Irrigation Matters
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
When it comes to successful crop production, few factors carry as much weight as water management. Almond grower, David Doll, says it's critical to understand that irrigation isn’t just a piece of the puzzle—it’s the foundation.
Doll… “Irrigation's 80% of the game. Your nitrogen nutrient management's probably at 10%, and then everything else is that remaining 10%. It really comes down to irrigation management, making sure the water you're getting good infiltration in your soils that have solar infiltration rates, making sure you're modifying the soils through soil amendment applications, proper fertilizer choices.”
As a past farm advisor at the University of California, Doll says that when he analyzes an orchard, he looks at how water moves through and beneath the soil.
Doll… “So I tend to focus on when you've started off with an orchard, you have to look at the structural effects of that orchard. Do you have limiting layers at a certain depth that will prevent water from moving down? Do you have something that's preventing water from moving out of the field? You know, subsurface movement of water is just as important as surface movement of water. And if you're having water underneath the ground, that gets to a point of your farm and it can't find its way out, it's going to collect and you're going to have a wet spot, which then leads to compaction, leads to saturated soils, leads to poor root health, and nothing really grows. It doesn't matter if it's almonds, corn, or whatever. It won't grow.”
Doll shares his almond expertise on his blog theAlmondDoctor.com.
