Maximise yield per drop, not drops per hectare

Water is not only “anti-drought.” It runs the factory, cools the leaf, carries nutrients, and lets cells expand. The useful number is yield per drop, not how much you can pour.

Sandy beds lose a flood downward and to the air. Smaller, more frequent pulses with mulch keep the root zone in play. Early morning beats midday spray that cooks off the surface.

If you irrigate hard and still see noon wilt with a wet crust, the water is in the wrong place or at the wrong hour.

In this series

• Ask what cuts sugar production — not which bag to add
• A crop is only as good as its root system
• Maximise yield per drop, not drops per hectare
• Yield falls before the leaf wilts
• Fruit drop is the plant aborting when resources fail
• Architecture: every productive leaf needs light