How to use the Soil Smart
In this guide, we will go over…
1.) Physical Installation
2.) Soil Smart Dashboard
This is your soil smart dashboard. You can select different sensors using the dropdown menu (1) in the top left of the page.
Your measurements are reported here every 2 hours for
Soil Moisture (Volumetric Water Content %)
Bulk Electrical Conductivity (dS/m)
Soil Temperature (F)
3.) Setting Alarms
Press the bell button “Set Alarm Thresholds” on the top left to open the alarm tool. Here you can set threshold that will trigger an email and Flora Cloud notification. You will receive at most 1 alarm from each sensor per day.
It is recommended to monitor your soil moisture with your current irrigation routine and determine the optimal zones to maintain your water content.
4.) Interpreting the Data
Since irrigation scheduling is a function of many complex variables, it is impossible to recommended how to irrigate your crop. This is a good resource for irrigation management using sensor feedback.
Instead, we recommend that you use the Soil Smart as a trend monitoring tool.
If your long term EC is trending upwards
Your salt leaching program may not be aggressive enough
Incoming water EC may have increased
Fertilizer is dissolving into soil
If your long term EC is trending downwards
If your salts are already low, you may be over leaching
Soil nutrients may be depleting
If your soil moisture is trending upwards
You may be irrigating too frequently
Poor system distribution uniformity could overwater sections of your irrigation block
Irrigation runoff and drainage could cause pooling
If your soil moisture is trending downwards
You may need to irrigate more frequently
Poor system distribution uniformity could underwater sections of your irrigation block
A failure in your irrigation system could be restricting water supply
