GROVE
IRRIGATION
ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF GROVE DESIGN
Irrigation is not just about watering
trees, but more so about increasing control over the health and
well-being of groves and about the best possible results.
A properly designed irrigation system
is vital for delivering water, fertilizer and other nutritional
requirements to the trees so that optimum grove health and yield
can be achieved.
Cutting corners on equipment quality
comes at a price, usually in the form of shorter equipment life
or compromised results, so it is vital to plan the irrigation
system to take account of the need for trouble-free operation
as well as any future requirements.
For instance, experiments are being
carried out by some growers in using in-tree micro sprinklers
to apply electrostatically charged nutrient application to tree
foliage in addition to undertree water application, and if this
is going to be carried out at some stage in groves, irrigation
systems have to be designed from inception to take the additional
flow requirements into account.
Feed water quality has to be assessed
prior to system design, so that potential problems can be minimised
or eliminated.
For instance, where bore water is
used which contains levels of dissolved minerals, running irrigation
laterals where these can be heated by the sun can sometimes result
in these minerals precipitating out in the pipework at a faster
rate than would otherwise be the case.
Where the water source is one which
contains high levels of sediment, such as where dam or stream
water is used, particular attention has to be paid to selecting
appropriate filtration |
