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In this episode of the Sprinkler Nerd Show, Andy reflects on a lesson that has taken decades—and a whole lot of technology—to understand: technology is not the answer.
Inspired by Jimmy Buffett's Life Is Just a Tire Swing, Andy goes back to where much of his curiosity began: riding in a truck with Paul Bassett, asking questions and getting honest answers about how irrigation really worked—and how it could work differently.
After a career surrounded by controllers, sensors, flow meters, soil moisture, LoRaWAN, analytics, and AI, Andy is more convinced than ever that the future of irrigation starts with people first, simple mechanical solutions second, and digital technology third.
Because information alone doesn't change anything.
People do.
[00:00:11] Let me ask you something. When you set an irrigation controller to run Tuesdays and Fridays, 10 minutes a zone, where did those numbers come from? And be honest when you think about this. Is it just experience? Is it feel? Did you actually do all the math, run the calculations to come up with 10 minutes? Should it have been 12.5? Should it have been 8.5?
[00:00:41] Or did you just set the schedule to whatever didn't get you a callback last summer? I'd say it's a guess. I'd say it's a good guess, but just a guess. Modura replaces the guess.
[00:00:57] And here's the thing. You can start today with zero hardware. Create a free account, punch in your zip code of any property you manage, and you've got a virtual weather station, you have evapotranspiration, rainfall, high temperatures, low temperatures, growing degree days, all tracked daily for that exact location. And that alone may change how you schedule.
[00:01:25] Then, when you're ready to actually see underground, add a wireless soil sensor right in the root zone. Any brand, it doesn't matter. Modura speaks with all of them.
[00:01:37] And now soil moisture, rainfall, and ET sit on one chart. You see the dry down. You see the irrigation hit. You see whenever it's soaked in or ran off. Water when the soil needs it, not when the calendar guesses. Modura. Your eyes underground.
[00:01:57] Start your free account at monitor.modura.app. That's monitor.modura.app.
[00:02:15] If you are an irrigation professional, old or new, who designs, installs, or maintains high-end residential, commercial, or municipal properties, and you want to use technology to improve your business, to get a leg up on your competition, even if you're an old school irrigator from the days of hydraulic systems, this show is for you. Hey, it's your friend Andy, the Sprinkler Nerd, and welcome to the Sprinkler Nerd Show.
[00:02:45] Jimmy Buffett has a song called Life is Just a Tire Swing. And I've been thinking about that song lately, and listening to that song lately. It's a great old school Jimmy Buffett song from A1A. I'm sure that Jimmy Buffett was famous back then, but I don't believe he was nearly as famous as he became, and he is today.
[00:03:09] And it's likely many of you listening to this have never heard that song before, or perhaps that album, and it's a fantastic album. So before we go any further, make a note, check out Jimmy Buffett A1A. Hope you like it. So yeah, I've been thinking about that song lately, and about how sometimes you can spend your whole life going forward, only to look backward, and then realize that the simplest moments were the ones that perhaps shaped everything.
[00:03:37] And for me, one of those moments was riding around in a truck early in my career with Paul Bassett. I was young, I didn't know what I didn't know, but I was curious as hell. And I asked questions, lots of questions. Why does this work this way? Why do we do it like this?
[00:04:03] Why do the sprinklers come on at 8 a.m. on Monday, even when it's raining? Are there any tools that could fix this? Could we fix this? What would happen if we did it like this instead? And Paul answered me, honestly. I think that's important. He didn't try to make up a story. He didn't just tell me how things were supposed to work.
[00:04:31] He helped me see how things actually worked. And once I could see these things for how they really were, I could start imagining how they could be. And this was 2002. One and two. And I think that Paul's openness really, in many ways, sounds like I'm going to say something strong here, but in many ways, it changed my life.
[00:04:59] It allowed me to continue to have the curiosity to explore. And I've been thinking about that because I'm probably more involved with technology today than I've ever been. Sensors and Lorwan network and gateways and cloud connected, wireless flow sensors, wireless pressure sensors, wireless soil moisture sensors and dashboards, analytics, AI.
[00:05:27] I do really love this stuff. And in many ways, that's why people started calling me the sprinkler nerd. And of course, I love it. But here's the really strange thing that I'm starting to realize. I'm not convinced technology is the answer. In fact, I don't believe technology is the answer. And in many ways, I'm more convinced of that today than I've ever been. If we're actually going to change the irrigation industry,
[00:05:56] I think the number one is people. It's you. People like you who care. People like you who are curious. People like you who ask questions, who are willing to teach, who are willing to give an honest answer. It was people like Paul that did it for me. Number two, after people,
[00:06:23] might actually be mechanical technology. That's like an oxymoron. Mechanical and technology. But yeah, mechanical technology. The simple things, physical things. Things that solve the problem right where the problem happens. What if there was a flow stop under a sprinkler? And we could debate this, whether it would work or not work. But what if there was just a mechanical flow stop under a sprinkler? So if the nozzle broke off
[00:06:54] or a lawnmower chopped the turret off a rotor, the flow stop would mechanically stop that geyser. No technology needed. No flow sensors. Again, I'm just brain sharing here. I've done a little bit of engineering work to know that this is possible. But when you think about what it takes to put a flow sensor in, set up the sensitivity for the flow sensor not to react to false alarms.
[00:07:22] We've been trying this for 25 years and really haven't gotten anywhere. So I'm more convinced than ever that the technology is not the solution that is going to fix that one broken sprinkler. Maybe I'll rephrase that. It's not the digital technology. I think it needs to be more of a mechanical technology. Put a flow stop under the sprinkler. So when the sprinkler breaks, the water stops. I think that's fucking brilliant. It doesn't need Wi-Fi. It doesn't need a dashboard. There's no firmware update.
[00:07:51] Nobody needs to remember their password. It just stops the water. And then somewhere after those two things, maybe we can move to digital technology. But I think first we have to have the people. Then we have to have the right mechanics, mechanical technology. Then maybe digital technology. Then maybe we should move to sensors, controllers, dashboards, analytics, AI. All the stuff I spend so much of my time working on. It's valuable.
[00:08:21] It's powerful. It's going to help us see things we've never been able to see before. But it isn't the answer because information doesn't change anything all by itself. People do. You do. And maybe that's what I've been chasing all these years without realizing it. When I was sitting around in that truck with Paul, I wasn't looking for technology. I was actually kind of more searching and looking for understanding. I wanted to know why. Why does this work the way it works?
[00:08:50] Why are the sprinklers coming on when it's raining? Why is that broken sprinkler geyser not fixed after two months driving by it on the highway? Why? Paul had experience. I had questions. And somewhere between his experience and my curiosity, I started seeing possibilities. That's still what I enjoy doing every day. It's still what I do every day. The tools have changed.
[00:09:19] Instead of asking someone what they think the soil is doing, I can put a wireless sensor underground and ask the soil itself. We can look at it over time. Instead of guessing what's happening hydraulically, we can measure and monitor the flow and pressure remotely. And we don't even need wires to do this anymore. But I'm still asking questions. I'm still trying to see things for how they really are.
[00:09:47] And then asking, and this is important, see things for how they are, but then ask, how could they be? And maybe that's my tire swing. Maybe after all these years, all these projects, all this technology, I'm still the kid riding around in the truck asking Paul Bassett questions.
[00:10:11] Except now, I'm hoping to get to be Paul for somebody else. To answer all your questions, honestly. To show you what I've learned. And maybe give you enough room to see something I can't see yet. Because the next great advancement in irrigation probably isn't sitting inside a controller.
[00:10:37] It might be sitting in the passenger seat of a truck right next to you. Who's the kid? Who's the guy? Who's the person in the truck next to you asking you questions? So stay curious, my friends. I'm Andy, your friend, the Sprinkler Nerd. And I'll talk to you next time.