Irrigation scheduling system – Athena IR-Tech

Hans Loder is a viticulturist in the Coonawarra, where Athena IR-Tech was developed. He has worked in the industry since 2004 and is the vineyard manager for Penly Estate, responsible for 82 hectares of vineyards. These include:

• 52 hectares of cabinet
• 20 hectares of shiraz
• 8 hectares of merlot
• 2 hectares of cabernet franc.

To optimise water management decisions, Hans conducted an EM38 soil survey over his vineyard. It identified the soil type across the property to be duplex sand over clay. The survey also revealed that Sentek soil probes were monitoring the property water content, but not the vines. Some probes indicated there was no available water, while the vines were in good condition.

This led Hans to seek a specialised sensor to inform when the vines required water. He implemented 10 Athena IR-Tech probes across the property, which use infrared to measure the vines directly, rather than surrounding environmental factors.

Hans noticed many benefits of Transp-IR, such as more uniformed growing across the property. This has allowed for better filling of mandates set by the wineries.

Using the probes allowed Hans to sense the differences within each block and adjust his watering using taps, so that all parts of the block ripen at the same time. This is necessary in one block with a ridge running through it, causing some areas to be more vigorous than others.

Prior to installing Athena IR-Tech probes, Hans held off watering the more vigorous areas, causing the highest yielding vines to be suboptimal. With increased data on the plants' water requirements, this hasn’t occurred since.

Hans has been pleased with the performance of the probes and found them 'easy to install and easy to deploy'. One block on the property is dry grown, and Transp-IR has given him confidence that the vines don't require irrigation. In other blocks, the vines require more water and Hans has adjusted his schedule according to the data, resulting in greater yields.

Hans has been satisfied with the responsive customer service from Athena IR-Tech. They have made changes to the probes based on feedback from Hans and other users. After his first year of using Transp-IR, the company replaced his probes with an upgraded version. These included:

• a spike to prevent birds from sitting on top
• a solar panel to charge the battery and calculate solar radiation.

Hans has not had any issues with connectivity, but he noted that the property is 1km away from the Coonawarra cellular tower.

Hans highly recommends Athena IR-Tech to other producers, which is complementary to his existing soil probes.