Making the most of water |
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Too much water is just as bad as too little,
it prevents the roots breathing, oxygen vital to the roots, is replaced by
water, carbon dioxide and ethylene which inhibits the plants growth. Lower moisture levels change the plant behavior, at first energy is diverted from vegetative growth to fruit production, Further restriction reduces the size of fruit, and excessive dryness will result in the plant aborting its fruit and diverting all its energy into root production just to survive. |
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Restricting the available water is a standard
technique used with many crops, regulated deficit irrigation is widely used
in wine grapes, but every crop has varying water requirements throughout the
season. This variation in moisture levels through the season is called the horticultural protocol and specialist in each crop will be familiar with conditions that maximise product value for that crop. |
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The problem is knowing how much water to apply
to achieve this optimum moisture in the soil. Classic scheduling applies a large irrigation to thoroughly wet the soil to the base of the roots. The soil has to be saturated to reach deep into the ground as there is very little movement of water when the soil is only moist. The soil, after these large irrigation's, is usually far wetter than the optimum growing conditions. |
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The soil is then allowed to progressively dry.
Plant use water from the upper layers first, by the time the deeper layers are dry the upper, nutrient rich layers are often well below the optimum growing conditions. This is called deep cycle irrigation. Shallow cycle irrigation, applying small but frequent irrigation's, is just as bad, as only a small volume of soil is wetted. |
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The answer is dual cycle irrigation, regular
small irrigation's are applied on a regular basis keeping the upper soil moist,
at intervals a much larger irrigation is applied, typically when hot
weather is predicted. This web site shows how to manage your irrigation to get this improved water distribution leading to more valuable crops and more effective use of water. If you flood irrigate you cannot control your irrigation depth so you will need to adopt micro flood irrigation which is far more efficient. This site shows how. |
| Learning this techniques is not difficult, like
many things in life, when you have got your head around it is very easy,
but you may just need a little help going through the learning process.
In Australia we run training courses, if you are from overseas or simply do
not want to come to a course then we can talk you through on the web. Software is available to help you manage your irrigation, demo copies are available free of charge on request You may just like to indicate your interest by contacting me on email. email:colinaustin@bigpond.comReturn to main menu |