Micro-irrigation systems for water conservation during establishment and freeze protection in Florida strawberry production

Florida's annual hill system for strawberry production employs high-volume overhead sprinklers to establish bare-root strawberry transplants and to protect flowers and fruit from frost and freeze injury. Experiments were conducted to evaluate whether micro-sprinkler systems can serve as effective alternatives while conserving water. At a research farm in north-central Florida, five irrigation systems were compared for ‘Florida Brilliance’ strawberry production: an impact sprinkler system, which served as the control and four micro-irrigation systems: (1) Mini Revolver (MR), (2) SuperNet Jet (NS), (3) Mini Wobbler (MW), and (4) Xcel Wobbler (XW). The experimental design was a randomized complete block with four replications. Significant water reduction was noted when using micro-irrigation systems. The MR system used 953.13 m³/ha for establishment, which is 65 % less than the control system's 2756.82 m³/ha usage. No adverse effects were observed among the treatments regarding strawberry transplant survival, vigor, or vegetative growth. During freeze protection, the MR system used 1203.82 m³/ha compared to the impact sprinkler system, which used 3183.37 m³/ha, saving 62 % of water. When comparing the MR system with a grower’s Rotator sprinkler system on a commercial farm in west-central Florida using the Odessa and Medusa cultivars in consecutive seasons, the MR system consumed 58 % less water during establishment and 63 % less for freeze protection than the Rotator sprinkler system. The two systems showed no significant differences in transplant survival, vigor, vegetative growth, or yield. Therefore, micro-irrigation systems like the MR are viable for reducing water use during bare-root strawberry transplanting and freeze protection.