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Researcher Liyuan Yang, left, uses a tradi- tional pressure cham- ber to compare results from FloraPulse’s sensor, seen below on a mango tree.
calculated his total cost savings, he estimated he has slashed his water usage at least 25%. “It’s really been a benefit,” he said of the sensor. “I think it’s going to be the future.” Yolo County almond grower Jasleen Gulati has tried the Saturas and FloraPulse sensors. She now uses a manual soil moisture probe along with the FloraPulse sensor, which she said she found to be easier to use and more accurate than Saturas. Even with these tools, she said, deciding how long to irrigate in- volves a certain amount of guesswork. “It’s not an exact science,” she said. “That’s just a judgment call.” Kisekka agreed that the new sensors can- not tell growers how much water to apply. In precision irrigation, he said, growers need to know when to initiate irrigation, how much to apply and where, as conditions are not the same everywhere. Therefore, growers should use additional tools such as soil moisture probes and weather data “to really dial in your irrigation,” he added. “That’s why irrigation is a simple but com- plicated science at the same time,” he said. (Ching Lee is an assistant editor of Ag Alert. She may be contacted at clee@cfbf.com.)
“That’s why universities and research companies have worked for years to devel- op a more automated way to measure stem water potential,” Kisekka said. He and his research team have been testing two sensors that made their com- mercial market debut during the past two to three years. One was developed by Davis-based FloraPulse, and the oth- er comes from Saturas, an Israeli compa- ny with a North American subsidiary in Rancho Cordova near Sacramento. Both work by embedding sensors in- side the woody tissue of a tree or vine. FloraPulse uses a micro-tensiometer to measure stem water potential, while Saturas uses an osmometer. The sensors are wired to data loggers that upload mea- surements to the cloud, where the infor- mation can be retrieved on a computer, smartphone or other mobile device. Kisekka and his team have been evalu- ating the sensors in different commercial orchards, mostly almonds, as part of a four- year study funded by the Almond Board of California. The project is in its third year. They’ve been taking weekly measure- ments and then comparing them to read- ings from the pressure chamber. While findings are preliminary, Kisekka said the sensors have the potential to be “a game changer,” as they can directly mea- sure stem water potential with an accuracy comparable to the pressure chamber. “These sensors really have the potential to replace the old-school pressure bomb,” he said. There are some differences between the two products. For example, Saturas’ osmom- eter is bulkier, so it’s typically installed on the tree trunk, whereas FloraPulse can be placed on a branch or trunk. Saturas provides daily water-status updates, while FloraPulse gives numbers almost every hour. Based on his field trials, Kisekka said Saturas sensors re- quire calibration at installation to work ac- curately; FloraPulse doesn’t need it. Both sensors don’t work well on walnut trees, which produce a fluid that inter- feres with the sensor, resulting in inac- curate readings. Saturas says its technology can increase farmer income by 5% to 30% through high- er yields, better fruit quality and by saving on inputs. It says its sensors can save farm- ers 10% to 20% on water. Citing a customer case study, FloraPulse says use of its sensors increased the grow- er’s revenue by $734 per acre. CEO Michael Santiago said that number was derived from the grower’s increased production of about 15%. The company also says the grower eliminated fruit-drop losses from 30% to less than 1% and was able to de- crease irrigation by 40%. Kisekka said his research so far has not been able to quantify how much water growers may save with the new sensors, but he noted there could be additional cost savings in labor and energy to pump water. “The biggest impact really is increase in yield and quality,” Santiago said. “We’ve seen that healthier trees produce more crop. They have less issues with disease. That’s really the main selling point.”
Photo/Courtesy Rod Chamberlain
FloraPulse sells its sensors with a yearly subscription service. The sensors are re- placed every year as part of the service. Santiago said growers may buy just the sensors for a one-time fee, but they would need to have their own telemetry support. Yariv Erez, head of Saturas’ North America operations, said cost of its service depends on farm size, crop type and loca- tion. He said the return on investment for various crops is as quick as 30 to 60 days. Growers who are familiar with stem water potential and who are early adopters are “happy with the results,” he added. Since FloraPulse sold its first sensor at the end of 2019, Santiago said the compa- ny has “made very limited sales”—most- ly to scientists and to “advanced growers that have a better sense of what to do with the data.” But he said the company is now broadening its market, targeting growers with at least 1,000 acres. Tehama County farmer Michael Vasey, who has been using FloraPulse on his prunes for three years, currently pays $1,500 a year per sensor, which he said is “pretty ex- pensive.” Still, he said he finds enough value in it that he feels it’s worth paying for. “You get real-time feedback on how stressed the orchard is, and you’re able to make finer-tune adjustments to your wa- ter, so I think there’s water saving,” he said, though he couldn’t quantify it. Whereas he used to add irrigation an hour at a time, he said he can now add wa-
ter at much shorter durations, such as 15 minutes, and then get real-time feedback on how thirsty the tree is. Water expenses are one of the highest production costs for Rod Chamberlain, a Riverside County mango farmer. Before trying the FloraPulse sensors, he was using soil moisture probes, which told him the wa- ter-holding capacity of his soil, but not how his trees were feeling. With the new sensor— which he’s been using going on three years— he can access information on how his trees are doing directly from his phone. He said the yearly $1,500-per-unit cost is “right in line with all the other probes.” Though he hasn’t
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