The heat balance method is widely used to measure sap flow of different plant species. This work focused on the performance and applicability of the method, using 2-year old lemon plants, with 18 mm in diameter, the sensors were evaluated on potted-plants in a greenhouse under natural temperature and solar radiation conditions. The method performance was tested by comparing the computed mass flow with weight losses. A regression equation was used to analyse the data collected. The results showed that sensor precision reached 8% in the hourly scale and 11% in the daily scale. The time constant of 12 minutes indicated that the method was accurate to measure sap flow with good precision. Also we concluded that the method is adequate for agronomic and physiological use.
stem gauge; sap flow; heat transfer