UCCE advisors offer one-day technical training in irrigation best-management practices for containerized nursery plant irrigators
University of California Cooperative Extension advisors Bruno Pitton and Gerardo “Gerry” Spinelli, members of the UC Nursery and Floriculture Alliance, are offering a one-day technical training in irrigation best-management practices for irrigators working with containerized nursery plants.
The curriculum was developed with input from two focus groups of California nursery and greenhouse managers and is aimed at improving irrigation efficiency, reducing water consumption and improving plant health. The California Department of Food and Agriculture has funded this session, so it is free to participants.
Nursery and greenhouse managers in California can request this training for free and advisors will travel to conduct the training on-site.
The complexities of irrigation incorporate concepts like evapotranspiration, salinity, irrigation uniformity, capillarity, pressure and flow rate. Spinelli, production horticulture advisor for UCCE, San Diego County, said that irrigators have a critical role in the industry because of all the things they must consider to do their job well.
“Our goal is to support irrigators and help them become more confident decision-makers and experts in the field,” said Pitton, environmental horticulture advisor for UCCE in Placer and Nevada counties.
Interactive sessions
The training consists of a presentation on fundamental concepts for managing irrigation in container plant production and hands-on demonstrations.
“In the nursery industry, where precise irrigation is crucial for the health and productivity of our crops, having access to expert knowledge is invaluable,” said Mauricio de Almeida, general manager of Burchell Nursery in Fresno County. “The training’s practical demonstrations and real-world examples made the concepts easy to grasp, allowing our team to implement the strategies immediately.”
For one of the demonstrations, the advisors used sponges to model soil saturation when water is applied. Ana, an irrigator at Burchell Nursery, appreciated the step-by-step explanations, which helped her better understand how water pressure differs in drip irrigation, sprinklers and watering by hand. Doing this out in the field, as an example of how irrigation audits occur, was extremely helpful for attendees.
Francisco “Frank” Anguiano, production manager of Boething Treeland Farms in Ventura County, observed his team of irrigators as they learned how to measure distribution uniformity with water collected from sprinklers.
“This training isn’t just about irrigation and plant management. It’s also about savings, both water and costs. Who doesn’t want to save money and use less water?” Anguiano said.
Reducing learning barriers
Many of the irrigators attending these trainings gained skills and knowledge from life experience rather than a college education, explained Peter van Horenbeeck, vice president of Boething Treeland Farms.
“It’s important that my irrigators learn from external experts, but it’s more important that they can relate to them. And that’s what Gerry was able to do,” van Horenbeeck said.
Pitton wanted the trainings to be easy to understand and engaging. For example, scientists use the term “matric potential” to describe how soil particles hold water against gravity, which is the same as capillary rise.
“We demonstrate this concept with a paper towel held vertically and dipped into a beaker of dyed water that it absorbs,” said Pitton.
To address language barriers, Spinelli has been conducting trainings in Spanish – a common request from many nurseries with eager participants.
Many irrigators in attendance agreed that hands-on activities and visual aids were instrumental to their learning. Charli, another irrigator at Burchell Nursery, shared that the in-field examples and hosting the training in Spanish kept them engaged.
State regulations and partnerships
Although the technical aspects of irrigation management are key elements of the training, regulatory compliance is also addressed. Recognizing the finite availability of water and the environmental impact of pollution, the advisors highlight irrigation and fertilizer management and runoff prevention as critical components of compliance.
Under Ag Order 4.0 administered by California’s Water Resources Control Board, growers must comply with stricter policies regulating nitrogen use. As irrigators learn from the training, better control of irrigation can certainly make a difference.
Deanna van Klaveren, chief operating officer and co-owner of Generation Growers in Stanislaus County, said the most valuable aspect of the training was learning on-site and completing an audit on her own systems.
“It is so much more impactful to have trainings like this on-site where our staff can learn and then go out into the nursery and actually put it into practice while the presenters/experts are there,” van Klaveren said.
Pitton and Spinelli described the partnership between UCCE and CDFA as “symbiotic” given the technical and educational capacity of UCCE advisors who conduct research and extension.
“It’s a great example of how the two institutions can collaborate successfully. Californians are the ones who win because they get a service for free,” added Spinelli. “And it’s rewarding for us to see so much interest in what we, as advisors, do.”
For more information on the Irrigation Best Management Practices training, please contact the assigned UCCE advisor to the region the nursery is located in.
Northern California
- Jessie Godfrey, UCCE environmental horticulture and water resources management advisor, jmgodfrey@ucanr.edu
Central Coast (Santa Cruz County to Ventura County)
- Emma Volk, UCCE production horticulture advisor, evolk@ucanr.edu
San Joaquin Valley
- Chris Shogren, UCCE environmental horticulture advisor, cjshogren@ucanr.edu
Southern California
- Grant Johnson, UCCE urban agriculture technology advisor, gejohnson@ucanr.edu
Spanish Trainings Only
- Gerry Spinelli, UCCE production horticulture advisor, gspinelli@ucanr.edu
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