May 24, 2013

With spring planting nearly done and fuel prices climbing, it’s a good time to consider installing Etgages and soil water sensors. These tools will help you better manage your irrigation applications and ultimately save energy and water to protect natural resources without sacrificing yield.

Integrating Moisture Monitoring Tools into your Production System

Watermark sensors and atmometers can be used together quite well for irrigation management. Atmometers do a great job of estimating crop water use, while crop water sensors are used to monitor soil water status. The Watermark sensors can help determine when to initiate the first irrigation, based on the suggested trigger points or grower decisions based on soil textures. After the first irrigation, an atmometer can be used to estimate actual crop water use since the last irrigation, using the reference ET and crop coefficients. The Watermark sensors can then be used to monitor irrigation decisions.

Another important tool is the soil probe. IT can be used to check soil water conditions in other areas of your field and compared with readings from the soil sensors. We recommend probing soil in three to four other field locations for the first couple of years to be sure you have selected a representative location for your soil sensors.

It’s important to use Watermark sensors to determine the timing of the last irrigation so space is left so Mother Nature can refill the soil profile during the off season. Between the first and last irrigation, ETgages can be used alone to make irrigation management decisions, saving you from having to make a weekly trip to the field to read the Watermark sensors. (Several companies now provide technologies that allow you to access Watermark sensor readings from any device with Internet access.)

Learn More

For more information on how to use ETgages and Watermark sensors for irrigation management, see these UNL resources: