Improve irrigation scheduling

Irrigation scheduling can work with your existing irrigation infrastructure. Studies show that it can potentially improve water use efficiency by up to 30%. Irrigation scheduling can be intricate (i.e. altering watering times daily) or simple. Here are a few tips to get you started:

• Change your settings to adjust for seasonal differences;
• If possible, water at night;
• Know the water needs of your crop;
• If the soil is still wet, delay watering until it dries out;
• Decrease watering frequency, but increase the volume – when watering, make sure that the soil is completely saturated;
• Shut off your system when it rains (or invest in an automatic rain shutoff device).

• HydroLOGIC
  HydroLOGIC software, developed by the Australian Cotton CRC and CSIRO, can help you develop the most efficient irrigation schedule.

HydroLOGIC software, developed by the Australian Cotton CRC and CSIRO, can help you develop the most efficient irrigation schedule.

To use HydroLOGIC cotton growers collect data from their cotton crops including:

• Soil moisture deficit - a measurement of the difference between total soil moisture available to the crop and the current soil moisture status (obtained by using any existing calibrated soil moisture monitoring equipment);
• Fruit load - a measurement of the number of fruiting structures (squares and bolls) on a crop; and
• Leaf area index - a simple estimate of the amount of leaf area present on the crop that affects the amount of soil evaporation and crop transpiration.

HydroLOGIC can simulate the most likely outcome, and report on yield and overall water use with different management strategies. HydroLOGIC provides growers with simple information regarding how frequently they should be irrigating. Growers using HydroLOGIC may be able to reduce their water use through the fine-tuning of their water management allowing them to irrigate to fulfil the exact water requirements of the crop without applying water unnecessarily.

• WATERpak
  Irrigation scheduling can work with your existing irrigation infrastructure. Studies show that it can potentially improve water use efficiency by up to 30%. Irrigation scheduling can be intricate (i.e. altering watering times daily) or simple. Here a
• Weather stations
  The installation of an on-farm weather station can provide information that can help you decide when to irrigate. Qld DPI has provided some information to assist in the purchase and use of weather stations in irrigation management.