Irrigation season is underway and now is the time to ensure that soil profiles don’t dry out.  If you wait much longer, you may not be able to replace the deep moisture.

There are a few crucial things to know when trying to manage irrigation effectively:

• Know what your irrigation system output is. For example, is your system applying 0.5” per 12 hours, or 1” per 12 hours? What is your soil water holding capacity?  Soils can hold anywhere from 1” of water per foot to up over 2” per foot.
• Another important aspect of managing irrigation is learning the infiltration rate for that soil. You may be able to apply to a large volume of water in a short period of time, but if your soil can’t absorb the water at the rate being applied, runoff can be an issue.

At this point in the season, it is more than possible to catch up and refill your profiles.

If this scenario were to occur in late June and July, it would be very difficult to run the irrigation system enough to refill the profile and maintain the tree needs at the same time.