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<br />Drought: Nurseries, Greenhouses and Growers <br /> <br />. Description <br /> <br />Properly irrigate nursery and greenhouse crops with the minimum <br />amount of water waste during drought conditions. <br />This BMP has been adapted primarily ii'om "Coping with Drought: <br />Water Conservation Methodsfor the Greenhouse by Laura Pottorff, <br />Regional Commercial Greenhouse Specialist, Colorado State <br />University Cooperative Extension, Adams County, May 2002. <br /> <br />Basic Practice Guidelines <br /> <br />BMP Type <br />Design X <br />Installation X <br />Maintenance/Operations X <br />Green Industry Relevance <br />AS LA GCC X <br />ALCC ISA X <br />CALCP RMSGA <br />CGGA X WFC <br />CNA X <br /> <br />The guidelines below are divided into three steps for ease of <br />implementation. Step 1 should be implemented wherever feasible by all greenhouses, nurseries and growers. <br />Step 2 is strongly recommendedfor implementation whenever physically andfinancially possible. Step 3 <br />illustrates the ideal. <br /> <br />Step 1: Reduce Wasted Water/Runoff <br /> <br />1. Group plants with similar water needs together (i.e., hydrozones) to improve irrigation efficiency. Adjust <br />individual sections of the irrigation system to avoid excessive watering. <br />2. Space containers under fixed overhead irrigation to maximize plant irrigation and reduce waste between <br />containers. <br />3. Use drip tubes for each individual container, when reasonably practical. <br />4. When using programmable irrigation booms, adjust travel rate and flow rates to crop needs. <br />5. Choose sub-irrigation systems where appropriate using ebb and flood or capillary mat irrigation <br />technologies with a water capture and reuse system. Fertility rates for most sub-irrigation systems can be <br />reduced 50 percent. <br />6. Minimize leaching from containers or pulse-irrigate containers. Many textbooks recommend leaching <br />greenhouse and nursery crops to 10 percent excess. This rate can be reduced to close to zero by reducing <br />fertilizer rates and closely monitoring the electrical conductivity of the root substrate. The rate of <br />irrigation must be low to allow the water to percolate through the growing media without the water <br />overflowing the top of the container. <br />7. Check growing media. The condition of the growing media is very important in determining irrigation <br />efficiency. Many of the organic constituents used in growing media, such as peat moss, have <br />hydrophobic or water repelling characteristics. Media of these types tend to be difficult to "wet" after <br />becoming excessively dry, and therefore require excess water. Wetting agents may be added to avoid <br />these problems; however, a wise management strategy is to avoid potting plants in excessively dry media <br />or preventing media from drying out between irrigation periods. Make sure media has adequate porosity <br />(well drained) as well as good water holding capacity. This will help minimize irrigation frequency. <br />Step 2: Examine Efficiency of Irrigation System <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />8. Work towards adapting new irrigation technologies to production systems to help lower costs and reduce <br /> <br />water waste or runoff. A well-designed, efficient irrigation system is a large part of the water use <br /> <br />reduction equation. <br /> <br />9. There are several means by which to supply a crop with irrigation water: overhead sprinkler, hand <br /> <br />watering, drip or trickle irrigation systems and sub-irrigation. Overhead irrigation and hand watering are <br /> <br />typically more wasteful delivery systems. These systems also wet the foliage, increasing the potential for <br /> <br />Colorado Water Conservation Board <br />Flood Protection. Water Supply Planning and Financing. Stream and Lake Protection <br />Water Supply Protection. Conservation and Drought Planning <br /> <br />. <br />