ABSTRACT
Knowledge of soil water content can improve irrigation scheduling and management. In dryland conditions, soil water content may determine when and/or which crop to plant. There are many methods of determining water content or potential without disturbing the soil, including neutron probes, time domain reflectometry (TDR) probes, electrical conductance/resistance methods, psychrometry, etc. These methods require extensive technology and calibration for best performance. Cost and technology limit their use primarily to researchers and a few, largescale producers. In contrast, soil probes are low-cost devices that require no special technology to estimate soil water storage.
