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Citrus growers are improving their tree growth and fruit size by knowing precisely when and how much to irrigate with C-Probe soil moisture sensors from Agrilink.

LaBelle, Florida (updated May 17, 2002) -- Using wireless technology and the Internet, citrus growers are now able to keep tabs on soil moisture as well as weather conditions in their groves from the cozy confines of their offices.

Agrilink Florida Inc. recently purchased a private Florida growers’ weather network from ProSource One. Agrilink is expanding this wireless weather network to include C-Probes, which use capacitance soil moisture sensor technology to continuously monitor soil moisture and plant uptake of water. These sensors are usually placed at depths of 4, 8, 12, 20, and 36 inches. By accessing the data through the Internet, growers can monitor their soil moisture and watch how their citrus trees, under different soil types, utilize that moisture. This monitoring allows the grower to operate their irrigation systems without guesswork to optimize moisture for proper tree growth and fruit sizing throughout the growing season.

“Florida citrus growers often don’t irrigate enough during the summer rainy season”, says Chet Townsend, Agrilink Florida’s Area Manager. “June 1 through September 1 is the main fruit sizing period for citrus. By monitoring soil moisture between rains, growers will know when to start back irrigating to insure their trees don’t lack water for cell division and fruit expansion. We have documented that the citrus tree canopy can actually block up to 60% of the rainfall under the canopy where micro-sprinklers are located and about 80% of the root activity occurs. This area will dry out within days of a heavy rain in Florida’s hot summer”. Townsend calls this the “Rain Shadow Effect”.

During the dry season, growers can actually save on irrigation costs, as many growers tend to over irrigate. C-Probe monitoring will ensure that you do not push water, along with fertilizer, past the active root zone, thus wasting water and nutrients.

In addition to soil moisture monitoring, growers can monitor the temperature, rainfall, and evapotranspiration (ET) in their groves using Adcon’s weather stations. Currently Agrilink has over 60 grower weather stations in its Florida network. This weather data is much more useful to growers since these stations are located in their groves, not in major cities and airports. Member growers have access to weather information from the entire network.

To date, Agrilink has installed over 150 C-Probes in citrus groves throughout Florida. The soil moisture data is only available for the grower’s own C-Probes. These soil moisture probes are being used on citrus groves using micro-sprinklers, drip, seepage, and flood irrigation systems. The data is uploaded every 15 minutes and the grower can access the information via an Internet connection. All weather and C-Probes are solar powered and transmit data via a radio based telemetry system to an Internet server.

For information on subscribing to the weather network or to learn more about the C-Probe soil moisture sensors, please contact Chet Townsend, Area Manager, Agrilink Florida Inc. at 863-673-1374 or email at ctownsend@agrilink.net. Visit Agrilink’s main web site at www.agrilink.net or Agrilink Florida’s web site at www.ultimatecitrus.com/agrilink.