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<br />00.001.2 <br /> <br />- <br /> <br />United States <br />Department of <br />Agriculture <br /> <br />Agricultural Pacific West Area <br />Research <br />Service <br /> <br />U.S. Salinity Laboratory <br />450 W. Big Springs Road <br />Riverside, CA 92507-4617 <br /> <br />Tel. 909-369-4867 <br />Fax. 909-342-4962 <br />Email. Jrhoades@ussl.ars.usda.gov <br /> <br />November 8, 1996 <br /> <br />The recommendations that you have given the farmer offield # 2 are appropriate and <br />good ones. By replacing the sprinklers with drop-tubes, foliar bum can be avoided. Another aid <br />would be to use the fresh water from the ditch that is available during the early season for the pre- <br />plant and seedling establishment irrigations and to then switch to the saline well waters later as the <br />surface water supply is exhausted and the plants are in a more salt-tolerant growth stage. Planting <br />. in beds will improve soil aeration and reduce the crusting and thus aid plant emergence--provided <br />you can get the beds to "wet-up"; this may be a bit tricky unless you provide frequent "dams" in <br />the furrows to impound the water to get it to a proper height for bed-subbing. Unless the field is <br />well graded, you may not get good water-depth control without the creation of micro-, check- <br />dams in the furrows. Irrigating in every other furrow will help minimize the level of salinity in the <br />beds, but will accumulate the salts in the vicinity of the "dry-furrow". It would be good if you <br />could irrigate in all furrows, once the plants are well established. Otherwise make sure you get <br />good leaching of this soil area before the next crop is planted. Crops with the most tolerance to <br />foliar bum should be grown. The data on this is quite limited; I don't have much information to <br />provide you in this regard-sorry. <br /> <br />These same general recommendations would help farmer # 4, as well. But he needs to see <br />ifhe is under-irrigating or if the subsurface-drainage is inadequate there. I think he needs to grade <br />the field to eliminate the uneveness in the soil micro-topography. <br /> <br />Farmer # I has a well water of very high salinity, as I recall. But foliar bum is not a factor <br />there, since he is irrigating by cablegation via furrows. He should limit his crops to salt-tolerant <br />ones and focus on creating better seedbed conditions for seedling establishment, on reducing soil <br />crusting and preventing high levels of salinity in the vicinity of the seeding. You know all the <br />tricks to do this. <br /> <br />Hope these data and suggestions help. Please pass this information on to Lorenz. I <br />enjoyed our trip and chance to work with you and Lorenz. I look forward to undertaking more <br />"experitions" to Colorado and some time for hunting and fishing there also. <br /> <br />Sincerely, <br /> <br /> <br />~:~~ <br />