Field Experiences With Soil Moisture Monitoring Techniques in Commercial Vegetable Production

Since 2001, the University of Delaware has been looking towards soil moisture sensing as a tool to improve irrigation scheduling for commercial vegetables and small fruits on the Delmarva Peninsula.  The lack of locally generated and reliable ET modeling crop coefficients for commercial vegetables in the humid Mid-Atlantic has created a “seat of the pants” approach toward irrigation management.  Multiple on-farm research projects were conducted with cooperating farmers to determine the most accurate, affordable and user friendly soil moisture equipment for sandy soils. Additional on-farm research has been conducted to define the ideal sensor placement relative to field variability, root zone depth, and emitter spacing.   This presentation will discuss soil moisture sensing options including Sentek, Decagon (5TE & 5TM), Trime TDR, Tensiometers (electronic & manual), Watermarks, Spectrum FieldScout, and Aquaterr; how to determine the ideal sensor placement in the field and the response from farmer cooperators regarding the value of monitoring.  Future extension outreach goals with the project will be detailed.