To echo Gio, it got me thinking about not only the impact of irrigation but of water quality in relation to soil characteristics. We started changing irrigation schedules and I saw some improvements not only in photosynthesis (there was some chlorosis that was resistant to micronutrient/trace element treatments), but also pest resistance in the form of more concentrated sap more frequently (ala Dr. Dykstra’s work). Every time we irrigated I would notice that’s when piercing/sucking damage would occur from leafhopper populations.

Water quality to soil characteristics, for example, had me looking at the when/why of a number of trunk diseases and viruses that plague our growing region in terms of grapevines. Between hard water and most soil pH in the range of 8-9, irrigation moves us right into the EC fire, so to speak, for fungal and viral pathogens! I’ve been able to mitigate some of the effects of water quality on soils by stimulating the rhizosphere with foods for biology, humate, and biology, taking a page from Dr. Ingrahm which considers soil pH to be immaterial if you have a functioning microbiome in the rhizosphere/phytosphere.

We should not use any water structuring devices where I am due to the basifying (via oxygen enrichment) nature of the process, but I can actually see a useful application of water structuring in more acid environments. Taking eH/pH into consideration water structuring devices actually make some functional sense, but the next time a salesman mentions the name Fritjov Capra in their pitch for sacred geometry water structuring, I know that they probably don’t comprehend what exactly it is they’re selling.