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Frequently asked questions about irrigation

Frequently asked questions about irrigation

The daily amount needed by a crop is directly dependent on weather and climate conditions. During the long summer days, the plants need more water than during the cool and humid days of spring and autumn. Depending on the stage of development of the crop, the irrigation rate varies too. All these parameters are taken into account when designing the irrigation system as well as for creating irrigation schedules and irrigation schemes. The different crops need different amounts of water, given their biological characteristics and requirements. Learn more HERE.

To achieve maximum yields, water before the crops are exposed to water stress. Some crops are very sensitive to overdrying, such as leafy vegetables, while others such as millet and sorghum are less sensitive. In order not to sacrifice the yield, a good method of tracking the amount of ground water is by using moisture sensors in the soil, as part of a stand-alone weather station, that could provide more information about the precipitation, the leaf moisture, etc.

You’ll get an idea of how long to water if you use a data-based irrigation scheduling method or if you use a moisture sensor in the soil to show you the soil water content. It is essential to know the water flow. You can calculate it in general, for the sprinklers or for the drip irrigation. If you know how much water the crop needs, then divide the amount of water by the flow rate to get the time of operation of the irrigation system.

Evapotranspiration is a combination of evaporation of water from the soil surface and transpiration of water through the leaves of the plant. Combined, they are called evapotranspiration. This is the amount of water used by the plants.

Poor management of the irrigation process can lead to poor yields, to harm the environment, to damage your property, to lead to plant diseases, to wash out valuable nutrients in the soil. Water is still considered to be the best food for the plants. Nothing has so good effect on crop yield and quality as the proper water management. Most farmers do not realize that the poor management of the irrigation process costs them much more in the form of missed opportunities.

The precision agriculture systems will help you optimize the irrigation process. Find out more about them HERE or contact us to consult you.

Poor irrigation regime means that you have applied too much or too little water. In both cases, this would lead to lower yields, poor crop quality, water and energy loss. The missed opportunities related to higher yields and higher quality crops will most affect the revenue planned for the season. If you have energy costs for pumping water for irrigation, you have probably paid a higher electricity bill than you needed – an excess cost that could be avoided with a properly designed irrigation schedule. You may have used expensive fertilizers and pesticides, but they do not give the expected results. The irrigation regime is worth correct elaboration!

When the water freezes, it expands. But this is not the main problem (since such expansion is not huge), but the enormous force with which the water expands. So much so that the water can crack concrete, to crack the steel pipes and to break almost everything it is contained in. The less flexible the vessel (tube, valves and/or fittings) is, the more likely it is to break. You will then have to excavate, repair and replace many of the pipes, valves and anything else that the water can be found in. To avoid all this, it is good to think about wintering and to drain off the water that is inside the pipes and there is a risk of freezing. The cold will penetrate the ground at different depths depending on the climate. If the pipeline is below the freezing line, then you can leave the water in the pipes. If not, remove the water in a timely manner. This is the wintering – the removal of water from all irrigation lines, to avoid freezing. Such removal can be done in two ways – by opening the valve and letting the water flow gravitationally into a low place or blowing the lines through high capacity air compressors.

The answer to this question depends on a number of other questions that you have to answer. How well are you doing by yourselves? Do you have enough time and knowledge to do it right? What will it cost you if you don’t make it precise enough? How sensitive is the grown crop to overdrying or over-wetting?

Typically, producers who want to stake on safe yields are more motivated to trust to a specialized company to prepare them the irrigation regime of more profitable crops such as corn, fruit trees, vineyards.

Water is the main means that moves the fertilizers and the pesticides from the field, where they are so necessary, in the groundwater and streams, where they are not at all desirable. The best way to control their flow out of the fields is the good irrigation management, as once the fertilizers and pesticides have gone out of their destination, they become pollutants.

A poor management of the irrigation process can lead to fatal environmental and health consequences.

The answer to this question depends on many factors. What matters is: your water source – when and how much you can use, the type of the crop grown, the soil, the terrain slope and topography, the legal constraints and last but not least, the price of the irrigation system is important. We can distinguish two types of cost-effective appropriate irrigation - rain-pipe and drip irrigation. When irrigation is carried out by rain-pipe, the water that passes through pressurized pipes comes out through the nozzle at high speed in the air and is distributed over the soil surface, imitating the rain. The most common irrigation systems are the central and linear pivots, the rain-pipe mashines (so-called irrigation reels), the sprinkler systems. The water in drip irrigation also passes through pressurized tubes, but it is delivered around the root system of the plant and comes out through emitters at very low rates. The drip hoses can be buried (underground), laid directly on the soil or hung on a structure, as is usually done with perennial crops. HERE we offer you different irrigation solutions depending on the size of your farm and the cultivated crop.

Uniformity is the ability of the irrigation system to apply water equally evenly on the surface of the soil. If the irrigation system works unevenly, some plants will not get enough water, and others will likely get too much, the excess water will simply be lost. All manufacturers are of the same opinion that this is wasteful and expensive.

For their calculation, you can use calculators provided for various irrigation systems, including for central pivots, drip irrigation, as well as for stationary systems.

The best way to find out how much water is left in the soil so that the plants can use it without having reached the drying stage is to measure it. It is important to have this information to avoid any reduction in yield due to low humidity levels.

When you don’t have enough water to irrigate the crops you grow, you have several options:

- to improve the efficiency of your work;

- to plant crops that need less water;

- to use water storage facilities (in periods when not irrigated) - prefabricated tanks and buried irrigation reservoirs.

The best option would be to improve the efficiency. And the cheapest way to do this is by precise management of the irrigation process. Measure the soil moisture, water only when necessary and apply the right amount so that there is no loss of water. You need to rethink the irrigation methods, you can improve the efficiency by staking on rain-pipe or drip irrigation instead of superficial watering. In most cases, this will cost you more investment, but be sure that you will cover the costs invested in a short period of time and will enjoy high yields and quality harvest.

Some crops require more water than others. In the year when you have less water, you can replace the plants that require more water, such as corn, potatoes and alfalfa, with crops that need less water, such as wheat, sorghum or colza. Alternatively, you can sow crops with a much shorter growing season such as peas, carrots, green onions, spinach or the like. The cultivation of these crops may require additional equipment and labor, therefore the costs of work restructuring must also be taken into account.

The water storage facilities (prefabricated tanks or irrigation reservoirs) allow you to accumulate a volume of water to use during periods when you receive information that you will be deficient in water. Please take a look at our suggestions HERE or contact us to get a consultation.

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