The Sprinkler Nerd Show

It's easy to focus on technology. Smart controllers. Sensors. Weather data. Flow meters. Soil moisture. Automation. All of that matters. But in this episode of The Sprinkler Nerd Show , Andy Humphrey and Dustin Nihsen bring the conversation back to the person behind the system. Because even the best irrigation technology in the world is only as good as the operator. Dustin Nihsen, owner of Sprinkl...

In this episode of The Sprinkler Nerd Show, Andy talks with Scott Bowen, Commercial Irrigation Manager for Conserva Irrigation, about what happens when irrigation becomes more than service calls and sprinkler repair. Scott shares his 30-year journey through golf irrigation, sports turf, distribution, manufacturing, consulting, design, and commercial water management — and explains how that backgro...

Brent Garrett, The Skilled Trades Coach www.theskilledtradescoach.com In this episode of The Sprinkler Nerd Show, Andy talks with Brent Garrett, owner of Sirius Plumbing & Air Conditioning, founder of The Skilled Trades Coach, and author of  30 Days to a Better Business . Brent has lived the skilled trades from the inside. He has built companies, sold companies, rebuilt companies, coached contract...

Doug Lewis is a two-time Olympian, World Championship bronze medalist, coach, speaker, and founder of Elite Team. In this episode, Doug shares what skiing, ultra-running, failure, team culture, and doing hard things can teach us about becoming the best version of ourselves. We talk about why people avoid failure, how confidence is built, why the best teams share what they know, and why every win c...

For 200 episodes, The Sprinkler Nerd Show has explored irrigation, technology, entrepreneurship, innovation, and curiosity. This episode is different. Not because we're leaving those topics behind, but because we're widening the lens. Behind every irrigation system, business, truck, project, and career is a person. And people are complicated. In this milestone 200th episode, Andy reflects on a dif...

What if the next great irrigation software tool doesn't come from a manufacturer, a big tech company, or a traditional development team? What if it comes from you? In this episode, Andy shares his personal experience learning the craft of vibe coding and why he believes it could be a game changer for the irrigation industry. After four months of building apps with AI coding tools, including SLIDE...

Song Credit: Intro/outro music: "Mexico" by Little Stranger. In this solo episode, Andy takes a step back from the usual technical conversations and reflects on what The Sprinkler Nerd Show has really given him. After listening to a friend's podcast while cutting the grass, Andy started thinking about the difference between the episode people hear and the life happening behind the microphone. Ever...

In this episode, Andy shares a few simple, real-world ways he used AI this week — from organizing messy data into CSV files, turning commercial property energy bills into a clean PDF, vibe-coding the SLIDE App with Codex in Visual Studio, designing gateway stickers, and creating irrigation patent t-shirt concepts for Sprinkler Supply Store. But this episode is not about letting AI replace your voi...

For years I've watched irrigation contractors, designers, consultants, and water managers wrestle with the same question: How much water should a landscape actually need? The research exists. The science exists. But getting from all that information to something practical in the field often feels harder than it should. So I decided to build something. In this episode, I'm introducing S.L.I.D.E. —...

This episode is a behind-the-scenes look at OptConnect, a cellular IoT company helping businesses connect devices to the internet without making connectivity complicated. Justin Nichols explains how OptConnect supports everything from irrigation controllers to ATMs, kiosks, vending machines, wastewater treatment, solar inverters, EV chargers, security trailers, access controls, and other commercia...

What does it actually take to turn around and grow an irrigation business? In this episode, Andy sits down with Erik Dyba from The Bruce Company to talk about his journey through the industry. From learning irrigation in the mountains of Colorado to rebuilding and scaling a department at David J. Frank from a few hundred thousand dollars to over $1.5 million. We get into what really moves the need...

In this episode of The Sprinkler Nerd Show , Andy Humphrey is joined by Scott Allison from Hunter Industries to talk about My Design Landscape Beta , Hunter's new contractor-focused design platform for irrigation and landscape professionals. Scott shares how Hunter has been building digital tools for contractors for years, from runtime calculators and site recommendation tools to lighting design s...

What if the most important action is no action at all? In this solo episode of The Sprinkler Nerd Show, Andy explores the idea that patience is not something standing in the way of the process… patience is the process. From wanting to get ahead when you are young, to waiting for a customer to sign a proposal, to standing in front of a 150 zone 2-wire system that just will not work, this episode is...

What happens when you try to answer one simple question: Where is all the water going? In this episode of the Sprinkler Nerd Show, Andy sits down with longtime friend and collaborator Paul Bassett from ENVOCORE to tell the story of one of the most complex irrigation and water management projects they have ever worked on—a massive retrofit at a government military base. What began as an irrigation...

At the Hunter Industries Contractor Training Event hosted in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Andy sat down with irrigation contractors and technology leaders to explore one big question: What is the future of irrigation going to look like? In this documentary-style episode, you'll hear from contractors with decades of field experience, including three generations of Grapids Irrigation, contractors adaptin...

Behind every irrigation controller, valve, and system component is a team of engineers and product managers working to improve the tools contractors rely on every day. In the final episode of this three-part series from the Rain Bird Irrigation Pro Summit, Andy Humphrey talks with members of the Rain Bird team about how irrigation products are designed and how contractor feedback shapes the future...

Today's irrigation contractor does far more than install sprinklers. Modern irrigation companies are managing water, integrating technology, and running sophisticated service businesses that combine field expertise with connected systems and data. In this second episode of the Rain Bird Irrigation Pro Summit series, Andy Humphrey speaks with several contractors working in the field today about how...

In the first episode of this three-part series from the Rain Bird Irrigation Pro Summit, Andy Humphrey sits down with Walter Mugivan, owner of Aqua Mist Irrigation, who has more than 50 years of experience in the irrigation industry. Walter installed his first irrigation system in 1968 — digging trenches by hand and working with early hydraulic valves long before modern irrigation technology exist...

In this episode of The Sprinkler Nerd Show , Andy Humphrey sits down with Justin Wilson , founder of American Irrigation in Georgetown, Texas. With nearly three decades in the irrigation service business, Justin shares how he built a company that now runs 17+ service trucks and completes thousands of irrigation jobs each year . Justin explains why "the service business is the people business," emp...

TXT Andy and say what's up? 208 908 3229 -- Hey friends, welcome back to The Sprinkler Nerd Show . Today, I want to take you down a slightly different path. This one's not about technology. Not about sensors. Not even about irrigation. It's about something more fundamental… something that shapes how we lead, how we teach, and how we grow.   It's about the power of not knowing .   Have you ever not...

Reference Link: https://player.captivate.fm/episode/ec981d8c-cd1d-4c13-961a-76cf9cf32ecb  

For immediate release—breaking news, kind of. In this solo episode of The Sprinkler Nerd Show, Andy dives into what seems like a revolutionary product: a mechanical rain sensor that requires no batteries, no Wi-Fi, no firmware updates—just pure, functional design. It shuts off irrigation during rainfall and turns it back on when conditions dry out, all thanks to hygroscopic discs that expand and c...

YouTube Short:  https://youtube.com/shorts/flpTuNN7vqY   Summary In this episode of the Sprinkler Nerd Show, host Andy Humphrey sits down with Steve Barendt from Rain Bird to explore the company's new  ESP 2-Wire Controller —a product that's making 2-wire irrigation systems significantly more approachable for contractors who may have previously avoided them due to complexity.   The Origin of the C...

Andy introducing wireless sensor technology to Ohio and riffs about the "RHYTHM" of the landscape.

In this episode, Andy shares his process for manufacturing LoRaWAN wireless soil moisture sensors.