This Technology Update summarises the first year of findings from a three year moisture probe demonstration at FAR’s Kowhai Research site in Lincoln. It lists 10 key things to think about when considering purchasing a soil moisture monitoring system or service.
Soil moisture monitoring is important for making good irrigation and other crop management decisions. A range of moisture monitoring systems are available in New Zealand, but choosing which one is right for your requirements can be a daunting task.
This project compares the ease of installation, the accuracy of the data supplied by the different systems, the user interface and the service provided by the supplier. In each case, the real-time probe moisture trend data is compared to the weekly soil moisture readings from a calibrated neutron probe installation, broadly recognised as the industry standard. All of the companies involved supplied their hardware, software and dashboard logins for free. You can view ‘live data’ from each of the systems by search ‘moisture probe trial’ on the FAR website or clicking on this link www.far.org.nz/resources/moisture-probe-trial-at-kowhai-farm.