New Irrigation Scheduling Software Available

Jerry Wright, Extension Engineer, University of Minnesota, Morris, Minnesota

New software is available to assist a Minnesota irrigating farmer or crop advisor in deciding when to start up the next irrigation event and keeping a daily record of the in-field soil water status and precipitation amounts.

The software creates an interactive spreadsheet for each irrigated field that reflects soil types, available water holding capacity, crop type and emergence date. User is required to input also the maximum daily air temperature for each day after emergence, daily rainfall amounts and irrigation depths for each respective event. If the daily air temperature is not entered, a historical average maximum temperature is assigned based on the selected historical weather site that is incorporated into the software. The software lists several regional weather stations from around Minnesota and North Dakota. The spreadsheet also presents a possible soil moisture status into the future by using the historical max temperatures which can be over written at any time with current forecasted temperatures to help plan ahead.

From these daily inputs a field’s soil water depletion status (expressed in inches of water depleted and also percent deficit) is estimated for each day. This estimation should be crossed check every 5 to 10 days with an in-field soil water assessment by the operator and if found different, a correction can be made to the spreadsheet estimate.

The software can generate 30 day soil water status maps for each field which are printable for taking to the field or filing with other field’s performance and input records. The software includes daily crop water use “ET” estimations for alfalfa, corn, soybeans, potatoes, dry beans, wheat and sugar beets.

The program is designed to run on IBM-compatible computers with the Windows 3.1 or higher operating systems. The software requires 5 MB of memory and 5 MB of free hard drive space. The program works the best on the faster processors and operating systems.

Irrigation engineers, Tom Scherer and Dean Steele, from North Dakota State University teamed up with Jerry Wright, University of Minnesota Extension Engineer, and developed a spreadsheet software program that estimates daily soil water status for individual irrigated fields for several conventional crops. The software was field tested with about dozen farmers and crop consultants in Minnesota during the summer of 1999. Last summer’s users were surveyed at the end of the year and their suggestions for improvement are being incorporated into this version of the software.

A copy of the software and operating manual can be obtained by sending a $30 check (marked payable to University of Minnesota) to:

West Central Research & Outreach Center University of Minnesota Attn: Jean Spohr PO Box 471 Morris, MN 56267

For more information contact Jerry Wright, Extension Engineer at the West Central Research and Outreach Center in Morris, MN (320) 589 -1711 or jwright@tc.umn.edu

Co-Editors: Bill Hutchison, Department of Entomology, University of Minnesota, hutch002@tc.umn.edu
Jeanne Ciborowski, IPM Program, Minnesota Department of Agriculture, jeanne.ciborowski@state.mn.us
Cindy Tong, Department of Horticulture, University of Minnesota, ctong@extension.umn.edu
Production Editor: Suzanne Wold, Research Specialist, University of Minnesota, woldx018@tc.umn.edu

Disclaimer
Reference to products in this publication is not intended to be an endorsement to the exclusion of others which may have similar uses. Any person using products listed in this publication assumes full responsibility for their use in accordance with current directions of the manufacturer

Last Revised July 20, 2000.
The University, including the Minnesota Extension Service, is an equal opportunity educator and employer.©1999 Minnesota Extension Service, University of Minnesota. All rights reserved. Contact copyright@extension.umn.edu for information on reproduction or use of this material.