Modeling Actual Evapotranspiration of Viburnum odoratissimum during Production from Rooted Cuttings to Market Size Plants in 11.4-L Containers

Rooted cuttings of Viburnum odoratissimum were grown outdoors to market size in 11.4-L containers. Actual evapotranspiration (ETA) of nine plants was determined daily as was evaporation from three control containers shaded with plastic foliage to mimic plant growth. The first 60 d after transplanting, substrate evaporation accounted for most of ETA. Substrate evaporation was generally constant the first 160 days before declining, but still remained approximate to 160 mL/day through harvest at market size. ETA increased with growth and generally followed variations in reference evapotranspiration (ETo). Mean ETA during most of the production cycle was less than 600 mL/day (11.8 mm based on upper container surface area). With the spring growth flush, mean ETA reached 1.3 L/day as plants achieved market size. Mean cumulative ETA to produce 90% of measured plants to market size was 155 L or 3.1-m depth per plant based on container surface area. Water need indices, similar to crop coefficients, were highly correlated with percent canopy closure (%Closure) using an exponential decay equation. When overlain with previous similar data for Ligustrum japonicum, the correlation for the combined data set had an r(2) = 0.843. This suggests that the %Closure model may provide a method for ETo-based irrigation of woody shrub species based on canopy size and spacing.