If i would ask all my clients what they see as the hardest issue in growing strawberry, i think about 95% of them would mention irrigation.
It is spring, and in this time of the year i see the struggles again. lots of growers with to wet soil or substrate, and in the meantime enough growers with too dry substrate.
The weather is changing all the time. In the morning it seems to be autumn, and a bit later, summer comes closer and in the afternoon it turns out to be spring.
How to irrigate under such circumstances?
Recently a grower mentioned: “We invest quite a bit of money in a climate controll system, a lot of money in plants, predators, gutters etc. But nothing in the controll of irrigation. It is time to change it…”.
Important to consider:
– The correlation between radiation and evaporation is very high
– Normal evaporation (good developed plants) is about 1,5 ml/joule (or better (ml/m2)/(joule/m2).
– lower LAI (Leaf Aria Index) means also lower evaporation (leaf pruning –> less evaporation, thus changes in the irrigation).
Withgoing a presentation about irrigation for strawberries. It was originally developed for tomatoes, but i was allowed to change the numbers, so it is suitable for strawberries.