The most important thing a farmer can apply to his crops is his shadow,” said Charles Stichler at the Sixth Annual Irrigation Conference and Trade Show held recently in McAllen, Texas.

A farmer has to watch over his crops from the day he plants. Yield potential in most crops is set in the first half of the growth cycle. The second half of the plant's growth cycle is meant to attain that potential. By the time the plants start to bloom, the die has been cast. “In cotton, at least 90 percent of the crop harvested is already on the plant at that point,” said Stichler, Extension Agronomist from Uvalde.






Water and fertility management are inter-related.

“You can't replace water with fertilizer, but you can make it go farther,” said Stichler.


The placement of fertilizer is important said Stichler. “You don't put feed in the wrong pasture. It doesn't do any good to feed the cows if they can't get to it.” For maximum uptake, fertilizer must be put where the roots will be.


Stichler is a firm believer in minimum till. “The more residue, the better infiltration.”

Since sunshine is an important growth factor, Stichler advises narrow row spacing. “Don't waste your sunshine on bare ground.”

Crop stage is critical to irrigation timing, so a farmer must monitor his plants' development. Stichler warned against five irrigation mistakes a farmer could make:

  1. Failure to build deep soil moisture.

  2. Failure to use residue to increase infiltration.

  3. Irrigating too late in the reproductive stage of the plant.

  4. Failure to recognize physiological maturity.

  5. Failure to use narrow row spacing.