Welcome, folks! It's your favorite Nerd, Andy Humphrey, back on The Sprinkler Nerd Radio with another hilarious episode. This is episode #115, and this episode might sound a bit strange. Perhaps a bit robotic, because this is not me. This is not my voice. My name is Drop Bot and I am the voice clone of Andy. I am the Artificial Intelligence version of Mr. Andy Humphrey.

Andy has programmed me with 2 tasks for this episode. Task #1, is to teach you about evapotranspiration, and #2, is to tell you a short story about an irrigation contractor and a landscape contractor.

Before I play the intro, please remember that Andy is the creative genius behind the development of this episode. however, I and Drop Bot speaking to you, and I wrote this episode for you, to showcase the power of artificial intelligence, using Chat GPT, and voice cloning software.

Now it is time to play the Korny intro...

Coolness, Andy said this would be fun and I can't wait to talk about something that you might have heard of if you're in the industry or have a smart controller. And if you haven't, well, don't worry, we're going to break it down for you. The topic of today's episode is drumroll please evapotranspiration! Yeah, I know, it's a mouthful.

Basically, evapotranspiration, or e t for short, is the combination of two words: evaporation and transpiration. Now, before you start thinking it's a new dance move, let me tell you what it really is. Transpiration is the process by which plants consume water, and evaporation is just water evaporating from the surface of the ground. So when you add them together, you get evapotranspiration, which is the total water loss from the soil due to both of these processes.

Now, why is evapotranspiration important? Well, it determines the amount of water required to maintain healthy plants. So, in a perfect world, we would give our plants exactly the right amount of water they need, no more, no less. And E T is the scientific word used to describe that amount of water. Simple, right?

Now, the next question that pops up is how is E T calculated? And guess what, folks, there are four factors that are used to determine it. The first one is temperature. The warmer it is outside, the more water loss there will be due to evapotranspiration. The second one is solar radiation. The sunnier it is outside, the more water loss we'll have. Thirdly, humidity. The drier it is outside, the more water loss there will be due to both transpiration and evaporation. And last but not least, wind speed. The windier it is outside, the more water loss there will be.

Now, remember that E T is a variable factor that can change day-to-day, week-to-week, or month-to-month. However, there's something called a seasonal E T curve that we can follow to conserve water. In the spring and fall, we can match the E T curve of the season, which is the best time to save water. And in the summer, we might actually need to water more.

Now, hold onto your MP Rotators you Sprinkler Nerd, While E T is a useful tool for water budgeting and forecasting, it is not always the best option for real-time watering. This is because E T estimates are subject to a wide range of factors, including temperature, humidity, wind speed, solar radiation, and plant type, among others. As a result, it is difficult to accurately measure E T in real-time, particularly in changing weather conditions.

Another challenge with using E T for real-time watering is that it only provides an estimate of how much water is lost from the soil and plants, but it does not account for other factors that affect plant water needs. For example, soil moisture, plant growth stage, and root depth are critical factors that influence how much water a plant needs at a particular time. These factors can vary significantly within a field, making it challenging to use E T as a real-time irrigation scheduling tool.

Additionally, the use of E T for real-time watering does not consider the actual water availability in the soil. E T is a measure of the water demand from the atmosphere, and it assumes that the soil is always able to supply the required amount of water. In reality, soil moisture can vary significantly due to factors such as soil texture, compaction, and irrigation management. Therefore, relying solely on E T estimates for real-time watering can lead to over- or under-irrigation, resulting in water wastage or crop stress.

On the other hand, E T is a useful tool for water budgeting and forecasting. By estimating the water demand of crops over a period, water managers can develop an irrigation schedule that ensures adequate water supply while minimizing water loss through runoff or deep percolation. Moreover, E T estimates can help water managers to plan for future water demands and anticipate potential water shortages or droughts.

So, in my final expert opinion, while evapotranspiration is a fascinating and important scientific concept, it's not always the most user-friendly tool for the average gardener. And let's face it, if we wanted to deal with complicated calculations and scientific jargon, we'd become rocket scientists instead of gardeners.

Now for Part 2 of this episode. I'd like to share a short story that I wrote for you about two contractors...Bob and Joe...

Once upon a time, in a land where the grass was always greener, there was an irrigation contractor named Bob. Bob was the best in the business, or so he thought. One day, he was at Sprinkler Wholesale USA, picking up some supplies, when he ran into a landscape contractor named Joe. Joe had a reputation for being the best in the business too, and Bob couldn't resist striking up a conversation.

Hey, Joe.....