Organic mulches (leaves, pine nuggets, pine straw, grass clippings, and chipped limbs) were applied at depths of 10, 20, or 30 cm in a 3 × 3-m area around young pecan [Carya illinoinensis (Wangenh.) K. Koch] trees. These treatments were compared to an unmulched herbicide treatment and a common bermudagrass [Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers.] sod. Trunk cross-sectional areas (TCSAs) of the mulched trees were larger than those of trees in the sod or unmulched plots and increased linearly as mulch depth increased. All mulches influenced TCSA similarly. Mean TCSA for mulched trees increased 14-fold compared to an increase of 8-fold for the unmulched trees and the sod in this 3-year study. Thus, common yard-waste mulches can be used effectively to increase growth of young pecan trees.

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An irrigation scheduling model represented by 12.7 DAT * 0.5 * ASW = D(DAT – 1) + [Ep(DAT) * CF(DAT) – R – I] was tested in central Alabama for Spring-grown bell pepper (Capsicum annuum L.). In the model, DAT (days after transplanting) is crop age; effective root depth is 12.7 DAT with a maximum of 250 mm; usable water (mm3·mm–3) is 0.5 ASW; deficit on the previous day is D(DAT–1); evapotranspiration is pan evaporation [Ep(DAT)] times a crop factor value [CF(DAT) = 0.15 + 0.018 DAT – 0.0001 DAT * DAT]; rainfall (R) and irrigation (I) are in mm. The model called for 13 irrigations between 17 and 85 DAT. Under the current N recommendation rate for bell pepper (112 kg/ha), marketable yield increased quadratically from 36% to 148% of the model rate. Highest marketable yields occurred near the model rate. Under a N rate of 170 kg/ha, yields increased linearly. These results suggests that the model provided adequate moisture to maximize bell pepper marketable yields under the recommended N rate.