Intensive Stone Fruit - Best Quality with Controlled Watering

The intensive stone fruit plantations in the province of Murcia rely on Plantae technology for their control of irrigation and salinity.

Sensors in irrigated agriculture

We can proudly say that Murcia is the Community where we have the most customers and how could it be less in stone fruit.

All irrigated agriculture benefits in quality and quantity from soil control. The tree has the water it needs when it needs it, avoiding accumulations of salts and weeds.

A su vez todo el estado fenológico se produce de forma controlada y se ahorra agua y energía.

Importance of irrigation control

In Cieza in the province of Murcia we have several stone fruit clients.

We make a detailed study of:

Terreno.

The typology of the crop.

Type of irrigation.

The climatology of several intensive apricot farms.

The conclusions in this specific case are:

• The terrain turns out to be mostly sandy loam.
• The climate is temperate and humid, except for the months of July and August, which have higher temperatures.
• The need for irrigation is essential in the fruit set.
• The plantations have drip irrigation anchored to the ground and with drippers at a distance of one meter from the tree trunk
• We study the depth of the wet bulb that causes the drip irrigation superficial.
• To control this depth, humidity probes are placed at different depths of 20, 40 and 60 centimeters in order to assess how far the humidity reaches.

In this way we check if the wet bulb covers the entire root system of the apricot plantation so that it receives the exact water it needs.

Advantages of irrigation control in intensive stone fruit

The humidity control in intensive crops of intensive stone fruit plantations favors.

• Save water and energy : with probe control we give this tasty stone fruit the water it needs when it needs it.
• Reduces evaporation: when the plant absorbs the water supplied to it, the degree of evaporation decreases. Control is therefore especially important in a warm area such as Murcia.
• Se evita la acumulación de sales: al disminuir la evaporación y absorber con más control la acumulación de sales disminuye notablemente.
• No se produce costra de sales en superficie: esto hace que el suelo se pueda oxigenar con más facilidad con la acción del viento y beneficia altamente la salud de los árboles de fruta de hueso.

Measurement of flow, conductivity and subsoil temperature in intensive stone fruit

Cómo ya indicamos, uno de los problemas que aparecen en las plantaciones intensivas es la salinidad, debida a la densidad de árboles por hectárea. Esto repercute en la necesidad de riego y a la vez en el aumento de evaporación y si no se controla, en la excesiva acumulación de sales porque éstas no se evaporan.

For this reason, in addition to controlling humidity with Plantae agricultural sensors, we must measure the conductive tendency of the soil to know at all times if we need to modify the accumulation of salts.

También con sensores, medimos la temperatura del suelo y si un calentamiento excesivo perjudica el sistema radicular.

También instalamos un caudalímetro en goma portagotero de 16mm, que a la vez que nos mide la cantidad de agua que estamos usando al regar, nos indica si hay roturas o anomalías en el sistema de riego.

Para medir todos estos parámetros de instala un Hub/receptor de 220V.

All technology is wireless and the farmer controls it in real time from the tablet or mobile.

The measurements indicate the changes in the irrigation schedule and allow you to adjust them to the needs of the apricot in such a way that it gains in quality and quantity of fruit.

El albaricoque es un árbol muy sensible al estrés hídrico. De esta forma se evitan enfermedades y alteraciones en el fruto.

Plantae