Summary: Improving Irrigation Efficiency in Pears Caudle Case Study
Pear irrigation systems can have challenges such as low pressure, run off, too much or too little water and clogging filters resulting in pears with cork or small size. Larry and Renee Caudle in Dryden WA discuss a case study plot on their farm with WSU’s Tianna DuPont looking at how use micro-sprinklers to reduce run off and improve fruit size. Virtual Field Day hosted by Tianna DuPont, WSU Extension, Troy Peters, WSU Biological Systems Engineering, Lee Kalcsits, WSU Horticulture. Project funders and supporters include the Fresh Pear Committee, WSU Extension, Bonneville Environmental Foundation, Cascadia Conservation District, S&W Irrigation, Wilbur Ellis.
Text Transcript with Description of Visuals
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| Thank you so much for both hosting this project and for chatting with me a little bit today. With the challenges we’ve had with the industry with both cork and fruit size we really wanted to look at how we can improve our irrigation efficiency. Dr. Lee Kalcsits is looking at our irrigation recommendations, but we also wanted to look at how we can implement that in the orchard. We’ve got some old irrigation systems in some of these pear blocks and sometimes we have trouble with pressure, or clogging filters, or not putting enough water on. So, we wanted to be able to think about what are the common challenges and then how can we fix them so that folks can implement improved irrigation. So, we looked for some challenging blocks and you guys had one that you were kind enough to let us work in. So, tell me a little bit about what were some of the key challenges in this block? | Tianna, Larry, and Renee stand in a pear orchard. Irrigation sprinklers are seen running in the background. Text on screen reads “Tianna DuPont, WSU Extension” and “Larry and Renee Caudle”. |
| Well, we had a lot of issues, but our biggest challenge was probably the runoff on a 12-hour set. | Text appears on screen which reads “Key Challenges in this block: run-off, small fruit, and lack of uniformity”. |
| We can’t run a 24-hour set because of the hillsides and our fruit size was not good for the most part. We had pockets where it was ok, but not real good. | Close up of water run-off on hillside creating puddles. Text on screen reads ” Old system challenge: run off on hillsides”. Shot then changes back to Tianna, Larry, and Renee standing in pear orchard. |
| We had dry spots in the block from sprinklers hitting the trees and not getting past. And then just having issues with equipment trying to get on the hillsides after a set. We’re spraying every 10 days to 2 weeks, so we have to coordinate the water around that. So that’s been a challenge for us. | Panning shot of pear trees on a hillside. Text on screen reads “Uniformity challenge in some areas”. Shot then changes back to Tianna, Larry, and Renee standing in pear orchard. |
| What was the standard irrigation set up in this block? | |
| We had the old rainbird impact sprinklers on basically a 36 by 36 spacing, and they just weren’t real efficient. But that’s what it was. | Tianna, Larry, and Renee walk up a hillside orchard row. Camera then pans to the Rainbird irrigation sprinklers between the trees. Text on screen reads ” Impact sprinklers: 4 gal/head/min 1.8″ every 12 hours”. |
| So, we had Troy Peters from WSU and Chet Walker from S and W come out and do some assessments and come up with a design we implemented on half the block so we could compare. Tell me about the new system. | The shot changes back to Tianna, Larry, and Renee standing in the pear orchard. |
| The new system are micro sprinklers, there are 10 sprinklers, they’re on an 18 by 18 spacing. So, the uniformity of the watering in just fantastic compared to the old system. We’re not getting the dry spots; the trees look better. We noticed a difference in the ways the trees looked in the first year. We’re excited to see in the next several years what it’s going to look like. | Close up shot of micro sprinklers within the orchard row. Text on screen reads “R10 micro sprinklers – 0.43 gal/head/min, 1″ every 12 hours”. The shot then changes back to Tianna, Larry, and Renee. |
| Do you have very much runoff with that new system? | |
| We don’t have any runoff. We had roads getting washed out where we had to haul in dirt, that problem’s been eliminated. So that’s great. | |
| How long does it take you to get across the block with the new system? | |
| If we need to, we can get around the 8-acre block in 2 and a half days. That’s about twice as fast as we need to, but on a hot late summer if we need to get across it real quick, we can do it. It’s a great advantage. | |
| I think you told me it’s easier to get back into that block, it doesn’t take as long to dry out for equipment. | |
| Definitely less water more often, it seems to make it easier for us to get equipment on it in a timely fashion. And safety, hillsides get wet, safety come first. | |
| Renee, what was the impact on the fruit? Did anything change? | |
| The fruit size was the main thing we noticed. The fruit size increased about one size overall. Our packing returns showed us that we had a significant increase the first year, but a major increase the second year. I believe that the increase in returns would pay for the new system in just a couple years. Definitely worth it. | Two bar graphs appear on screen comparing the dollars per acre for the standard and upgraded irrigation systems in 2018 and 2019. In 2018 we see that the standard irrigation yielded 17,011 dollars per acre and the upgraded irrigation yielded 17,703 dollars per acre. In 2019 we see that the standard irrigation yielded 21,448 dollars per acre and the upgraded irrigation yielded 23,482 dollars per acre. |
| Thank you guys so much. I think it was really useful to look at one of these common challenges of hillsides with runoff and try and look at a potential system to fix it. I really appreciate you hosting the block out here. | |
| Well we thank you too, thank you. | |
| Music plays | Credit slide appears on screen with collaborator, funding, videography, and author information. |
