The building blocks of irrigation scheduling

Having a top-quality irrigation system is all very well, but without accurate irrigation scheduling you will never achieve optimal results, says irrigation expert and agronomist Robbie Childs.

- Robbie Childs

“If you don’t know when to irrigate and how much water to apply, as well as when not to irrigate, you risk over-irrigating, wasting water and fertiliser, and placing the plant under pressure. There’s also a risk that you may under-irrigate and limit the plant’s production potential,” says irrigation expert and agronomist, Robbie Childs.

“The goal is to develop a userfriendly scheduling plan that ensures sustainable production and uniform results.”

This requires digging profile pits, fitting soil water monitoring equipment, establishing a scheduling programme, using weather stations and, most importantly, gaining knowledge.

“Don’t take shortcuts and omit any steps,” cautions Childs. “If you don’t fit every piece of the puzzle in perfectly, optimal irrigation won’t be possible, and production will suffer.”

PROFILE PITS

When you dig a profile pit, pay attention to soil type and texture, signs of excessively wet soil, the depth and width of the active root zone, and the soil layers, which may impede root development and water distribution.

“You need to ask a number of key questions,” says Childs. “How much clay, sand and silt is contained in the soil? Do you need to install a drainage system? What is the size of the root zone? And can you mechanically improve the impeding soil layers?”

After irrigation has started, the profile pit will become a tool to recalibrate soil water monitoring equipment and manually monitor soil water levels.

It is important to distinguish between the active root zone and the deeper, less active roots, or buffer zone.