Citrus Irrigation Systems
Why precision irrigation matters for citrus
Citrus, whether oranges, lemons or mandarins, is evergreen and needs water through the whole year, not just one season. It is sensitive to drought, to water-logging and to salinity, so consistent, well-managed irrigation matters every month.
Precision irrigation replaces fixed schedules with continuous monitoring and automated control, so the grove gets steady, appropriate water year-round and you can manage salinity with controlled, data-based watering.
Automate your citrus irrigation with WiseConn
WiseConn brings field hardware and the DropControl platform together into a single system for managing irrigation across your whole grove. Rugged field nodes monitor and control the grove, while DropControl gives you a web dashboard and a mobile app to manage it from anywhere.
How it works
• Field nodes collect soil moisture, weather and system data and send it into DropControl to help make better informed decisions.
• Data flows to the cloud and is available in real time through the DropControl web platform and mobile app.
• You define irrigation rules and schedules, and the system runs them automatically, opening and closing valves block by block.
• Three roles, one platform: irrigators run day-to-day watering from the mobile app, farm managers make decisions and report from the web, and owners track water use and sustainability.
What growers gain
| Benefit | What it means for your orchard |
|---|---|
| Water savings | Irrigate from real soil moisture and weather data, not a fixed calendar. Growers typically reduce water use by 20 to 40 percent depending on their starting point. |
| Energy savings | Pump only when the grove needs it and shift watering to lower-cost hours. |
| Labor savings | Replace manual valve operation across the grove with automated control, so a small team can run the whole operation. |
| Better use of fertilizer | Keep fertigation in the root zone with precise water control, improving nutrient efficiency across the grove. |
Note: WiseConn does not claim to increase yield or fruit size, since those depend on many factors. The value is in water, energy, labor and fertilizer efficiency, plus full operational control.
Manage salinity and year-round demand
Citrus is sensitive to salts and needs water all year. WiseConn gives you the real-time data and block-by-block control to keep irrigation steady and to manage the controlled leaching that protects the grove.
Built to integrate, not replace
WiseConn is designed to work with what you already have. DropControl uses an open architecture, so it connects to the soil moisture probes, weather stations and field sensors you already run, and links to satellite imagery and external platforms through an open API. If you have already invested in sensors or a specific irrigation method, you keep using it and gain a single control layer on top, instead of being locked into a closed ecosystem.
Integrated sensor brands include, among others:
• Soil moisture probes: Sentek, Meter Group (Teros and PHYTOS), CropX, AquaFlex and Enviropro.
• Weather stations and field monitoring: Davis Instruments and iMetOS.
Pricing and return on investment
Citrus is a high-value crop, and an irrigation upgrade pays for itself through the water, energy, labor and fertilizer it saves. There is no single price, because every project is quoted to fit your operation: field size, number of irrigation sectors, the valves you want to control and the sensors you integrate all shape the final figure.
As a guide, projects typically start at around USD 10,000 and reach payback within one to two years. These figures are estimates for a base 40-acre (about 16 hectare) operation. The DropControl platform runs on an annual subscription per node, with a limited free version available, so you can match the investment to the size and ambition of your operation.
Trusted by growers worldwide
More than 3,000 growers use DropControl every day to manage irrigation across thousands of fields around the world, including citrus groves in California and beyond.
Sam Mixon
GAPWAY MIXON C.U.P.S.
Gapway Mixon C.U.P.S, located in Fort Meade, Florida, was established in May 2025 with 80,000 citrus trees planted under Citrus Under Protective Screening. Inside these structures, temperatures can rise up to 20 degrees higher than in outside groves, making irrigation management essential. Operations Manager Sam Mixon uses WiseConn technology to monitor conditions, automate irrigation, and guide decisions as the farm grows.
Frequently Asked Questions
Request a quote
Ready to bring precision irrigation to your citrus grove? Talk to a WiseConn specialist and get a quote tailored to your operation. WiseConn solutions are delivered and installed through a certified distributor network, so you get local support from day one.
