Dutch Crop tour weekend 33
Reels keep spinning, but sometimes there are doubts about their usefulness
After a wet growing season, the irrigation systems are now sometimes already drenching a plot for the third time. Growers are trying to maintain growth, although some doubt whether it is useful with the high temperatures and a dying potato crop. Everyone prefers a rain shower, but as is often the case this season, it was again quite localized this week.
For the time being, the month of August has been quite sunny and the mercury has risen several times towards 30 degrees or even above. Although there was another shower from the west last night and this morning (Friday, August 16), the amount of precipitation remained quite limited in many areas. Only the southeast, east and northeast of the country have had several rainfalls in the rain gauge. The rest of the Netherlands has barely had more than 20 millimeters or even nothing. Locally there were heavy showers here and there, as was the case last Wednesday evening. More than 60 millimeters fell locally in Drenthe. While there is still quite a bit to be done in terms of growth on the potato and onion plots and the crops are longing for water.
Both the onion and potato growers of the Crop Tour have started irrigating since the end of July. Some are already for the third time, others have only just started their first irrigation run through the spray track. For example, last week the reel was rolled out on the Gewastour potato plots in Wouw (North Brabant), Hellevoetsluis (South Holland), Leuth (Gelderland) and Elst (Gelderland). They gave the plots between 25 and 35 millimeters. The soil moisture sensor on the plot in Elst shows that the crop extracts a lot of moisture and evaporates a lot. Irrigation took place on August 5 and the AgroExact program now advises irrigation again.
To irrigate or not?
With the high temperatures of recent days, the irrigation systems were stopped during the day, but were switched on again in the evening. However, several growers were unsure about the usefulness of irrigation in combination with the deterioration of the potato crop. Potato grower Adriaan Wortman from Dronten indicated this week that irrigating the potato crop, which is already in decline, may not bring anything ashore. After irrigation, the Innovators could only wear out faster, he says. Potato grower Jacob Branderhorst from Hank (North Brabant) was also careful with irrigation last week. He explains that irrigation was not yet necessary given the moisture in the soil and that you can actually wear out the crop earlier with irrigation. Some time has now passed and the reel has also been placed there in the country, as there was no precipitation. In Leuth (Gelderland) irrigation was carried out for the third time this season.
Growers indicate that the moment of irrigation is very crucial and they want to keep the crop green, but at the same time they want to age as little as possible. In seed onions, the same question arises with irrigation around the time of ironing. Growers see that the crop is longing for water and want to maintain growth, but at the same time do not want to help the crop with ironing and the crop to age. An irrigation boom has less capacity and the cannon is then preferred. With a nozzle of 20 to 24 millimeters, the amount of water that is sprayed is not too bad and it returns to the crop relatively softly, as practice shows from growers. A larger nozzle gives a big blow to the onion crop.
Jesse Torringa
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