We have often irrigated in winter to overcome a soil moisture deficit even
with little immediate prospect of a large growth response due to
temperature. We have low water temperature right into spring due to
irrigating from a snow-fed river, and the prospect of dropping soil
temperature does enter our thoughts. We figure better to get the soil
moisture up before the soil starts to warm up or the impact on growth could
be higher. We usually only water part of the farm at a time in case we enter
a period of wet weather immediately after irrigating (that hasn't happened
too often). One good watering (or two if sub-soil moisture is also low) in
winter will carry right through to the spring break. At the moment
temperatures are still giving us a bit of growth, and rain over the past few
months have given us reasonable soil moisture.
PhilE
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Aug 08 2006 - 02:38:31 EST