Field Notes

<--2025-04-17 13:00:00 |
Other sites visited today: Mayberry
Phenocam link: Searching...

Bouldin Alfalfa: 2025-04-23 12:15:00 (DOY 113)
Author: Joe Verfaillie
Others:

Summary: Moved tower and soil sensors to the edge of the field in preparation for wheat/oat harvest.

Bouldin Alfalfa
2025-04-23

I arrived at about 13:15 PDT. I made a quick stop at EE to get the old scaffolding for recycling on the way here. Last week when I was here I thought the wheat/oats looked about ready for Harvest. Jose confirmed by text that mowing, baling and disking were planned in the next week or two. So the plan was to pull the ground sensors and move the tower to the edge of the field.

I found the three sets of soil sensors and dug them up. The CS655s were buried horizontally at about -5cm. The TC profiles had some loose wires mostly the -2 and -32 TCs. I didn't bring tape from the truck to fix them. The 2 of 3 heat flux plates were at the usual -2cm depth. I also removed the 50cm Sentek soil moisture probe sn xxx. I didn't have a way to reinstall this so I brought it in. The theta probe was buried horizontally at about -20cm.

After getting all the cables loose and out of the way, I dug up the two fence post tie downs. One turnbuckle is still on the scaffolding. The other is in the data logger box. I didn't have a post pounder so no tie downs for now - might have to move the tower after the corn is planted. I also didn't have straps to hold the jack feet on while I moved the tower. I ended up using oat plants to tie the feet on - kind of worked. I was able to walk the scaffolding back to the edge of the field, roughly square it and get it pretty level. I forgot to check the sonic heading before I moved it and still need to get the sonic heading in this new position - the scaffolding rotated about 20deg CCW.

I put the soil sensors back in the ground under the scaffolding. All the soil moistures are now in vertically with the tines staring at about -10cm. Some of the TC (-2, -32) might not be at the correct depth due to the lack of tape. The heat flux plates should be okay. I checked that multiplexor was ticking and the Licor units had good status lights before I left.

I left at about 14:30 PDT to get to Berkeley recycling before they closed at 4pm.

Estimated Next Mowing: 2024-11-02

0 photos found

7 sets found

4 BA_flux graphs found