Posts Tagged: irrigation
Farmers encouraged to put water conservation efforts on the map
To mark its centennial anniversary, UCCE is hosting a Day of Science and Service to engage all Californians in creating an extensive statewide dataset on pollinators, food and water. Farmers may attend any of the myriad public celebrations on May 8. Computers will be available at the events for participation in the citizen science project. Or, if their schedules do not permit, they can quickly link in on their own computers or smart phones to record their efforts.
To participate, farmers can open http://beascientist.ucanr.edu. Click on the icon for water and find the farm on the map or search by address. The survey is set up for all California residents to record their water-saving in the household, garden and landscape. Farmers can click on the boxes that reflect their agriculture operations' water-saving strategies:
o Using drip/micro irrigation
o Scheduling irrigation efficiently
o Changing to drought-tolerant crops
o Using deficit irrigation
o Managing the soil
o Other
The system also allows users to upload a related photo. The whole process takes about a minute. No registration is necessary and the system doesn't collect email addresses. Twitter users can tweet about their participation in the Day of Science and Service using the hashtag #beascientist.
In addition to providing a better understanding of ongoing water-saving efforts, the Day of Science and Service aims to raise awareness about water conservation on farms and in households. Given the size of California, small savings across the board add up to a significant amount of water.
“Right now California is experiencing one of the worst droughts on record,” said Darren Haver, UCCE advisor in Orange County. “Some communities may run out of water in the next 10 years. If everyone in the state saves at least 10 gallons a month, we will be able to save over four and a half billion gallons a year.”
How does your garden grow? In a drought, consider drip
How does your garden grow?
--English nursery rhyme
How will your garden grow during California’s drought emergency? Gov. Jerry Brown says the state is facing the worst drought in its recorded history.
We urban gardeners may turn quite contrary if our gardens don't grow.
Alternative: Consider installing a drip irrigation system.
Why a drip system? It’s target watering. It’s uniform watering. It’s non-wasteful watering. You don’t want to water the leaves, the space between the plants, or worse, water the sidewalk or let the water gush into the gutter.
Drip irrigation is better for plant health. Plants thrive with drip because it waters them slow and deep where the roots are. You’ll likely minimize weed growth. In comparison to overhead sprinklers, the smaller, targeted area means that weeds will have less opportunity to spring up and try to take over your garden, Gangnam Style. And by not watering the leaves of your plants or allow them to collect standing water, you can reduce diseases.
Drip irrigation is simply a network of pipes, tubing, valves and emitters. Water “drips” or “trickles” directly to the roots.
The concept is not new. Back in the first century, Fan Sheng-Chih Shu wrote about what we now consider a “primitive” drip irrigation system, but one that definitely worked well: Farmers buried perforated unglazed clay pots and filled them with water. They refilled them as needed.
Today’s modern drip irrigation system for urban gardeners includes an irrigation controller with automatic valves or a manual system (shown). If it's automatic, a timer controls the valves and waters the plants while you do something else - like enjoying a glass of lemonade on the back porch, watching your favorite movie, or vacationing in Hawaii. Note: It's a good idea to set your timer for early in the morning, before 8. There's less evaporation.
Of course, there can be disadvantages to the drip system. The key disadvantages are the initial cost of the equipment and labor. Then, too, you must closely monitor the system to ensure the emitters aren’t clogged, or thirsty rodents aren’t gnawing through your plastic pipes.
Find more about drip irrigation on the Sonoma County Master Gardeners website.
Bottom line: A drip irrigation system is often a better alternative to overhead sprinklers or the hand-watering method. Expect to conserve water, save on your water bill, grow healthy plants with fewer weeds and diseases, and save time and effort in doing so.
An artichoke in the drip grid. This area is ready for planting. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A newly planted peach tree among the drip lines. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Corners of the drip grid. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Can less water grow better berries?
It might be pouring rain today, but soon enough California will be dry again. As demand for water for a growing urban population and for environmental restoration increases, farmers throughout the state are working to grow crops using as little water as possible, and UC is working with them.
"Water supplies are being constrained. Farmers are facing reduced access to water," said Shermain Hardesty, a UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at UC Davis.
The research involves using some elaborate formulas for determining how much water is needed. UCCE advisor Richard Molinar, working with small farms in Fresno County, is irrigating small plots of strawberries with different amounts of water, some at 125 percent of the normal rate, some at 100 percent, and others at 75 percent and 50 percent of normal. In San Diego County, UCCE advisor Ramiro Lobo is doing similar research on strawberries and blueberries; UCCE advisor Manuel Jimenez is working with blackberries and blueberries in Tulare County; UCCE advisor Aziz Baameur is planting strawberries and blackberries in Santa Clara County, and UCCE advisor Mark Gaskell is studying blackberries in Santa Barbara County.
Once the berries are grown, they need to be tested - and testing means tasting in this project. The research team is holding tasting sessions to let the public judge which berries they prefer. If you've ever tasted a dry-farmed tomato, you might guess the answer. The first tasting session was held at the Davis Farmers' Market in June, with seven more coming soon at farmers' markets and grocery stores around the state.
Taste is a great quality to measure, but only one aspect of the study. Berries are already known for having a high nutrient content, but growing them with less water might give them even higher nutritional value. The team expects to find nutrition density to be highest at the lowest irrigation levels. To test this concept, UCCE specialists Elizabeth Mitcham and Marita Cantwell, experts in postharvest science affiliated with the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis, are doing nutritional quality analysis of the berries as they are picked.
"Over-irrigation is cheap insurance, especially for such high value crops," he said.
He explained that more water tends to grow bigger berries. Since the harvest is not mechanized for berry crops, it takes as much effort to pick a small berry as a large berry, making more efficient use of the pickers' time and filling the basket more quickly if the berries are bigger.
Such a trade-off for the farmers! The public may decide that they prefer smaller berries with more taste, and the scientists may decide that smaller berries are more nutritious, but will it be profitable to grow better berries? It may depend on how much smaller, and on how much less water for how much better nutrition and taste. It may depend on the water rates, says Hardesty. She will be taking all of these variables into account to determine the potential impact on profitability of lower irrigation rates on berries.
The team, which also includes UCCE advisors Michael Cahn in Monterey County and David Shaw in San Diego, will report the results of their study to California farmers in the final year of the project. This project is funded by a California Department of Food and Agriculture Specialty Crop Block Grant.
National newspaper offers its take on California water issues
The Wall Street Journal today ran a brief article about California's water situation as part of its Innovations in Agriculture series.
Reporter Jim Carlton noted that California leads the nation in farm revenue, but is also one of the country's driest states, and most populous. How do we do it?
"If you have limited water supplies, you have to be as careful and efficient as you can with it," says Larry Schwankl, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources at UC Davis.
The article described advances in irrigation technology that have enabled farmers to improve irrigation efficiency.
Micro-sprinklers, such as those shown above watering almonds, are much more efficient than flood irrigation.
July's high evapotranspiration rates trigger conservation efforts
The Water Conservation Act of 2009, also referred to as Senate Bill x7-7 or “20 by 2020,” mandates that California reduce urban per capita water use by 20 percent by the year 2020. It also requires all water suppliers to increase water use efficiency.
To help us become more aware of our watering practices, July is designated as Smart Irrigation Month by the national Irrigation Association. July is the month across most of North America when evapotranspiration rates are highest. The Irrigation Association uses the phrase “saved water is money in the bank” to draw attention to the need to water landscapes and gardens, golf courses and shopping center plantings more efficiently.
In a presentation in Groveland, Calif., Brad Lancaster, the author of “Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond” asked the question, “Why do we use treated drinking water to irrigate our lawns?” The number one use of energy in California is to pump and move water.
Many of us in UC Cooperative Extension outreach are asked over and over during the hot, inland California summers: “How much should I water?” Although there are simple rules of thumb, the answer is, “It depends.” Effective irrigation depends on type of soil, slope, elevation, type of plants, where the plant is growing, etc.
In addition to efficient irrigation scheduling, there are some fairly simple (and some not-so-simple) techniques that can help reduce outdoor residential water use:
- Check watering depth. A long screwdriver blade will penetrate easily into damp soil. Use it to gauge how deeply water is penetrating.
- Add organic material to the soil. Compost, homemade or purchased, helps clay soils drain and helps sandy soils retain moisture. Compost also reduces water demands, helps control soil erosion, and reduces plant stress from drought.
- To combat evaporation, plant closely enough that plants shade the soil.
- Mulch, mulch, mulch, mulch to slow evaporation from the soil surface.
- The amount of water needed varies by species of plant, the time of year, the amount of sunlight, air temperature, etc. The general rule of thumb is that turf grasses use up to about a quarter inch of water per day during the hottest part of the summer. To replace that almost two inches of water per week, divide the amount of water needed into one to three irrigations per week.
- Consider replacing some plantings with drought-tolerant natives.
- Consider reducing lawn size.
- Check sprinklers for leaks, broken heads, misaligned spray patterns and run-off.
- If water is running off, “cycle” irrigation. Run sprinklers until run-off appears, stop until water infiltrates, and repeat until deep irrigation is achieved.
For more information, see the UC Guide to Healthy Lawns.