[ Sorry folk. Had to break the threading. NX choked on the
References line which had grown to near infinity.]

In article ,
"Jim Webster" wrote:

Gordon Couger wrote in message
.. .
[snip]
I am sure that you do some irrigation but the size of them and the
varying
climate and soils you go by expert experiance more than trying to
match all the equations to you climate that varies by the mile.

All those water budget equations don't take into account the rain
fall
anyway so they are only truly valid in the desert. To use them you
have a number of K factor in them

it did rather strike me that doing one for an area with five feet of
rain was something of a waste of time.

Each to his own of course, but I know of plenty of places around here
where farmers getting 80 to 100 inches of rain per year still find it
useful to irrigate at times to ensure optimum production of pawpaws,
bananas, and sugar cane.

Mind you, I must admit they probably don't decide when or how much by
using a water budget -- more likely kick the ground, look at the sky,
and say "Hmmm... better put on a couple of inches tomorrow." Much as
Gordon says above.


Cheers, Phred.

--
LID