive. "In all
the years of calling on Netafim personnel there has
not been one time that I did not come away without
an answer or a solution to the problem I was facing,"
he complimented.
Even more notably, when Manhattan experienced
a drought a few summers ago all watering systems,
including fountains using recycled water were turned
off and not allowed to run, explained Stäger. "The
low-volume Netafim watering systems were not
affected." Stäger expected all sorts of hassles about
his rooftop watering systems, but not once was he
asked to shut the systems down.
Now if we can only help him find a parking spot and
a faster way to get the materials up to the rooftop…
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