Center pivot irrigation systems are commonly used for corn and cotton production in the southeast USA. Technology for variable rate water application with center pivots is available; however, it is not widely used due to increased management requirements. Methods to develop dynamic in-season prescriptions in response to changing crop conditions are needed to move this technology forward. The objective of this research was to evaluate the potential of using normalized difference vegetative index (NDVI) to estimate crop coefficients for development of spatial irrigation prescriptions. Field studies were conducted near Florence, SC, USA under center pivot irrigation systems equipped with variable rate technology. Studies in maize were conducted over several years comparing NDVI-based irrigation management to management with soil water sensors. The soil water sensors treatments were based on maintaining soil water potentials above -30 kPa (approximately 50% depletion of plant available water).  The NDVI based treatment used spatially measured NDVI values to calculate spatial crop coefficients used in the FAO 56 dual crop coefficient method for estimating crop evapotranspiration and irrigation requirements.  In each treatment, irrigations were initiated when the soil water potentials in a plot dropped below -30 kPa.  Over the three-year study, the two irrigation treatments did not significantly differ for corn grain yield or water volume applied. In 2016, a cotton irrigation study was initiated that compared the checkbook method (applying irrigation amount based on age of the crop and weekly precipitation totals) to NDVI-based irrigation prescriptions. Soil water sensors were used to initiate irrigation events. Irrigation amounts during the season for the NDVI-based method often differed from rates prescribed by the checkbook method up until about 70 days after planting when differences in NDVI among plant density treatments and field areas no longer existed. The results suggest that continued research into the use of NDVI-based irrigation prescription technology is warranted.