Every gardener knows that watering flowers is a sensitive business. Too much water, and you risk disease and waterlogged roots; too little water, and the plants are stressed. In backyard vegetable gardeners who may only have a handful of plants at stake, risks can be trial and error that large commercial growers cannot take. These large farms are called professionals.
That's the case with Burch Farms, a commercial farm located in North Carolina that hired crop consultant Sharon Funderburk of Corney Creek Agronomics to recommend irrigation for its pepper fields. The farm is experimenting with a system for growing 150 acres of jalapenos, bells, bananas, and other types of peppers in plastic, and wants to adjust the irrigation system for better yields and resource allocation.
Crop-specific crop advisors Funderburk use their knowledge of irrigation techniques, soil characteristics, insects, pests, weeds, and other factors to help growers increase yields, save money, and operate more efficiently. According to Funderburk, Crop Advisor "provides information services, and we rely on specific data collection." As part of the assessment, Burch Farms, she was using a battery-powered HOBO Soil Temperature and Moisture Weather Station H21-002 and Soil Moisture S-SMC-M005, S-SMD-M005 from Massachusetts.
Burch Farms, rows of peppers under black plastic, and transplanted plants grow through holes in the material. Covers can warm the soil and reduce weeds and disease, but the challenge is in irrigation programs. Water is distributed to the plants through subsurface irrigation hoses, but it can also enter the open soil between rows, along mechanical access tracks, and through plant stem holes.
The trick is to get the right amount of water for good growth, health and other factors of plant roots such as flowering and fruiting. "It's very difficult for humans to quantitatively monitor water content near the roots," Funderburk explained, and it's even more difficult when you can't see the soil surface. "By using data loggers, we're trying to better quantify how we use our irrigation."
Funderburk formulated soil moisture S-SMC-M005, S-SMD-M005, connected to a HOBO soil temperature and humidity weather station H21-002 and configured system sample data every 20 minutes. The 4-channel soil temperature and humidity weather station H21-002 can be investigated, measuring temperature S-TMB-M002, S-TMB-M006, S-TMB-M017, soil moisture S-SMC-M005, S-SMD-M005, rainfall S -RGA-M002, S-RGB-M002, S-RGC-M002, S-RGD-M002, wind speed S-WSB-M003, wind direction S-WDA-M003, S-WSET-B, S-WCA-M003, S -WCF-M003, Atmospheric Pressure S-BPB-CM50, S-BPA-CM10, Air Temperature and Relative Humidity S-THB-M002, S-THB-M008, Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) S-LIA-M003, Total Solar Radiation S-LIB-M003, leaf wetness S-LWA-M003 and so on.
She chose Onset's HOBO Weather Station H21-002 for several reasons. The plug-and-play configuration is easy to set up, and the accompanying HOBOware software allows the user to specify the sampling interval and start time, as well as download and graph data with a few mouse clicks.
Funderburk downloaded the Birch Farms weather station H21-002 data via cable to a laptop, but also provided options for shuttle data, as well as various telecommunications options.
The Birch Farm pilot study is still in its early stages, but Funderburk hopes that the data from logger H21-002 will yield valuable information about soil moisture S-SMC-M005, S-SMD-M005 levels after thunderstorms, for example, or how they Altered plant growth and need for more water. Using this data, she aims to make watering recommendations that will ultimately help Burch make good decisions about his pepper crop farm.
Funderburk emphasized that farmers were traditionally independent and self-sufficient people, and the more knowledge they had, the more they could remain independent. She feels fortunate to work with innovative growers, and considers data loggers to be invaluable tools for evaluating and implementing new technologies.
"I think we'll find that they're going to help us reduce our input of maybe water and energy and fertilizer, and ultimately, they'll give us a more quantitative basis rather than a (dependent) assessment that's different at different times. people," she explained. "We are very excited about applying this technology to our farming system."
