In Arizona agriculture, we have the benefit of generally working with good soils that exist in alluvial valleys or the terraces immediately adjacent to the alluvial valleys, e.g. the mesa areas. Arizona soils are geologically young and fertile but often have high levels of salinity and often sodicity. When reclaimed and properly managed with adequate leaching, we can reduce the salinity to manageable levels to support crop production systems. In the case of sodic conditions, appropriate amendments are needed then followed by adequate leaching.
In the process of applying an irrigation in the field, it is important to recognize that not all soils are created equal. Soil types vary across the landscape and they also vary by depth for any site or location. This is particularly true for alluvial soils which originate from water deposition over time, such as from the Gila and/or Colorado River systems. The soils of the lower Colorado River valleys are great examples of alluvial soils and the high degree of variability we commonly experience in the field. With some crops, particularly more deeply rooted crops, we can sometimes nearly map the soil types across a field based on crop growth patterns. Accordingly, this type of soil variability creates some challenges for in-field management, including irrigation management.
Many of the rotation crops common to the lower Colorado River Valleys, such as cotton, wheat, and sudan; are excellent examples of crops that can express growth patterns as a function of soil texture, which is clearly demonstrated in response to water stress. The courser textured parts of the field will stress earlier and consistently have reduced plant vigor. Anyone driving a tractor for medium to heavy tillage operations in the field will literally feel soil textural changes and anyone harvesting those fields will see it as well. The GPS field mapping systems can detect and record these areas of soil type differences through yield monitors as well in response to crop growth and vigor.
Soil textures vary in terms of water holding capacities and it is important to understand the dominant soil textures in the field, not only on the surface but also through the depths of the soil profile and the effective rooting depth of the crop, Tables 1 & 2 and Figure 1. To manage a complete field or set of fields, it is necessary to determine a functional “average” of soil texture and water holding capacity.
In the process of irrigation, we are attempting to replenish the soil-water extracted by the crop through evapotranspiration (ETc). In previous articles, the determination or estimation of crop ETc has been discussed.
Therefore, with irrigation management it is important to know the fields we are working with in terms of the dominant soil textures present, the degree of variability that exists, and the general water-holding capacity of the soils. Matching irrigation timing and volumes for each event to replenish the plant-available water for each field is important in our efforts to avoid water stress and achieve and maintain irrigation efficiency agronomically, which is providing the amount of water necessary to replenish the soil-water to field capacity with some degree of additional water needed for the leaching of soluble salts.
With the high degree of variability that is common among soils in the lower Colorado River Valleys, it is both important and challenging to know the soil characteristics common in each field, the water holding capacity of the dominant soils, and the level of soil-water depletion that is being replenished with each irrigation event.
Table 1. Soil texture and water holding capacity.
Table 2. Depths to which the roots of mature crops will deplete the available water supply when grown in a deep permeable, well-drained soil under average conditions. Source: Chapter 11, "Sprinkler Irrigation," Section 15, Natural Resources Conservation Service National Engineering Handbook
Figure 1. Soil volume, soil texture, and water holding capacity relationships.
Engineering Handbook.
This study was conducted at the Yuma Valley Agricultural Center. The soil was a silty clay loam (7-56-37 sand-silt-clay, pH 7.2, O.M. 0.7%). Spinach ‘Meerkat’ was seeded, then sprinkler-irrigated to germinate seed Jan 13, 2025 on beds with 84 in. between bed centers and containing 30 lines of seed per bed. All irrigation water was supplied by sprinkler irrigation. Treatments were replicated four times in a randomized complete block design. Replicate plots consisted of 15 ft lengths of bed separated by 3 ft lengths of nontreated bed. Treatments were applied with a CO2 backpack sprayer that delivered 50 gal/acre at 40 psi to flat-fan nozzles.
Downy mildew (caused by Peronospora farinosa f. sp. spinaciae)was first observed in plots on Mar 5 and final reading was taken on March 6 and March 7, 2025. Spray date for each treatments are listed in excel file with the results.
Disease severity was recorded by determining the percentage of infected leaves present within three 1-ft2areas within each of the four replicate plots per treatment. The number of spinach leaves in a 1-ft2area of bed was approximately 144. The percentage were then changed to 1-10scale, with 1 being 10% infection and 10 being 100% infection.
The data (found in the accompanying Excel file) illustrate the degree of disease reduction obtained by applications of the various tested fungicides. Products that provided most effective control against the disease include Orondis ultra, Zampro, Stargus, Cevya, Eject .Please see table for other treatments with significant disease suppression/control. No phytotoxicity was observed in any of the treatments in this trial.
Mark C. Siemens Vol. 12, Issue 20, Published 10/06/2021 Plans are shaping up for the 2nd Automated Weeding Technologies Field Demo Day. The event will be held Thursday, October 21st at the Yuma Agricultural Center. Registration begins at 7:00 am and the program starts at 7:30 am. We have eight presentations/field demos scheduled (details below). The focus this year is on the latest automated weeding technologies that are “new” since our 2018 event. We would love to showcase as many innovations as possible and it’s not too late to be added to the program. It’s an open invitation - private companies, university and government researchers are all welcome to show their technology. Please contact me if you are interested or know someone that is.
Pigweed Identification
Pigweeds are some of the most common summer annual broadleaf weeds in the low deserts. Although they are often lumped together, there are 4 different species of pigweed that are common here and more than 10 species that occur as weeds in California and Arizona. Their growth habits and response to herbicides are similar. It is easy to identify them by physical characteristics but one species of pigweed can hybridize with another and become less distinguishable.
Palmer Amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri) is probably the most common pigweed species found in this region. It is very aggressive and fast growing and can become 6 feet tall or higher if uncontrolled. It has one thick stem and several lateral branches. The leaves are lance shaped, hairless and have distinctive white veins on the underside. It has flowering tassels that become stiff and spiny. This species has become resistant to Glyphosate in many parts of the county.
Redroot Pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexus) is probably the second most common pigweed species. It is shorter and the seed heads are smaller, in clusters and have stiff spine-like scales. It has leaf hairs on the margins and the veins are often reddish. The lower stems are often reddish. This species will hybridize with Palmer Amaranth and become less distinguishable.
Tumble Pigweed (Amaranthus albus) is very different from Palmers or Redroot. It grows lower to the ground and has many branches that turn upright. The leaves are much smaller and narrower. The numerous stems are light green rather than red. The seed heads are small, spiny and at the base of the leaves rather than in long terminal spikes. When mature, the branches are sticky, stiff bristles that break off at the ground and tumble with the wind.
Prostrate Pigweed (Amaranthus blitoides) is very similar to Tumble Pigweed but the stems are more prostrate, grow close to the ground and form mats. The stems and leaves are smaller and reddish rather than light green.
