Soil moisture monitoring
Use a combination of evaporation replacement and soil moisture monitoring when scheduling irrigation. Monitoring tools give a picture of what is happening in and below the crop root zone, allowing for more informed irrigation scheduling. Many different devices are available, letting you match your chosen tool’s capabilities with your requirements.
Irrigation pointers
If you are using drip irrigation, you may need to irrigate more than once a day to meet peak water requirements. If the drip system drains out after each irrigation, break the irrigation down into the longest pulses possible to reduce losses to drainage.
Redesign the irrigation system if the wetted area is too small (limiting) and pulsing is not an option. To perform pulse irrigation efficiently, you need a non-draining drip system.
Sprinkler irrigation systems cannot be used for pulse irrigation. Short pulses do not penetrate deep enough into the soil, resulting in high evaporative losses.
Check the uniformity of your irrigation system at the beginning and throughout the irrigation season.
Acknowledgements
This page replaces Farmnote 544 Citrus irrigation recommendations by Helen Newman.