You’re a golf course manager. How can you keep up with changing irrigation practices?

1 Know your soil

One of the first steps to improve your irrigation practices is to understand your soil type, texture, structure, and moisture content. Different soils have different water-holding capacities, infiltration rates, and drainage patterns, and you need to adjust your irrigation frequency and amount accordingly. You can use soil sensors, probes, or meters to monitor your soil moisture and identify areas that need more or less water. You can also conduct soil tests to determine the nutrient levels, pH, salinity, and organic matter of your soil, and apply fertilizers or amendments as needed.

3 Adopt best practices

Besides knowing your soil and choosing the right equipment, you can also adopt some best practices that can help you improve your irrigation efficiency and effectiveness. For instance, it's best to irrigate in the early morning or evening, when wind speed and evaporation rate are low, and water pressure is high. Additionally, irrigating deeply and infrequently is better than shallowly and frequently as this encourages deeper root growth and drought tolerance. It's also important to irrigate according to the plant needs, not the calendar, as different turf species and areas have different water requirements depending on their exposure, slope, traffic, and health. Furthermore, you should irrigate uniformly to avoid overwatering or underwatering; the former can cause runoff, leaching, disease, and weed problems while the latter can cause wilting, browning, and stress. Finally, it's essential to irrigate responsibly by following local regulations and guidelines on water use and conservation. You should also educate your staff and customers on the importance of water management and the benefits of smart irrigation.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?