Effective irrigation management in cherry orchards starts with three questions: when to begin, how much water to apply and how often to irrigate. Soil pits, moisture sensors, flow measurements and weather stations help growers answer these questions using field data.
The first irrigation should depend on soil moisture and plant development. Winter rainfall and soil water-holding capacity determine how long reserves remain available. Irrigation should begin when moisture approaches the chosen depletion threshold, soil temperatures support root growth and trees have developed enough leaf area to transpire actively. Cherry irrigation strategies generally allow depletion of 30–40% of available soil water.
The amount applied should reflect the water needed to replenish the effective root zone, with irrigation duration calculated from the system’s application rate and efficiency. Soil pits remain essential for checking wetting depth, drainage problems and sensor readings.
Frequency should follow a water balance that combines crop evapotranspiration with readily available soil water. In the article’s example, an orchard consuming 5.4 mm daily requires 21.6 mm of effective irrigation every four days. A system delivering 2 mm/hour at 90% efficiency needs 12 hours to replace that amount. Reducing irrigation to eight hours leaves a 7.2 mm deficit per cycle, progressively drying the soil despite maintaining the same frequency.
New tools—including satellite energy-balance models, sap flow sensors, dendrometers and thermal imaging—can improve monitoring. Vegetation indices such as NDVI help estimate potential demand, while thermal imagery can detect reduced transpiration associated with water stress. These technologies should always be checked against direct observations of soil conditions.
David González O. and Diego Humeres M., from the Irrigation, Climate, and Technology Department at Avium. Source: SmartCherry
Image source: David González O. and Diego Humeres M.
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