Monitoring soil moisture helps refine irrigation management

Soil moisture sensors can be used to determine the appropriate interval between irrigation, depth of wetting, depth of extraction by roots and adequacy of wetting. We tested the performance of soil moisture sensors in different crops. Sensors that read on a continuous basis, such as the Enviroscan d...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:California agriculture (Berkeley, Calif.) Calif.), 2000-05, Vol.54 (3), p.38-42
Main Authors: HANSON, Blaine R, ORLOFF, Steve, PETERS, Douglas
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural and forest climatology and meteorology. Irrigation. Drainage
Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions
Biological and medical sciences
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
General agronomy. Plant production
Irrigation. Drainage
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Summary:Soil moisture sensors can be used to determine the appropriate interval between irrigation, depth of wetting, depth of extraction by roots and adequacy of wetting. We tested the performance of soil moisture sensors in different crops. Sensors that read on a continuous basis, such as the Enviroscan device, can provide valuable information that may not be readily evident from periodic measurements. The Watermark blocks responded well throughout the wetting and drying cycles, indicating that they function more consistently over a wider range of soil moisture contents compared with tensiometers and gypsum blocks.
ISSN:0008-0845
2160-8091
DOI:10.3733/ca.v054n03p38