The Drill & Drop™ is a multi-depth soil monitoring probe designed to provide detailed information about changing soil conditions below the surface. By measuring soil moisture, temperature and, where specified, salinity at multiple depths, the probe helps growers, agronomists, researchers and irrigation professionals understand how water is moving through the soil profile.

Its streamlined design allows fast, minimally disturbed installation, while the fully encapsulated probe can be buried underground to protect it from agricultural machinery and other environmental hazards.

Whether you are monitoring irrigated crops, orchards, vineyards, horticultural systems, research plots or landscaped areas, Drill & Drop provides continuous soil profile data to support better irrigation and water-management decisions.

Instead of measuring soil conditions at just one location, Drill & Drop provides measurements at multiple depths along the probe.

Available probe lengths range from 30 cm to 120 cm, with sensing points positioned at 10 cm intervals. This allows you to monitor how soil moisture and temperature change through the root zone and identify differences between shallow and deeper soil layers.

Salinity measurement is also available as an option.

Measurements

• Soil moisture
• Soil temperature
• Soil salinity*
• Soil conditions at multiple depths

*Salinity measurement is optional.

Fast, low-disturbance installation

The tapered probe design is engineered to make installation quick and straightforward across a wide range of soil types.

The installation method minimises soil disturbance and avoids the need to create a slurry around the sensors. This helps maintain the natural soil profile around the probe and supports more representative soil moisture and salinity measurements.

Once installed, the probe can be completely buried, reducing the risk of damage from tractors, harvesting equipment and other machinery.

Continuous soil monitoring

Drill & Drop can be used for both short-term monitoring programs and long-term soil monitoring installations.

For seasonal applications such as vegetable production, the probe can be installed and removed relatively quickly. For longer-term monitoring, it can remain buried in the soil for extended periods while continuously collecting soil profile data.

This makes the system suitable for:

• Irrigation management
• Precision agriculture
• Crop water monitoring
• Soil moisture research
• Horticultural production
• Vineyards and orchards
• Vegetable crops
• Berry production
• Landscape irrigation
• Agricultural research trials

Connect to your existing data logger

Drill & Drop can be integrated with a range of telemetry systems and third-party data loggers.

Depending on the probe configuration, communication options include:

• RS232
• RS485
• Modbus
• SDI-12

The RS232/RS485 configuration can be used with compatible Sentek telemetry systems or third-party Modbus data loggers, while the SDI-12 version can connect to compatible third-party SDI-12 logging systems.

This makes Drill & Drop suitable for projects where soil measurements need to be integrated into an existing IoT, telemetry or agricultural monitoring platform.

Soil moisture at the surface does not always represent the amount of water available throughout the root zone.

Multi-depth monitoring allows you to see how irrigation and rainfall move through different soil layers. Comparing measurements at different depths can help identify:

• Where water is accumulating
• How quickly the soil profile is drying
• Whether irrigation is reaching deeper roots
• Potential over-irrigation or under-irrigation
• Changes in soil moisture following rainfall or irrigation
• Differences in soil conditions throughout the root zone

Combining moisture, temperature and salinity measurements provides a more complete picture of the soil environment.

Available in multiple probe lengths

Choose the probe length according to the depth and monitoring requirements of your application.

A single-point sensor is also available for applications that require measurement at one soil depth.

Who is Drill & Drop for?

Drill & Drop is suitable for anyone who needs continuous information about soil conditions below the surface, including:

• Growers and farmers
  Monitor soil moisture throughout the crop root zone and support irrigation decisions.
• Agronomists and irrigation consultants
  Use multi-depth measurements to assess soil water movement and irrigation management performance.
• Researchers
  Collect continuous soil moisture, temperature and salinity data for field trials and research projects.
• Horticultural producers
  Monitor soil conditions in vegetable, fruit, nut and berry production.
• Vineyards and orchards
  Track moisture conditions at different depths around established root zones.
• Landscape and turf managers
  Use soil moisture information to optimise irrigation and avoid unnecessary watering.

Drill & Drop™ Bluetooth®

The Drill & Drop™ Bluetooth® is a wireless, multi-depth soil moisture monitoring probe designed for fast installation and easy field data collection. Its cable-free, battery-powered design allows measurements to be collected directly from a smartphone or tablet using the Connect App, without requiring cellular or satellite telemetry.

The probe measures soil moisture, temperature and optional salinity at multiple depths, with sensors positioned every 10 cm. Its tapered design enables fast, low-disturbance, slurry-free installation while maintaining the natural soil profile for reliable measurements.

Ideal for vegetable crops, horticulture, berries, nurseries, tree pots, agricultural research and consulting, Drill & Drop Bluetooth is particularly useful in areas without mobile coverage. Data collected in the field can be uploaded later and viewed through web-based irrigation and soil moisture monitoring software.

By providing detailed soil profile information, the Drill & Drop Bluetooth helps growers and agronomists optimise irrigation, reduce water and input costs, and improve crop yield and quality.