Nextriv Probe Soilsoil moisture, temperature and EC probe

What it's for

The most expensive water is the water poured out needlessly — and the most expensive fertiliser is the one that washed away beyond the roots' reach. Nextriv Probe Soil measures what is really happening in the root zone: moisture, temperature and electrical conductivity (EC) with a single buried probe. EC is the quiet hero of this set — it rises with the concentration of salts and fertilisers, so it lets you control fertigation and detect salinity before the plants show stress.

This is not a "rough houseplant sensor" but a tool an agronomist can base decisions on: ±2% on moisture across the typical working range and EC measurement all the way to 20,000 µS/cm, covering even heavily saline substrates. The epoxy-resin and stainless-steel probe withstands chemically aggressive soils, and once buried (IP68) it works for years below the surface — where cheaper builds degrade within a season.

Soil temperature measured across −40…+80 °C makes the sensor useful from spring frost monitoring to compost piles, and the 0.01% moisture resolution lets you track even the slow drying of the profile between waterings. The transmitter, on a 2 m cable, stands above ground and reports by radio over distances measured in kilometres — one receiving station covers fields, tunnels and orchards at once.

It works hardest when paired with irrigation automation: moisture thresholds in the Nextriv platform turn watering from a schedule into a response to the actual state of the soil. Savings in water, energy and time in one move.

Use cases

• Greenhouse / polytunnel: probes in the root zone say exactly when to water, and the EC measurement keeps the nutrient concentration from drifting outside the fertigation recipe. Watering responds to the soil, not the clock.
• Orchard / vineyard: measurement points scattered across the blocks report from kilometres away. The agronomist sees a moisture map without a drive-around and decides which blocks actually need water.
• Sports pitch / golf course: turf kept within a target moisture band means less water and a more even surface. The greenkeeper gets an alert only when a zone falls outside the band.
• Urban green spaces: sensors at young plantings tell the crew which trees genuinely need the water truck — instead of watering everything "in turn" during heatwave weeks.
• Research institute / field trials: three parameters from one point, with history and timestamps — ready-made data series for analysis, with no manual sampling.
• Growing in difficult substrates: the corrosion-resistant probe also works in heavily saline and intensively fertilised soils — where ordinary electrodes don't survive the season.

Key features

• Three parameters with one probe: moisture, temperature and EC — a complete picture of the root zone from a single point.
• Research-grade accuracy: ±2% moisture (0–50%), ±0.5 °C temperature, ±3% EC across the typical range.
• EC measurement up to 20,000 µS/cm — fertigation and salinity control, not just "wet/dry".
• Composite probe (epoxy resin + stainless-steel electrodes) resistant to aggressive soils; IP68 — works buried.
• Shock- and vibration-resistant; IP67 transmitter on a post, wall or DIN rail, 2 m probe cable.
• History of approx. 1000 readings stored locally with retransmission after connectivity outages — trustworthy, complete data series.
• Up to 10 years on an easily replaceable high-capacity battery.
• Configuration via NFC from a phone — a measurement point up and running in fifteen minutes.

In the Nextriv system

Moisture, temperature and EC thresholds — each across four levels — build the full agronomic logic: a drying-profile warning schedules irrigation, a critical minimum raises a drought alarm, the EC threshold catches a nutrient recipe error, and the temperature alert warns of frost. Notifications via SMS, push or e-mail arrive before the plants show stress, and the webhooks integration forwards events to the farm's automation.

Measurement points on the dashboard, per-block trend charts and sensor comparison lay out the conditions of the whole farm on one screen. The measurement history with XLSX/CSV exports is ready-made material for seasonal analyses and crop documentation — including for agri-environmental programmes.

Typical deployments

• Agriculture and horticulture: fertigation, orchards, field and protected crops — solutions for agriculture.
• Laboratories and field trials: research stations with multi-year logging — solutions for laboratories.
• Buildings and green spaces: urban greenery, turf and facility gardens — solutions for buildings.