IRRIGATION: Water Acidification from Sulphur Burners

摘要

During the upgrade of the irrigation system to cope with the future demands on the Institute's trial grounds it was realised that the current supply of water available to us was inadequate. Since 1929 STRI has relied on a set of springs that are collected privately on the St Ives Estate, treated and sent to a header tank for the use of all dwellings and businesses on the estate. We decided to invest money into sinking a borehole thus having our own independent water resource. In general, a suitable pH range of irrigation water for the production of good quality turf would usually be from 5.2 to 6.8, with the more acidic conditions preferred for bent fescue turf and the higher range suitable for perennial ryegrass turf. Often the problem with borehole water is that it is of a high pH value and alkalinity, and these must be corrected before using on turf.