Benefits of Smart Fertigation Systems
One technology that has enjoyed popularity for indoor cultivation and greenhouses is smart fertigation – the synthesis of fertilization and irrigation.
What Is Fertigation?
Fertigation is the process of injecting nutrients directly into an irrigation system to deliver a precise dose of fertilizer to crops. Used as an agriculture tool for many years, it has recently enjoyed growing popularity among cannabis growers thanks to the many benefits it offers when scaling crops at a commercial level in controlled environments.
Smart Motor Controller
While fertigation systems have assisted growers for years, the new smart fertigation system utilizes an innovative smart motor controller. Smart controllers provide increased performance, capacity, productivity, and security to meet the demands of high-density sensor networks. Smart motor controllers connect devices and manage data for analytics.
Healthier Plants & Reports
The primary benefit of smart fertigation is that it allows growers to automatically deliver a precise dosage of nutrients based on the crops you grow. By continually monitoring plant health and nutrient levels, growers can fine-tune their dosages. The result is healthier plants and increased crop yields. Easy to understand reports provide actionable insights to help drive down costs and increase profit and yield. Visual dashboards display a system's status and allow you to see which recipe is feeding, and what levels the pH and EC values, flow rates, system pressure, and nutrient levels.
Better For The Environment
Smart fertigation works well in both soil-based and hydroponic environments. The chemicals involved in plant fertilization can be harmful to the environment, and fertilizers polluting outside water sources are a threat. Fertilizer exiting the growing environment before the plants can utilize it is the most common way fertilizer leaches into groundwater. Smart fertigation is an ideal way to prevent that from happening.
Smart fertigation systems keep the fertilized irrigation water separate from the outside environment using backflow prevention devices, chemical spill trays, and physical separation from surrounding ground. The ability to dial in exact doses ensures plants receive only as much of the fertilizer as the plants can use, significantly reducing the risk of excess chemicals leaching out of the system.
Reduced Resource Waste
Carefully dialed in nutrient doses eliminate the waste of fertilizer associated with hand mixing and traditional watering, significantly reducing fertilizer costs.
The improved root health enjoyed by plants fed by smart fertigation also means that plants can trap and hold water far more efficiently, reducing the amount of water that needs to be fed through the system. That lowers the cost of irrigation and reduces the impact of indoor agriculture on the overall water supply.
Final Thoughts
Some systems come pre-assembled, and some require assembly on site. Basic systems feature an in-line injection system for both direct feeds and batch tank applications. Upgraded smart fertigation systems allow you to prepare, stabilize, and deliver user-defined recipes directly to plants or specific batch tanks while enabling you to automate the process by using tank level sensors, moisture sensors, and batch schedules. Do your research and buy from a well-known company that provides installation and support services and enjoy the smart fertigation-controlled system.