Really dumb question: do farms water their crops?

[laohaire]

Would a small farm in the northeast water their crops? How?

Or do they just depend on rain usually?

Do any gardners not water their crops?

[cschick]

Originally Posted by laohaire

Would a small farm in the northeast water their crops? How?

Or do they just depend on rain usually?

Do any gardners not water their crops?

I live in the midwest, and many farmers have these big sprinkling irrigation systems. They are about the width of typical field, and they have wheels so that they can be moved gradually down the length of a field.

They are usually used for crops other than corn. Farmers don't generally water corn. The farmer across the street from our house has also been doing pumpkin patches the past two years without irrigation.

I water tomatoes and peppers, because they need it. In the spring, I don't generally ever water my salad plantings, and my various squash plants have never seemed to suffer for being forgotten.

[MeepyCat]

Small farms in the northeast would absolutely water their crops - we get long dry stretches during the summer, when you just can't rely on the rain to do the job. Irrigation (and drainage) are going to be issues for any farm. Unless you plant and drain very carefully, gardens need some artificial irrigation most summers around here. I'm not saying it's impossible, but it's would be impractical to arrange for a commercial farm. For a backyard sized garden, you could do it, so long as you didn't want to grow melons or tomatoes.

I've seen farms use irrigation hoses and sprinkler systems, depending on the plants involved.

[JamieCatheryn]

I didn't water my small veggie garden this year, we only had a few weeks where it didn't rain at all, usually it rained pretty heavily at least every 3 days. Had a baby in the end of May. We got lots of green beans, a fair amount of tomatoes, plenty of carrots, a couple watermelons.

[MissMommyNiceNice]

Most will water. I know a few who don't. But a lot of time it's going to be the rolling irrigation machines (very inneffectual) or a more permanent drip system for perma crops like berries.

[stephanie95]

We farm in central Alberta and farms are licensed for irrigation here. Mostly in southern Alberta. There are not any I know of in our area. We rely solely on rain and groundwater. Unfortunately we've had a terribly dry year so not very good crop yield for us. I would believe irrigation varies by geographic region. I know when I was in Southern California crops were irrigated by metal pipes and sprinklers. 3 times a year the crops were rotated and the pipes were lifted and replaced according to the next crop.

[MidnightCommando]

In Idaho, I don't think they could grow crops without irrigation. Water rights are a huge issue here.

Growing up in NY, I don't remember seeing much irrigation, whether it be for lawns or ag.

And loahaire, the dumbest question is the one not asked I had a professor that always said that and it stuck with me.

[bugleg]

I dunno about farms (I can ask my CSA farmer when I see him next) but I know that most of my veggies in raised beds in NYC wouldn't make it without watering when we haven't had rain for 5+ days.

[lmonter]

Depends on the farm, depends on the crop, depends on the year.

My wheat farming family does dryland farming. Whatever falls from the sky is what the wheat gets. There are good years, there are bad years.

Some crops around here (a little farther inland/colder than my wheat farming folks) like mint and corn are watered with overhead irrigation. The giant metal pipes on big rolling upside-down V's - kinda like fire sprinklers I suppose. Some crops just need more water than others, especially depending on how arid the climate (or microclimate) is.

We have to water our garden - mostly because I don't have a ton of land, and squish everything in. It'd be nice to have a 1-acre garden where each tomato plant could have 4+ square feet so I wouldn't need to water much if at all, but until we win the lottery, it is what it is. A good book to take a look at would be _Gardening When It Counts_ by Steve Solomon. Good stuff.