IRRIGATION PUMP EFFICIENCY & more

Not only are irrigation pump inefficiencies just plain bad for the environment, they cost the grower money!  No bueno!  Each percent of pressure wasted is equal to the additional costs paid in energy. If you waste 30%, you pay an extra 30%. Irrigation Efficiency...

IRRIGATION DISTRIBUTION UNIFORMITY

Did you know that yields within a single grapevine row can vary up to 5x? One factor in this yield variation is irrigation. Poor Irrigation System Distribution Uniformity (DU) has been shown to negatively impact crop yields in numerous studies conducted over the past...

Water Management — Part II

Introduction Thank you for reading Part II of this three-part series on water management.  In Part I we discussed the importance of having a written water management plan, the advantages of Regulated Deficit Irrigation (RDI), monitoring water quality and soil...

Water Management — Part I

Introduction Describing the issue of water in California, Mark Twain once intoned, “whiskey’s fer drinkin’, water’s fer fightin’.” Winegrapes use less water than most crops, so we do a little less fighting than some, but we still need to manage our most precious...