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Irrigation and Soil Moisture Solutions

Irrigation and Soil Moisture Solutions
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Irrigation and Soil Moisture Solutions - 1

Spectrum Technologies – “To Measure Is To Know” Irrigation and Soil Moisture Solutions What can your root zone tell you? As a reservoir for water, the soil plays a key role in the life of the plant. Nutrients in the soil solution provide the plant with the food it needs for growth. Water is essential for regulating plant temperature through the process of transpiration. Plant root systems are better developed when growing in moist soil. Excessive levels of soil moisture, however, can lead to anaerobic conditions that can promote the growth of soil pathogens and leach nutrients into the ground water. There are a wide variety of technologies that can be used to aid in managing water in agricultural, horticultural, and turf applications. But they all start with MEASURING what you need to KNOW. The options range from spot checking with a soil moisture probe to monitoring a field half a world away with a remote weather station. Spectrum Technologies’ official Spokesplant, Doc Green, describes Soil Moisture and Irrigation measurement tools for multiple applications.

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Irrigation and Soil Moisture Solutions - 2

Soil Moisture Measurement Tools: ® Fast, Easy, and Accurate! TDR Soil Moisture Meters A TDR meter is the perfect portable tool for taking spot measurements of the moisture in the field. The meter measures the average volumetric water content from the soil surface down to the tip of the rods. Choose which of the four rod-length options best suits your application; for example, 3” rods for a putting green or 8” rods for pivotirrigated potato fields. Volumetric water content (VWC) is one way to report how much water is in the soil. The soil matrix is composed of 3 main components; soil solids,...

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Irrigation and Soil Moisture Solutions - 3

Spectrum Technologies – “To Measure Is To Know” Irrigation and Soil Moisture Solutions Soil Moisture Sensors The WaterScout SM 100 is a capacitance-based soil moisture sensor that responds immediately to changes in soil volumetric water content (VWC). When used with WatchDog weather stations or hand-held readers, sensors can be placed at multiple depths to monitor water penetration and highlight when crops need to be watered. The WaterScout SMEC 300 measures VWC, soil electrical conductivity (EC), and temperature, all via the same sensor, for situations where soil salinity is an issue or...

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Irrigation and Soil Moisture Solutions - 4

Spectrum Technologies – “To Measure Is To Know” Plants cool themselves by transpiring water from the soil into the atmosphere. Water is taken in by the roots, moves up through the plant system, and is released by the leaves. The combination of evaporation and transpiration is how most water is removed from the soil. This process is known by the term evapotranspiration, or ET. Like rain, ET is reported in units of inches or millimeters. In fact, with the WatchDog 2900 ET, you can treat your soil like a bank account with deposits (rain and irrigation) and withdrawals (ET) both contributing to...

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