EVALUATION OF SOIL MOISTURE SENSORS FOR IRRIGATION SCHEDULING OF STRAWBERRIES

Horticultural producers are in need of efficient and timely techniques for determining crop water requirements. The question of when and how much to irrigate, termed irrigation scheduling, is particularly important for high-value crops such as strawberries (Fragaria ananassa). During the growing season, irrigation scheduling decisions are influenced by climatic variables such as rainfall, temperature and humidity, which directly impact soil moisture levels. A field study was therefore conducted to evaluate two soil moisture sensors for irrigation scheduling of commercial strawberries on a farm in Simcoe, Southern Ontario. Strawberries were grown on raised beds with plastic mulch under two management practices – open field and plastic high tunnels. For each practice, two soil moisture sensors based on time domain reflectometry (TDR) were evaluated. The sensors, Campbell Scientific‘s water content reflectometer (WCR) and ESI‘s Gro-point (GP) monitored soil moisture continuously over the growing season (May to October 2007). Soil samples were collected to obtain volumetric water content as a unit of reference for the purpose of comparison and evaluation of the two sensors. Equivalent water depths (EWD) were calculated for an effective strawberry rooting depth of 0.