This station has been for serious farmers and growers, serious about understanding how their local weather and climate affects growing conditions. It is designed to be robust enough to survive farm conditions so that you can build a consistent and reliable record for your own location over many years.

We have installed over 100 of these weather stations throughout New Zealand for a range of users in agriculture and horticulture. They are used for purposes related to managing pests and diseases (compatible with MetWatch software), managing irrigation and monitoring soil moisture and investigating conditions leading to spring flush.

Each station is custom designed for your application, but typically they include the following components:

Sensors to measure

• air temperature 
• relative humidity
• wind speed
• wind direction
  
• rainfall
• solar radiation

Options for:

• leaf wetness (useful for disease prediction)
• soil temperature(s) (at multiple depths if required)
• grass temperature
  
• soil moisture
• vine, or other, temperature

Calculations for:

• Potential Evapotrasnpiration
• Growing Degree Days
• Custom algorithms

Unlike many other weather stations in the market, we publish the specifications for all the sensors used so that you know what quality the instrumentation is.

Datalogger

We use dataloggers manufacturered by Campbell Scientific who are the industry standard for demanding research applications. The datalogger is the brains of the station, taking readings every three seconds from the attached meteorological sensors. These are stored and used to calcluate minimums, maximum, averages & totals and applied calculations such as potential evapotranspiration and soil moisture defecit. Data is stored hourly and daily.

Telemetry & Data Retrieval

Data can be retrieved by a wide range of methods, both locally and remotely. Most of our ag/hort stations can have data retrieval via telephone telemetry using a cell phone or land line modem. Some users choose to collect all the data themselves, while others subscribe to our envirodata service, where we collect and display all data via a secure web site.

Power

The low power requirements of the datalogger mean that the station can easily be powered by solar panel. This recharges the 12VDC battery used by the datalogger. Alternatively, the station battery is charged using a mains powered charger. This is the cheapest option for stations with a power supply close by. This recharges the 12VDC battery used by the datalogger.

Structural

Horticultural stations would normally be mounted on a 2 or 3 m mast. The datalogger, battery and telemetry components are all enclosed within the sealed stainless steel enclosure.