Edaphic Scientific has just held a series of one day workshops on water and nutrients in plants and soils. The workshops were held across Australia at the CSIRO, Macquarie University and The University of Queensland and were well attended by students, researchers and growers.

The workshop consisted of a series of presentations followed by practical demonstration of scientific equipment. Topics covered included, but were not limited to, the difference between collecting absolute and relative data, the importance of sensor calibration, and why continuously measuring nutrients in soils is extremely difficult.

The sensors in the practical demonstration included soil moisture content and water potential, pore water samplers, sap flow sensors for small stems and large trees, dendrometers for stems and fruits, photometers for nutrient measurements, and absorbance spectrometers.

During the practical demonstration, a capacitance and TDR volumetric soil water content sensors were calibrated. It was found that the soil water content, when using the manufacturer’s calibration curve, was 2% however, with the calibrated curve, the real soil volumetric water content was 18%. Through such practical exercises, the importance of soil moisture sensor calibration was demonstrated and why your soil moisture measurements are probably wrong.

In 2017, Edaphic Scientific will also be looking to hold another series of workshops. Contact us if you would like to see a workshop in your region.

 

download the workshop presentation

edaphic-scientific-plant-and-soil-workshop-presentation

 

images from the workshops: