Phred wrote in message
...
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.

By the look of the crops you have far higher transpiration rates. Our
staple crop is grass.

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.

I suspect when you know your area and have farmed there for a generation
or so, you get a feel for the place. No point in putting on water if you
reckon it is going to blow in rain over the next couple of days.
Irrigation water costs money, rainfall is free.


--
Jim Webster

"The pasture of stupidity is unwholesome to mankind"

'Abd-ar-Rahman b. Muhammad b. Khaldun al-Hadrami'




Cheers, Phred.

--
LID