OT ? on crops

Thank you, Bill

When I was out there in 1998 all I seen was cotton. I was really surprised to see that, learned later that the boom started during WWI.

The folks I spoke with said the cotton grows well in the very dry, hot climate of AZ. They also indicated the cotton is very susceptible to many pests like aphids, boll weevils, cutworms, bollworms etc.

The irrigation method I seen was controlled flooding. They have all these concrete canals that run thru the fields. They release the water fill the canals and then using flexible piping the water is routed to specific areas of the field for controlled flooding (inches not feet).

I was told this is used in place of typical overhead irrigation as to much water is lost due to evaporation and potential plant damage from scalding.

FWIW,
ShepFL

Wow! Am I ever glad I'm past that chore! Grew up packin' those tubes and mud soaked canvas dams; not to mention every one of those head rows have to be dug out by hand with an old fashioned spade. Whew! What a bunch of work!

Actually, the center pivots increase the efficiency by about 20% by lowering evaporation losses. That's why the government is pushing them so hard now with their programs.

Last year, because it was so darned dry out here, the flood irrigation bill down on the flats figured in at over $2K for .2 acre foot of water. Pumping costs on the same exact land came in at just over $900 and of course, provided well over an acre-foot. That's not counting the depreciation cost of that system tho.

Allan

They grow a lot of lettuce, cabbage and onions down there.

They say after they snap those heads they are in the resturants of New York and on the tables within 24 hours.

They can also run 3 crops a year around the calendar. Drive thru AZ in the middle of January and it smells like sour kraut.

Allan

Gerald J.