Climate data from test plots improves herbicide research
Last summer I ran thousands of research plots for a leading chemical company. With the weather stations I used previously, I had to invest hundreds of hours to get them up and running. If I set up three stations, maybe one of them worked. After extensive research, we purchased some HOBO weather stations to use in the field for herbicide research in test plots.
These are research plots, 30,000 in total. We monitor wind speed and direction, relative humidity, precipitation, air temperature and soil moisture. The data we collect is needed for the approval of new pesticides. When a test series is sprayed, we need the environmental conditions at the time of spraying in order to understand the effectiveness of a herbicide.
We set up two HOBO weather stations, and the installation was pretty straightforward and straightforward. Our Garmin GPS was useful for pointing the system north, and we found that using a ¼" socket wrench with a flexible handle was very valuable during installation. In terms of hardware, the HOBO weather station offered us great simplicity with full integration of the sensors. We collect the data hourly, and it's nice to be able to download the data without having to stop the system for measurements. We use both data transfer devices and laptops to download the data. Once we have downloaded the data, we record it in HOBOware and then use specialized software to process the data. The data collected showed that it was an extremely dry year and therefore the herbicides worked very differently. It was very easy to see what was going on in less than 10 seconds. For someone who doesn't have a lot of time, that's very valuable. And if I can immediately explain what's going on, I gain a lot of confidence and work much more efficiently. When you have tools that don't work against you, it's fun to get your work done. It's so easy. I always use HOBO tools in a flexible, innovative and simple way. You can make money with good tools.