Sowing, care and irrigation

Irrigation is wetting the soil artificially to supply plants with water. There are three methods: surface irrigation (water spreads over the field by itself), sprinkling (water is sprayed like rain) and subsurface irrigation (through special pipes laid in the soil). Surface irrigation is the simplest, but water sinks into deep layers and is used up in quantity, is spread unevenly, and complex relief requires levelling. Sprinkling also raises air humidity and washes dust from leaves. The time and rate of irrigation depend on soil moisture, the plant’s growth phases, the crop’s features and temperature. Example: winter wheat is watered 1–2 times, maize 3–6, sugar beet 6–7, potato 2–5; for potatoes the first watering is at budding and later ones every 10–12 days (depending on rain). Today drip irrigation is being widely introduced in Uzbekistan to save water: thin pipes deliver water drop by drop to each plant’s roots. Water is saved: it is not let run to waste. Safety: near ditches, canals and sluices children do not walk without adults and do not enter the water; they keep away from pumps and electric wires.