Scheduling the last few irrigations of the season deserves extra attention because the goal is not only to focus on keeping the crop wet enough to produce optimal yields, but also on using up stored soil water. Leaving the field a little drier at the end of the season will save irrigation costs, decrease leaching losses, improve soil conditions for harvest traffic, and save water for future years. Growers also don't want to miss out on capturing off-season precipitation. Lowering the soil moisture level to 40% of plant available water in the top four feet will give about 2.4 inches of off-season water storage in sandy soils and about 5.5 inches in silt loam soils without lowering yields.

Continue reading to learn the details about irrigation optimization.