Field Notes

Bouldin Alfalfa: 2021-07-06 16:40:00 (DOY 187)
Author: Daphne Szutu
Others: Carlos

Summary: Regular data collection/cleaning, spectral, veg height, trimmed alfalfa under tower/PL Arable

2021-07-06
Bouldin Alfalfa

Carlos and I arrived at 16:40 PDT. It was a clear, warm, and windy day. Since our previous visit, the alfalfa has been mowed and baled and the bales have been removed.

Carlos took veg height measurements and I showed him how to do spectral measurements.

Carlos cleaned flux and rad sensors and reported that the PARin and LWin sensors were both quite poopy. I cleared spiderwebs from the outside of the phenocam window and downloaded met, camera, and USB GHG data. I downloaded the FD data and cleared its memory. We topped off the wash reservoir.

I downloaded the IRT data and used the CardConvert utility to convert the data from binary to a nicer TOA5 format. I left the source files as is; Iâ€™m not sure when I download next time if it will be the whole file or only new data. I reinserted the card and waited for the activity LED to blink once.

Before we left, we trimmed the alfalfa under the tower and under the PL Arable.

LI-7500 readings:
CO2 400ppm
H2O 610ppm
T 31.0C
P 101.0kPa
SS 99--> forgot to write after cleaning
LI7700 readings:
CH4 1.9
RSSI 53--> 79 after cleaning

We left at 18:00 PDT.

Next Mowing: 2021-07-21

Veg Height (cm): Tape measure from ground to top of plant
28, 36, 34, 27, 24.5, 24, 30, 27.5, 45, 39.5, 40.5, 33, 21, 35, 28, avg = 31.5, stdev = 6.8

1 photos found

20210706BA_Trimmed.jpg ( 2021-07-06 17:58:33 ) Full size: 1920x1440
We trimmed alfalfa underneath alfalfa tower, although at this point in the harvest cycle (11 days since harvesting) it was hard to say whether we should just wait for the next harvest. In the end, the alfalfa was pretty thick under the tower, so I decided to trim it today to avoid an even worse thicket after the next harvest.