The invention discloses an automatic irrigation control method based on a water balance model. The method comprises the steps of A, initializing parameters, wherein the type and the planting date of the planted crops are determined, and a corresponding crop coefficient Kc is obtained; the soil type is determined, and corresponding wilting water content WP, field capacity WHC and irrigation threshold value IT are obtained; B, calculating current soil water content FCs; C, calculating effective water content AWC of current soil; D, calculating actual evapotranspiration ETc; E, calculating soil real-time effective water content delta AWC; F, judging whether the soil real-time effective water content delta AWC is lower than the irrigation threshold value IT, if the soil real-time effective water content delta AWC is lower than the irrigation threshold value IT, conducting irrigation; if the soil real-time effective water content delta AWC is not lower than the irrigation threshold value IT, turning to the step E to continue calculation. According to the automatic irrigation control method based on the water balance model, defects of the prior art can be overcome, and precision and flexibility of the irrigation control can be improved.