Summary

Irrigation scheduling for Tennessee row crops using a practical “managed depletion” approach that leaves room in the soil to capture rainfall while avoiding drought stress and yield loss. Topics cover crop water use patterns for cotton and soybean, how soils store water (field capacity to wilting point), and tools to estimate and track water use with weather data, water-balance methods (MOIST/MOIST+), and soil moisture sensors. The series also helps irrigators understand center pivot application characteristics and set run times and depths to meet crop needs while reducing runoff, leaching, and rutting.