Sap-Flow Sensors for Small-Diameter Nursery Seedlings

Sensors can be used to improve irrigation management decisions in nurseries. Optimizing irrigation efficiency aims to apply sufficient water for growth while reducing excessive leaching to reduce costs and environmental pollution. Pairing soil moisture sensors with plant sensors enables irrigation managers to quantify the volume of water to be applied that will directly affect crop productivity. Sap-flow sensors are considered a potential tool for irrigation management because they provide a real-time method to measure how plants respond to above- and belowground environments. This report provides detailed methods to build an external sap-flow sensor that can be used on small-diameter nursery seedlings and discusses how sap-flow sensors can be utilized with nursery seedlings to provide information about plant physiology, improve irrigation scheduling, and monitor outplanting success. This article will be useful to researchers and growers who previously associated sap-flow sensors only with large diameter trees by describing the opportunities for applying sap-flow methodology to small-diameter nursery plants. This paper was presented at the Joint Annual Meeting of the Western Forest and Conservation Nursery Association and the Intermountain Container Seedling Growers Association (Coeur d’Alene, ID, October 25-26, 2018).

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Author(s): Lloyd L. Nackley

Publication: Tree Planters' Notes - Volume 62, Numbers 1, 2 (2019)

Event: Joint Annual Meeting of the Western Forest and Conservation Nursery Association and the Intermountain Container Seedling Growers Association
2018 - Coeur d’Alene, ID

Volume: 62

Numbers: 1, 2