Would you be interested in an intelligent irrigation system?

Hello,

I'm a student working on my thesis, and I'm planning to build a device which would learn the watering needs of your plants and water each plant species based on it's needs. It will be geared to be as easy to use as possible, even for gardening novices.

I need to prove that it's required, though - not that I'm trying to solve a problem which doesn't exist.
You would really help me out by answering these few questions here:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/KZQJZ9H
I really appreciate it.
Hope this is not against the forum rules in some way.

If I get this approved, I'll keep everyone interested posted with the progress.

 

Hi Davste,

Welcome to Gardeners Corner

I'm approving the thread and thank you for asking

 

Thank you for the warm welcome

 

Hello!

Thank you for your question
Plants need the soil at different moisture levels, let's take two extreme examples: A Cactus will need the soil much more dry level than a lettuce would need it (this is just an example, nobody would grow these alongside).

A very brief summary of the idea is that this device will keep the soil moisture at the best level for the plant by monitoring it and using a series of electronically controlled valves to water it.
In addition, say you are growing an african violet and anthurium - but as a novice, you have no idea how much water they need. You can connect the device to your computer, tell it you are growing "African Violet" and "Anthurium". It will then download the ideal soil moisture levels for those plants from the internet, and then you can plug it back in next to your plants and it will keep the soil moisture at the ideal level. As for outdoor plants, you don't need to worry about rain and so on, because since it's monitoring moisture levels, if the plants have already had their share of water, it won't re-water them (unlike a timer based system).

Another addition to the system is that it can learn from you. Set it up, water your plants normally for a few weeks, while it's monitoring the ideal moisture levels for the soil. Then, you flick a switch and it will start watering based on the moisture levels it collected in that time. As before, overwatering (due to rain for example) would not be a problem. This way, it will be watering when the soil needs it.

With regards to the feeder and nutrients, it's something I'm definitely considering.

 

I'm aiming to have it available pretty cheaply, I tried asking for similar systems and the local center quoted me a price in thousands, heh
I aim to make the system accept multiple species at once (each species or area of plants will need it's own spaghetti tubing, electronic valve and soil moisture sensor). This is all inexpensive equipment. The wires to the sensors can be as long as you need, but you need to pass both wires and a spaghetti pipe tube to each area :P

Just to give you a vague idea, I'm paying around €90 to create a prototype for two species. Additional hardware is cheaper, around €20 per species - this is around the cost for a good soil moisture sensor and the elctronic valve per species (excluding the pump and wiring). Each device can only take 23 sensors, I can see that being a problem for large greenhouses and such, I'll need to see how I can increase that number.

I'm really looking forward to working on this thesis! :D

 

Hmm, someone strongly disagrees that the system would save them time, but spends 30-60 minutes watering plants, every day. I would be very interested in knowing why, wouldn't the system save you those 30 minutes each day? Or does the initial learning curve/setting up time discourage you?

 

That's exactly what I was intending to do - rather than having a single sensor and valve for EACH plant, having a sensor for each area of plants (of the same species) would likely be enough.

I was more thinking of large greenhouses that have hundreds of plants, such as you would find in plant centers. In this case, they'll probably need separate devices. For domestic purposes though, it's probably more than enough. I'll have to try it to find out.

Also, for really sensitive and expensive indoor plants, some people may find it worthwhile to have a sensor for each of these plants. I'm not sure yet.

 

Thank you very much for your suggestions!

 

Hi Davste,
hope you like it here in Gardeners Corner. I wish you every success with your thesis,
Jenny namaste

 

Survey done
Now we just tremble at the price it will be available :-)

Jack McHammocklashing