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Originally Posted by Akula
Thanks for the update Louis!
That's a great photo showing your sprinkler system. Great water shot straight to the pstem area.
How much water is delivered through the irrigation system per plant differ during the life stages of the plant in the field i.e. small pup, medium, large, fruiting?
Thanks!
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Hi Akula
Right now it is the rainy season so we try not to water but if we have 3-4 days without rain then we will irrigate these young plants. During the dry season we normally water the bananas three times per week if possible starting mid afternoon. Our soil is very sandy and the water penetrates the soil very quickly so it is of no use to water too much, it's better to water regularly and that is what we do. We have to pump the water up from the river to irrigate the whole plantation and this is done with 4 inch pipes and a massive 5 liter diesel engine and pump.
When it becomes worthwhile I will upgrade the system to a solar pump but this is a large expense not yet justifiable. To answer your question we give about the same amount of water to 3 months old plants as we do to adults and we try to keep all that reasonable as the pump engine burns 4 liters of diesel per hour. I have not measured how much water we give to each plant as we measure more in pumping time but judging by the puddles we create we give at least 30 to 50 liters of river water to each plant, more to the big namwah bushes and we spend our time opening and closing valves and running up and down the plantation to the different zones.