Water Management Pre Season Tips
With harvest coming to an end, it is time to start thinking about preparing for tile planning and installation. From checking over tiling equipment to designing and creating tile plans, both can save time and headaches while in the field. Below are a few items to keep in mind when starting to prepare for the tiling season.
At the beginning of the season before getting to installing tile it is good practice to check the plow and system over to make sure everything is ready to both survey and install.
Things to check/remember:
- Plow wear points
- Make sure plow wear points are within spec according to your plow manual
- Cable connections
- Check to ensure cable connections are fully seated, if components of the system have been used for other operations since last season. (e.g. RTK GPS receiver)
- Hydraulic connections
- Verify that pitch up/down commands make the plow respond in the proper manner.
- Verify plow measurement
- Plow measurements should be checked to ensure elevation recordings are accurate. This is especially important in cases where the grower is using a different brand RTK receiver than last season.
- Pitch Zero calibration number
- To ensure the Pitch Zero calibration number is still accurate, it is good practice to perform a blank AutoTile® install run. Pitch Zero can then be compared to the Suggested Calibration, if value difference is greater than 10, update Pitch Zero to match Suggested Calibration:
Stay tuned for part two of this blog where we’ll discuss water management operations in SMS. For more Intellislope resources, check out the InCommand Feature User Guide and the Ag Leader® Integra Quick Reference Guide.