Irrigation events can be added to a planting for an upcoming, present, or past date. Begin in the ranch view by selecting a planting. A Planting Summary Card will display.
Schedule an irrigation event by clicking on the add (+) event icon on the upper right-hand corner of the planting card, and select irrigation. An irrigation form will display. Select a date and Irrigation Method and select Calculate Recommendation.
After clicking on Calculate Recommendation, the recommended volume of water to apply will be displayed as well as an estimated date of the maximum interval between irrigations that will not cause excessive moisture stress for the crop. The applied water units displayed (hours or inches) can be toggled on the right-hand side of the irrigation form. Make sure that the application rate in the irrigation section of planting settings is accurate since CropManage uses this value to convert inches to hours.
Scheduling the irrigation before the date of the recommended maximum irrigation interval will assure that the crop does not become water-stressed. The CropManage recommended date for the maximum interval will only display if the interval is less than or equal to 15 days. This time limit is required because the estimated interval is based on the crop coefficient and weather for past conditions which would likely change for future dates
In addition to the maximum irrigation interval and recommended amount of water displayed, there is also an optional field where the manager can fill in a recommended amount of water to apply, which can be different than the CropManage recommendation. This value is so that another user, such as an irrigator, can view the amount of water recommended by the farm manager. The value is not used in the calculations and is not reported in the total water applied.
Selecting Recommendation Summary reveals the data and calculations that CropManage used to estimate the irrigation volume and interval. Check that the input information is accurate such as the days since the last irrigation, the crop coefficient (Kc), and the average daily reference evapotranspiration value.
Important: Select Create to save the irrigation event. Otherwise, the event will be lost. If the date or irrigation method were not selected correctly, reopen the irrigation event and change the event to the correct date and/or irrigation method.
After the irrigation is complete the irrigation event can be reopened and the amount of Water Applied can be entered in units of hours or inches. This value represents a record of the amount of water actually applied to the crop and is typically entered by the irrigator. If a flowmeter file has been associated with the planting CropManage will automatically add the applied water volume.
If a planned irrigation event is not completed, then it should be removed from the planting or the irrigation recommendation of the next entered event will not be calculated correctly. CropManage calculates the irrigation recommendation based on the time interval between the last and current irrigation events.