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South Dakota

If you convert how much you are now watering to inches of rain/week, how much are you now applying and what is your soil texture? Thanks.

7/29/2024 6:22:31 PM

Kutztown, PA

My soil is a sandy loam but the amount of organic matter also makes a difference. Mine is fairly high at around 12%. My soil seems to hold a lot of water, so I really have to be careful. I've heard it said that some people are watering as much as 100 gal./day which I think would be way to much for me. Here's a little math. 1 inch of rainfall dumps 27,154 gal. on 1 acre (43,560 sf.) That is .62 gal./sf. If your patch was 1000 sf. that would be 623 gal. on your 1ooo sf. patch which is 89 gal./day to achieve the equivalent of 1" of rain. If I could get into a daily pattern I think I'd put down about half of that since my soil holds so much water. Often it rains 1-2 inches, then it becomes a judgement call based on a moisture meter and shoveling some up to look at. If you water in the morning and get a pop up thunderstorm that evening you've over done it. I don't grow in a greenhouse, but being able to control water intake would be one of the great benefits of doing so. I suppose if I wanted to go all Nerdy I could take a rain gauge reading everyday and account for all my water with a flow meter and I would be able to come up with a number that actually happened. If the plant grew well and didn't rot, I could claim watering success and use that average as a go by. Even if I did that it wouldn't be of much future values since I cant predict next seasons rain fall and develop a schedule. Of course there's other variables like how many days of sun, wind, humidity, etc. effecting evaporation rate that play into it. I'm not sure what the magic number is. If you don't give it enough your screwed. If you give it to much your screwed. I would just do your best to stay moderately screwed, based on your qualitative analysis of your soil moisture, vine rot, and drooping leaves. Wish I had more - maybe someone here that grows in a greenhouse has a definitive quantity based on a successful season.

[Last edit: 07/30/24 1:38:20 PM]

7/30/2024 1:30:13 PM

Grittyville, WA

Sandy loam here too. I have a thin layer of mulch atop the ground. The ground been holding water very well this year, I think the no till thing helps the soil pull water up from deeper down. A bit guessing here, but I think 1" per week is about what my plants need.
Maybe it mostly depends on the weather. Temps in the 80s here with an occasional cloudy day. Id probably double that if the heat and sun were more consistent and intense.

[Last edit: 08/05/24 2:33:09 AM]

8/5/2024 2:29:08 AM