Product News
Toro® Precision™ Soil Sensor named Winner of 2012 Irrigation Association new product contest

Toro’s Precision™ Soil Sensor was recently named winner of 2012
Irrigation Association (IA) New Product Contest in the Turf/Landscape
category at the IA Show in Orlando. Launched in early 2012, the product
has already received three other national innovation awards.

The Precision Soil Sensor can install on almost any irrigation controller, and continuously measures moisture levels in the soil to determine when to allow the controller to water, maximizing the efficiency of the irrigation system. The sensor is wireless up to 500 feet (line of sight) and requires no digging for installation, so setup takes minutes instead of hours.

“What’s especially great about this product is that it will work with almost any irrigation controller, including non-Toro models,” said Peter Lackner, product manager, Toro Irrigation. “You can easily turn any controller into an extremely accurate smart controller in just a few minutes.”

Researchers at New Mexico State University are currently conducting a two-year study to compare the amount of irrigation water used by a sprinkler system using a Toro Precision™ Soil Sensor versus systems scheduled using a fixed runtime based on Max ET.

“Preliminary results indicate that using the Toro Precision™ Soil Sensor has resulted in water savings of 38 per cent to 50 per cent with no noticeable negative impact on the health of the plant material when compared to scheduling using historic ET data collected at a stationary weather station,” said Bernd Leinauer, PhD, professor and turfgrass extension specialist at New Mexico State University’s department of extension plant science.

Toro also unveiled at the 2012 IA Show their new Evolution™ series irrigation controller, which is slated for launch in early 2013. This new residential/light-commercial controller will work with up to three Precision™ Soil Sensor probes (one per schedule), as well as a number of other optional accessories.

Over the last few years, Toro Irrigation has released several new Precision™ Irrigation technologies aimed at upgrading older systems for far less money than purchasing a new system. All Precision™ Irrigation technologies, including the award-winning Precision™ Series Spray and Rotating Nozzles easily retrofit existing systems with little to no disruption in the landscape.

For more information on Toro Precision™ Irrigation solutions, contact your local authorized Toro Irrigation distributor, call 877-345-8676, or visit http://www.toro.com/irrigation.