Top Reasons To Upgrade Your Grow

Greenhouse and indoor grow cultivators have many options when it comes to how and what they automate. Whether it's fully automatic systems or semi-automatic systems, growers are reaping the benefits of commercial greenhouse and indoor vertical grow room agricultural automation. 

What is greenhouse automation? 

The typical greenhouse automation system deploys sensors that monitor and control different aspects of the growing environment. Most systems can control the majority of environmental factors like temperature, humidity, electrical conductivity, pH, carbon dioxide levels (C02), fertigation, light levels, and vents. Rules are then created based on reaching and maintaining ideal growing conditions. Here are some of the benefits of installing greenhouse automation. 

Benefits of automated control systems in commercial greenhouses

  1. Increased Crop Yields - Smart, automated greenhouses provide ideal growing conditions for crops. Plants thrive in their perfect conditions, achieving maximum fruit or flower quality. Automation and smart optimization of the greenhouse provide plants with favorable conditions to increase crop yields as nutrient dosing, watering, light levels, and Co2 levels work harmoniously together in improving the plant health, and healthy plants produce more crops.
  2. Decrease Resource Waste - 70% of the world's freshwater is used in commercial farming. The majority of that is sadly wasted as runoff. By automating irrigation and combining it with nutrient dosing (fertigation), you can decrease water and costly fertilizer waste by dialing in the ideal combination or recipe. By providing exact amounts pre-determined by closely monitoring plant health, you can decrease resource waste and improve your business's bottom line. 
  3. Lower Labor and Energy Costs - The most significant potential savings in commercial greenhouses are labor and energy productivity challenges. Greenhouse managers must prioritize cultivating greenhouse crops in environmentally friendly and energy-efficient climates, with the least number of staff. Utilizing an automated system that centralizes and controls temperature and other environmental factors increases energy efficiency by ensuring stability. With an IoT-enabled smart motor controller, the commercial greenhouse energy spent on lighting, cooling, heating, and more can be leveraged at the right time in the right way to maintain optimal growing conditions.
  4. Yield size forecasting with big data - Data analysis via machine learning provides actionable insights for predicting yield size and other crucial factors. This enables farmers to make better decisions about water cycles, ventilation, fertilizer usage, etc. All of these allow managers to predict every aspect of the growth cycle more accurately, including how profitable their harvest will be. 

Investing in a professional environmental automation control system for your indoor grow or greenhouse is a critical decision. Upfront costs can be costly, but price savings, increased yields, saving valuable resources, and better forecasting more than make up for the cost of creating the ideal growing environment.