Solar Radiation and Water Loss from Glasshouse Roses1

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Abstract
Measurements of global radiation above, and net solar radiation below, the roof of a glasshouse were both highly correlated on a daily and hourly basis with the water loss from a flowering rose crop as measured with a weighing lysimeter. The relationship can be used for an automatic system of irrigation control. Under local glasshouse, soil, and crop response conditions such a system would require an application of 6 liters of water per square meter of bed for every 730 cal cm2 global radiation above the glasshouse. Alternatively, a foliage spray irrigation system to ensure that the upper part of the canopy is kept continuously moist, would require applications of at least 0.4 liters per square meter at radiation intervals between 15 and 4 cal cm2 of global radiation outside the greenhouse, the exact figure depending mainly on the rate of air movement around the foliage. The latent heat equivalent of the crop water loss was 87% of the global radiation incident on the canopy, a figure similar to those listed for other, tall glasshouse crops.

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