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Irrigating around loadshedding
By Dirk Sutherland · 5 min read
Loadshedding is the most underrated threat to irrigation quality in South Africa — not because of the power bill, but because of what a mid-cycle cut does to your blocks.
Why loadshedding breaks irrigation
Most irrigation runs on electric pumps. When the power goes at 18:00 and a block was halfway through a 120-minute cycle, that block gets 60 minutes — and the next block gets nothing. The result is uneven soil moisture: some vines stressed, others waterlogged.
The hidden cost: a block that ripens unevenly because half of it spent a week drier than the other half.
The fix: schedule into the clear windows
- Know your schedule and stage — the clear windows are everything between the cuts, plus overnight.
- Size each run to real need using soil and weather data.
- Fit full runs inside clear windows, starting after the last cut.
- Prioritise the stressed blocks when windows are tight.
Rooted’s Irrigation Scheduling Software does this automatically — reading your stage, sizing each run, and placing it in the clear window.