Irrigation advisor: How to use the irrigation advisor?

We try to help you improve your irrigation strategy, by giving you insight in your current situation and seeing how the plant is behaving.

But what if we could give you a glimpse in the future!? Instead of adjusting your irrigation strategy afterwards, you could make adjustments ahead of time, giving you more control in fine-tuning your irrigation!

Our Irrigation Advisor will predict the expected water uptake based on your old irrigation data and (if wanted) weather information. You can setup your irrigation strategy and see how the water uptake will behave for the next 32-hours based on this strategy.

You can fine-tune your irrigation strategy on the fly and see the results in your graphs. When you are happy with the results you can simply use the Radiation and/or other setpoints to update your strategy in the climate computer.

How can I setup the irrigation advisor?

• We have different prediction models available depending on the type of cultivation
• In order to use the Irrigation advisor you first need to setup the weather dependency to determine you prediction model.
• You can do this by opening your Location settings by clicking on the 3 dots and choosing for "Admin options > Edit location"
  
  
• On the "Data" tab you will see an option called Weather dependency
  
• Here you will have the following options:
  • Weather independent: This model operates predicts without any influence on outside light on the crops. Can be used in indoor cultivations.
  • Weather assisted: This model predicts based both on historical data and outside light predictions. Use when growing in a Greenhouse environment.
  • Weather dependent: Currently not available yet. Will be used to outdoor crops.

How can I use the irrigation advisor?

• You can open the Irrigation advisor by clicking on the 3 dots and choose for ”Show irrigation advisor”

• You can open the Irrigation advisor per location, compartment, irrigation valve or placement.
• Predictions will be done specifically for the level you select
• After opening the Irrigation advisor you will see the first predictions of your Dry-out, Water content and expected Radiation

• Here you will the water content predictions for the next 32 hours in case you would not irrigate.
  
• The thick line shows the historical data and the dotted line shows the predictions.

TIP: Especially in stages / cultivations that don't need irrigation every day, you can use this as a clear indicator on determining if you need to irrigate today or can wait till the next day.

• On the right side of the screen you can fill in your current / desired irrigation setpoints.

• By setting up your irrigation setpoints you can tell the model when you would like to irrigate.
• By inputting these settings the model will update its calculations and you will be able to see the effect of these irrigations right away.

• By clicking and dragging the middle divider bar you can make your setpoints screen bigger and smaller

• You can also scroll from left to right in the setpoint area for easier data entry

• With the Plant state slider you can quickly choose the type of irrigation strategy you want to have and see the effects of either

• When the slider is to the Vegetative side the system will choose to irrigate with smaller and more frequent shot (based on your min/max set points)
• When the slider is to the Generative side the system will choose to irrigate with bigger and more spaced irrigation shots (based on your min/max set points)
  
  

• You can add new irrigation periods with the “Add irrigation period” and remove them with the “Trashcan” item besides the period
  
  
• Per period you will have the following options to define your irrigation strategy:
• Irrigation periods Select the time range for when the period will last
• Dry out (min/max) Select the range of minimum and maximum Dry out you would like to have per each irrigation shot. The system will determine the frequency of shots depending on this value.
• Drain Select how much drain you would like to have for that period
• Drip (min/max) Select the range of min/max irrigation water you would like to give per dripper per irrigation shot. The system will determine the size of your shots depending on this value.
• Wait time (min/max) Fill in the minimum and maximum waiting time you would like to have between each irrigation shot.

• The system will predict your irrigation shot size and frequency based on these setpoints
• Depending on the Plant state slider, the system will lean more into the min or max values that you enter
  
  

TIP: Click on the “Add previous day to history” button to show the data from the previous day in your graph. This will allow you to quickly see previous Dry out values to help you set up your setpoints more accurately.

• Finally you can setup your desired stop time in the "Target moment"

• Fill in the time on which you want to start irrigation the next day
• Fill in the min & max Dry out that you would like to have during the night
• Fill in the Minimum water content you would like to maintain during the evening
• Finally click on the “Apply” button to let the model calculate and predict your new settings

TIP: The system will predict the shot frequency on your "Dry out", the shot size based on your "Shot size" and your stop time based on your "Target moment: Dry out" and "Target moment: min. Water content" setpoints. You can fine-tune these settings to make sure you have an optimal / desired situation.

• Finally you can copy (and share) your setpoints with the “Copy” and “Paste” buttons next to “Apply”

• Your settings will be stored in your clipboard and can be shared by e-mail, notes or internal messaging services.

• In the top of the graph you will see a legend allowing you to turn on/off the lines that are most important to you

• Here you will have access to information about:

• • Water content: Water content percentage, Start Time, Stop Time

  • Dry out

  • Irrigation shot

  • Radiation: Radiation (W/m2), Radiation Sum (J/cm2), Radiation Sum per irrigation shot (J/cm2)