To improve water efficiency and nutrient efficacy in containerized plant production. Short-term objectives 1. To determine the effect of fertilizer placement on nutrient efficacy. To evaluate the effects of reduced irrigation volume and fertilizer rate on water efficiency, nutrient efficacy, and plant growth. Currently, container production is a very inefficient system using large quantities of water and fertilizer.
Cyclic irrigation has the potential to improve water and nutrient efficacy in container production.
This has economical as well as environmental advantage for growers. Improving irrigation efficiency will reduce water usage by minimizing the percentage of water applied that simply runs through the container substrate taking nutrients with it. However, even with the improved efficiency of cyclic irrigation, substantial volumes of water are lost from the container during irrigation. Reducing irrigation volume will also improve nutrient efficacy since nutrients will remain in the substrate potentially reducing the amount of fertilizer the grower may have to apply. Future plans 1.