2. To evaluate the effects of reduced irrigation volume and fertilizer rate on water efficiency, nutrient efficacy, and plant growth.
2. Cyclic irrigation in combination with reduced irrigation volume reduces nitrate, ammonium and phosphate loss from the container by 65%, 66% and 53%, respectively.
3. Using cylic irrigation improved fertilizer efficiency from 50% to 70%.
Currently, container production is a very inefficient system using large quantities of water and fertilizer. Cyclic irrigation has the potential to improve water and nutrient efficacy in container production. This has economical as well as environmental advantage for growers. Improving irrigation efficiency will reduce water usage by minimizing the percentage of water applied that simply runs through the container substrate taking nutrients with it. However, even with the improved efficiency of cyclic irrigation, substantial volumes of water are lost from the container during irrigation. Reducing the volume applied in combination with cyclic irrigation could dramatically improve water efficiency; however, the volume of water required to optimize plant growth is not known. Reducing irrigation volume will also improve nutrient efficacy since nutrients will remain in the substrate potentially reducing the amount of fertilizer the grower may have to apply.
2. Determine effectiveness of cyclic irrigation and reduced irrigation volume on commercial nursery sites.
3. Evaluate timing of irrigation application and volume on water efficiency.