Moistiure Meter questions Cancel The title field is required!

1. Melvin Waldron

   

   43 posts
   
   11/24/2015 8:11 AM

   We have had the TDR 300 for a few years now and I think it has been a great tool for us.
   
   I am wanting to add to the one we currently have as I know it is not as useful as it could be during afternoon cooling and watering when we send 3 people out and we have only one tool.
   
   When I first learned of the tool, in a presentation a course would use one (or maybe two, one for each nine?) with the 4.5" tines to check greens and water a little deeper in spots depending on what the numbers they were shooting for, and later in the day they would use multiple units with 3.5" tines, throughout the day in 2 step increments (checking every two steps) to just keep the greens at the number for the day.
   
   We have used ours in the mornings with 3.5"tines and would add water to bring up moisture levels for the day. Then I would use it late afternoon to check on what needed irrigation from the system. I have been able to isolate some of my heads on certain greens to just water the areas that needed them.
   
   So my questions are, how do all of you use your moisture meters and how many of them do you own?
   
   With tight budgets I'm looking for extra help justifying purchasing another, (I would like to buy one per year until we reach about 4 of them), we don't have to pay for water or electricity from our pump station or those savings alone could pay for the moisture meters. Plus it would be a great learning experience to see how others use their meters.
   
   Thanks!
   
   Mel

   
   Melvin H. Waldron III, CGCS, Horton Smith Golf Course, City of Springfield/Greene County MO
   
   
2. Brian Green

   

   0 posts
   
   11/25/2015 7:11 AM

   Mel,
   We have 2 units with 1.5' probes on them that we use daily during the growing season. We go out first thing each morning and take 30-40 readings off of each green to get an average for each green. We will handwater any areas below our threshold as we go through the course. In the afternoons, we are constantly checking greens getting readings and handwatering areas with readings below our threshold. We try to stay ahead of any wilt and for the most part are able to do that with the moisture meters. Our threshold changes as we get into the summer and temperatures are higher and roots are shallower. Our threshold seems to be a little higher than others managing bentgrass, but we have more play (38,000 annual rounds) than most managing bentgrass in our area. We use our daily averages to determine when we use overhead irrigation. When our daily averages reach our threshold, we know it is time to schedule irrigation that night. Personally, I believe that moisture meters are the best tool for managing bentgrass to come along in my career.
   Brian

   
   
   
   
3. Andy Jorgensen

   

   1 posts
   
   11/25/2015 9:11 AM

   Melvin Waldron, CGCS said:
   
   With tight budgets I'm looking for extra help justifying purchasing another, (I would like to buy one per year until we reach about 4 of them), we don't have to pay for water or electricity from our pump station or those savings alone could pay for the moisture meters. Plus it would be a great learning experience to see how others use their meters.
   
   Thanks!
   
   Mel

   
   
   Mel,
   Although these expenses aren't reflected in your budget, they are tangible expenses in SOMEBODY'S budget. Find out who pays for that stuff and see if they could do a cost sharing. I would think the city would be very proud of you for cutting the bottom line, regardless of where the money is coming from.

   
   
   
   
4. Michael McNamara

   

   0 posts
   
   11/25/2015 11:11 AM

   I always use tines according to root depth. Why do you need to know what VWC is at 4.5" if roots are only 2" ? As far as getting more, it's is easier to manage if you can measure.

   
   
   
   
5. Jeremy Hreben

   

   0 posts
   
   11/30/2015 9:11 AM

   We use 1.5" probes on very old nasty soil/clay push greens with bent/poa(mostly poa). We probe in the morning. Anything below our threshold we handwater. We keep an eye out for wilt in the afternoon but don't really use the meter in the afternoon to determine handwatering needs. Here is my thought as to why: the moisture is used to measure soil moisture. I believe if in the afternoon our soil is below threshold then the amount of water needed is too much to apply in a hot afternoon. So we may probe in the afternoon jus to see what the soil is but we will just syringe those lower areas as opposed to handwater to raise the soil moisture.
   
   Another I have noticed about the moisture meter; guys are starting to use their thresholds as a measure of testosterone, kind of like the stimp meter. Guys think they are cooler or better superintendents etc if their greens thresholds are lower. We keep ours a bit higher than other guys; one because we average almost 40,000 rounds with a very small budget and 2. with my heavy soils, if they get to dry it is very difficult to get back up to where they need to be.

   
   
   
   
6. Keith Fellenstein

   

   0 posts
   
   11/30/2015 11:11 AM

   six meters (TDR 100's) and one back up for 36 holes, 39 USGA greens. Check greens with meters in morning and supplement as needed. Syringe if needed in afternoon w/o meters if needed. We have found that if we do our due diligence in the morning, it is rare that we have to pull a hose in the afternoon. Perhaps we could lower our threshold, but like others, number of rounds makes it difficult to get around in the afternoon and players seem pleased with conditions. On occasion we will check with meters in afternoon to see what we lost and whether we can push things another day or need to water that night. Have you considered the 100's? I personally don't think the 300 features are terribly useful or worth the extra $.

   
   
   
   
7. Keith Fellenstein

   

   0 posts
   
   11/30/2015 11:11 AM

   Forgot to mention, we use 3" tines all the time. Unusual for our roots to be less than that but even then found the meters to give us the necessary information to manage accordingly. We did experiment with longer tines earlier one spring, but found translating the data into what we were used to and comfortable with the 3" too confusing and frankly counter productive. To each his own, but I'd rather have my data consistent and make adjustments based on knowledge and experience (still little bit of an art at times).