By Manny Piñol
“Magdilig ng halaman sa umaga” may soon be a thing of the past and an outdated agricultural practice.
In a recent meeting with Israeli Agriculture experts who are proposing the funding and construction of 6,200 units of Solar Powered Irrigation Systems (SPIS) in the country, I unlearned what almost all farmers have been doing.
“Plants are like human beings. They need water when they are thirsty,” said Ilan Weiss, head of the Innovative Agri Industry, a subsidiary of the LR Group.
“When are we thirsty? When it is hot,” he said.
Weiss said that Israeli Agriculture experts are recommending that the best time to water the plants is when the sun is up and the day is hot.
“That is when the plants need water most because that is the time they are thirsty,” he added.
In the Philippines, watering the plants in the morning has been done for generations.
In fact, our parents have always ordered us “Magdiig ng halaman pagka gising sa umaga.”
Little did we realise that it is not the right time to water the plants because they are coming out of a cold night and dews would still be clinging on the leaves.
So, the new technology used in the computerised irrigation system, especially in green houses is to provide water to plants when they need it most.
This is a new lesson that we all could learn farm.
Tanghali, hindi umaga, ang pinaka-angkop na oras na bigyan ng diligan ang uhaw na halaman.
(First two photos downloaded from dreamstime.com show the traditional way of watering plants while the last two photos show beautiful Cherry Tomatos which are watered through a computerised system which determines when to give water to the plants. Photos of the Cherry Tomatos were taken by DA AFID in the Smart Greenhouse in Baguio City yesterday.)
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