Precision is the key theme on Agrovista’s stand at Fruit Focus as state-of-the-art monitoring technology and industry leading coir developments combine to provide the ultimate in crop protection product control.
The purchase of Plantsystems last year means that Agrovista can now provide growers with the latest technology to monitor aspects such as temperature, relative humidity, irrigation, soil moisture and EC levels, and influence these remotely, says Mark Davies, head of Agrovista’s soft fruit business. “Plantsystems’ telemetry solutions use radio-linked monitoring stations that provide accurate real-time data from any location. These are ideal for use in tunnel crops grown in pots, bags or troughs,” he says.
Irrigation can be applied via an irrigation switch controller according to soil moisture status from office PC or a smart phone. “This allows growers to fine-tune irrigation and fertigation to match crop need precisely, helping to optimise input use, improve quality and increase crop profitability,” says Mark. A continuous record of data is available at any time.
A new development shows soil moisture status in an easy-to-access ‘traffic light’ format which allows growers to see instantly whether they need to irrigate or not. Each soil moisture station is plotted on Plantsystems’ interactive mapping system as a circle, which changes colour depending on the soil moisture status being measured.
Combining this technology with one of the highest quality coirs on the market, from partner Botanicoir, gives growers even more precise control over moisture, pH and EC levels, he says.
The product was developed during three years’ work involving Agrovista, Botanicoir and leading UK growers and independent agronomists. “The result is Botanicoir Precision Plus – ‘precision’ because of the very precise was the product is buffered to achieve the ideal chemical analysis, and ‘plus’ due to the refined grading process and the use of short-cut fibre, which produces great structural integrity with a long useful life,” says Mark Davies.
“Botanicoir Precision Plus is eminently ‘steerable’ allowing growers to quickly react, increasing or decreasing moisture content, pH or EC level,” he explains. This is especially useful during more stressful periods of crop growth and will help to maximise saleable yield and quality and reduce costs.
Botanicoir’s Precision Plus bags and Plantsystems’ technology will be working in harmony on Stand 300.
Article taken from The Fruit Grower.
