Pecanigator ©
Improving irrigation efficiency in New Mexico pecan production
By Craig Runyan
A simplified, handheld calculator to help determine when established pecan orchards should be irrigated is being developed by a team at NMSU.
The ‘Pecanigator’ is a Rio Grande Basin Initiative funded effort targeting “primarily pecan growers whose enterprise is an important part of their income,” said John Mexal, NMSU horticulturist and leader for the project.
Although using the irrigation scheduling calculator could be useful to the small and medium pecan producer, Mexal added that “more management on their part may be required with additional time and labor.” Small scale producers often under-irrigate or schedule irrigation intervals too far apart, he said.
The current Pecanigator prototype is being developed from climate data collected in the Mesilla Valley of New Mexico. Additional development may expand its usefulness to other areas if local climate and soil data were incorporated into the model.
Richard Heerema, New Mexico Extension pecan specialist, is a part of the team developing this irrigation tool. Heerema views the Pecanigator as an “introduction, for some growers, to the concepts behind science-based irrigation scheduling.” Mexal concurs, adding that “the long-term goal is to get more producers using real-time information which will increase irrigation efficiency even more.”
Other members of the Pecanigator team are Jeff Kallestad, research specialist; Jerry Downs, graphic artist; Ted Sammis, state climatologist; and John White, Dona Ana Extension agent.
Pilot testing of the device prototypes will occur over the next few months. Distribution of the final product is expected to begin by March 2007.
