Competition for the superior soil sensor technology to aid in irrigation efficiency is hot, but definitely not dry! Recently AST (Advance Sensor Technology) and Toro came to an agreement regarding infringements on the 511 patent that is held by the AST's UgMO product.
Walt Norley, CEO of AST commented after the settlement "We are looking forward to competing with Toro and Turf Guard in a fair and open manner, and to allowing the many potential customers to make their purchasing decisions based on the quality, price and efficiency of our respective products."
Want to read more about the settlement? Try here, here and here.
Want to learn more about the products and decide for yourselves which will reign superior?
* AST's UgMo system We've covered the UgMO system already here.
* Toro's Turf Guard system
Turfhugger.com is collecting your opinions of remote sensor systems.
Do you have experience with them?
Are they even necessary?
We are developing a "Shoot Out" article which will review all of your options in remote sensor technology.
The Future of Water Conservation is Heating Up!
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1 Comments so far
I have experience with a soil temperature and moisture sensor. Turfwise did a US Trial on our course installing sensors in the approach and on the edge of the green on two holes.
The sensor worked well with the the moisture and you could see when a water event happened and how the soil would dry out.
The limiting factor for me was that it was only a small area of the green or approach. Throughout each turf area there are so many variables.
I think installing sensors in areas that you already use as indicators on the golf course like the first green that shows stress or the first hillside that you use to judge your irrigation event from. Maybe the sensors can give you insight on how you can better time your cycles.
The placement of our sensors were less than desirable and I was unable to accurately use them for irrigation predictors.
Our sensors were also hard wired which did pose a problem since the company did come out numerous times to fix the wiring issues. I would definitely go with wireless if I could do it again.
I did like the fact that I could obtain my information off the web. The program would let you set parameters on when moisture was at a danger level.
There is a place in our industry to use the sensors if used correctly. I am thinking about trying out some of the new technology.
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