The building blocks of irrigation scheduling

“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 user-friendly 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