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Central NE | Sure. I might not be the best to learn from cause I think faster than I type, but...
I use 3 watermarks (wm) in one location, 3-6" apart. 1st is installed at the 1' depth, 2nd at 2' and 3rd at 3'. Early in the season, like till July, (all depending on moisture and plant growth) I will just use the average of the moisture readings from the 1st and 2nd wm's, to schedule irrigation. You can see the probe readings change when the root zone reaches the individual probes. When the root zone reaches the third probe (at 3') I will use the average of the 3 wm's to schedule irrigation, when my trigger point is reached.
There is nothing wrong and I have no problem with having a probe every 4" down, but in real life, it's overkill and expensive.
It does take some learning of YOUR fields and soil types and soil health like the back of your hand and gambling.
When I say gambling, it's based on YOUR fields and soil types and soil health and the weather forecast. If I know my pivot/well output like the back of my hand and I'm at MY trigger point to irrigate, and they are calling for a good chance of rain, 1-3 days out and my back is achy, I will hold off from watering. If it's sunny, hot and windy, probably not. I will not stress corn after ear shoot. Beans...let' turn blue for awhile. Wheat...I don't think you can over water it, but you don't want to drown your soil or leach your N.
So now that your bored from reading that, I will put you to sleep talking about involving a EvapoTranspiration simulator (ETgauge) in the equation. There is some math involved and instructions are hard to grasp at first, but once you use'em for awhile, a person should be able to read them backwards like a rain gauge. All they are in farmer terms is just that, a backwards rain gauge. They have a canvas cover over a ceramic disc that alot of studing has gone into to, to simulate evaporation from a growing crop at different ground cover percentages. Use the gauge reading (backwards of a rain gauge) and multiply that, by a known coefficient number (Kc) from a chart to see what YOUR field/crop growth/weather conditions has used per day of moisture and subtract that from what your moisture probes are reading. Then base this on what YOUR soil type water holding capabilities are.
ETA...It's easier than it reads.
Edited by gemarsh 1/17/2019 23:36
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Remote Monitoring: Moisture Probes, Weather Stations, and Rain gauges.
