The cost of water, community pressures for its conservation, cost of labour in its application and the quality of turf demanded by the public are all providing emphasis on need for greater efficiency in the watering of environmental and recreational turf.
This paper reviews the application of a new moisture sensing technique developed for the control of orchard and vineyard irrigation and examines its use in the automatic watering of turf and recreational horticulture. The accuracy, reliability and durability of the device are examined as are the reduction in water consumption, the quality of the plant and the savings in operating labour.