Irrigation according to PMS and Tensiometer instruments
It has been my observation over quite a few years that forest nurserymen are an independent lot; they definitely have their own ideas as to how a nursery should be run. This was never more true than with irrigation practices. Most nurserymen seem to have an intuitive sense about when seedlings need water and when they don't. However, does this intuition always get the job done most efficiently and at the same time provide what the seedlings really need? As I became acquainted with the pressure bomb (Pressure Chamber Instrument) and the tensiometer I was pretty well convinced that these tools would take out some of the guesswork in irrigation schedules. The pressure bomb measures plant moisture stress, or indirectly the amount of water it has taken in from the soil. The tensiometer measures the amount of available moisture in the soil, so with the two instruments we should pretty well figure out when and how much water is necessary for optimum seedling development.
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Author(s): Ronald S. Adams
Publication: National Nursery Proceedings - 1982
Event:
Western Nurserymen's Conference
1982 - Medford, OR