After more than two years visiting many Communities, we can proudly say that more than half Spain and some areas of Portugal and Algeria control and optimize the irrigation with sensors and Plantae humidity probes.
Although the idea of the technology emerged at the end of 2013, it was in autumn 2016 when our project turned to the agricultural sector and experimentally sensors were installed in pistachio trees in Ciudad Real and olive trees in Toledo. With a product that lacked much room for improvement, we immediately observed with the technicians and farmers that the results were excellent in saving water, optimizing resources and controlling humidity.
Irrigation with probes and humidity sensors. Precision farming
The need to control irrigation with humidity probes and sensors is increasing, because periods of drought are a concern for farmers around the world and especially in warm areas such as central and southern Spain.
In the last decade, technology has advanced considerably and has reached agriculture, transforming it into PRECISION AGRICULTURE .
¿Qué es la precision farming?
It is to bring to agricultural land terms such as: big data, satellite images, NB-Iot technology, smart sensors and probes , drones, satellite images.
Today it is a reality to do:
- Water balances of the crops.
- evapotranspiration studies: (evaporation of water from the soil and transpiration of the plant).
- Measure all the parameters that lead us to optimize spending and increase the quality and quantity of crops.
- Field capacity : or maximum capacity of the soil to accumulate water depending on the type of terrain.
- Wilting point : the accumulation of water in the soil and the point from which the plant stops absorbing water.
Plantae focuses on precision soil agriculture, with irrigation moisture probes, subsurface temperature probes and conductivity meters.
Plantae Technology
Plantae technology controls the crop in the environment of the root system, that is, it applies precision agriculture to the subsoil of the plots in real time through measurements with agricultural probes and sensors at different depths, measurement of humidity, temperature and conductivity and with readings programmed according to the customer's interest. This information is received on the mobile or Tablet as graphs.
The most important thing is to have the Plantae-Agro team that helps the understanding of the data that the client sees and guides them in making decisions.
The starting point is to make a detailed study for the design of the installation. From that moment on, the farmer is informed in detail about the technological process that we apply to the crop.
Irrigation with sensors and probes
Sensors (probe s) of:
- Soil moisture at different depths and automatically, we measure how much and when to water.
- Conductive trend.
- Surface / subsoil temperature , without the need for cables or complicated installations focused on optimizing irrigation and saving water.
Flowmeter 16-20mm y Caudalímetro de Sector
Control of the irrigation of the hose or dripper. Estimate water consumption and possible breakdowns.
Hub / receiver
It receives the data from the wireless sensors and sends it to the platform. It keeps the farmer informed of his crops in real time.
Meteo Station
- Pluviometer.
- RH.
- Room temperature..
Plantae Manager
- A web management panel from which you can consult the data that the probes collect in the field in real time.
Plantae Agro
- A team of agricultural technicians and engineers at your disposal.
- Our team makes a detailed study of the probes that the crop needs, the depth of the root system, the type of terrain and assesses the shape of the wet bulb.
We can adapt the probes to a wide variety of crops, to all irrigation systems and to all types of terrain.
Irrigation with humidity probes is especially important in intensive crops of any variety.
Plants in intensive crops increase the needs of water and nutrients, while increasing irrigation increases salinity problems.
The installation of irrigation with probes and sensors of humidity, conductivity and soil temperature, makes all the factors that are not visible to the farmer take a view in the form of graphs on his mobile.
Advantages of the application to irrigation with sensors / probe
Knowing the humidity of the subsoil, the irrigation cycles, quantity, frequency and duration can be adjusted to provide the crop with the water it needs within the Easily Assimilable Water (AFA) zone.
The conductivity reading allows salinity levels to be kept below thresholds that are harmful to plants.
The surface temperature helps to take action against frost and other applications.
The subsoil temperature (up to 60cm deep) reflects the state of the root activity of the crop and helps in making decisions for the application of fertilizers and treatments.
Plantae®Sonda sensors are customizable in measurement depth (up to 1 meter) and reading frequency (from 2 minutes to 1 hour per reading). It can be installed both on the surface and buried according to the preferences and irrigation characteristics of the client.
In addition, the probes are configured with agronomic algorithms depending on the type of soil in which they are installed and its conductivity level.
The housing of the sensors has an IP65 certification, resistant to water and other chemical elements, thus allowing the sensors to be perfectly compatible with the application of irrigation and other phytosanitary products.
Evolution of Plantae in sensor irrigation
After this first test, in 2017 we installed 100 sensors for free and experimentally in a dozen crops, attending at the same time many agricultural, fruit, oleic and all kinds of fairs, always related to precision agriculture and irrigation.
Little by little our project began to take shape, with the first clients arriving in the spring of 2017 and consolidating the Plantae model a year later.
The path to introducing sensor irrigation has not been easy:
Improve communication between sensor and hub / receiver from 50 meters to the 700 that our stations reach today in any location.
Improvement of the technology and measurement algorithms .
Improvement of materials , development of mobile APP and successive updates of the Manager Plantae.
Study of conductivity .
And endless tasks that have been happening up to the more than 100 clients that Plantae has at this time.
Plantae Team
Precision agriculture and irrigation with moisture probes / sensors
Our project is already more than consolidated and has obtained fabulous results in various products and crops:
- Pistachios.
- Olives.
- Almond trees.
- Walnut.
- Vine.
- Stone, stoneless, tropical and citrus fruit trees.
- Vegetables.
- Herbaceous.
- Truffles.
- Botanical Gardens.
- Greenhouses of watermelon, tomato, strawberries and flowers.
- Lawn like the one at the Zarzuela racecourse in Madrid.
- Football fields.
- Golf courses.
Plantae facilities map
Some provinces and localities that manage irrigation with Plantae sensors
We list the different communities that have crops with Plantae sensors and that renew their contracts with us, given the good results they obtain in production quality and saving water and energy
Andalusia: almost all provinces with sensor irrigation
Córdoba in citrus fruits from Fuente Palmera, olive trees from Cabra or Montilla and walnut trees from Calonge, among others. In addition to almond trees at different points and new areas recently expanded.
Huelva with facilities in strawberry greenhouses in Palos de la Frontera and Bollullos.
Granada has irrigation with sensors in olive trees in different locations.
Jaén in Baeza and Linares, with Picual olive trees in addition to other points already approved in the region.
Málaga in Santa Amalia in olive trees and avocado.
Seville in the areas of Écija, Fuente del Rey and La Albaga in olive and citrus trees, just to mention a few, as it is the province that has more than 200 sensors installed in different farms.
Aragon
Huesca irrigation with sensors in almond trees, alfalfa and pink tomato in Barbastro.
Zaragoza sensors in almond and fruit trees.
Teruel with sensors in nurseries.
Castilla la Mancha: irrigation with sensors in pistachio, olive, garlic, onion, herbaceous and vineyards
Albacete in herbaceous, almond and vine.
Ciudad Real in pistachio and Herencia and Socuellamos vineyards, among others.
Guadalajara at the Cabanillas del Campo golf course.
Toledo has the implementation of humidity and temperature sensors in pistachio, olive, alfalfa, onion and vineyards in the areas of Tembleque, Los Navalmorales, Madridejos, Mora, Navalucillos, Malpica del tajo, Villasequillo, Miguel Esteban and Channel Huts.
Castilla y León increasing the installation more and more
Ávila in Horcajo de las Torres in potato and pistachio cultivation.
Valladolid , the second walnut farm in Spain.
Cataluña
Barcelona has irrigation with sensors in the botanical garden.
Gerona sensors in urban nurseries and orchards.
Balearic Islands
Almond tree facilities.
Madrid's community
Installations in:
Zarzuela Racecourse.
Botanical Garden.
Several golf and soccer courses.
Community of Murcia especially controlling irrigation with sensors in a wide variety of products
Murcia is the province par excellence that bets on water control and the quality of the products, due to their commercialization at a national and international level. Irrigation with humidity sensors in all types of crops stands out. Abrir en el Traductor de Goo
Caravaca de la Cruz, Cieza, Jumilla , Lorca, Los Almagros , Molina de Segura, Moratalla, Pliego de la Vega, Puerto de Mazarrón, Santomera, Torre Pacheco and Valladolises are some of the towns that already have our technology.
Valencian Community
Installations in citrus, watermelon, stone fruit.
Extremadura
Don Benito area in vineyards.
Intensive almond tree in Badajoz .
Citrus.
Canary Islands
Intensive banana
The Rioja
Vineyards
Portugal
Torres Vedras in hydroponic tomato nurseries and intensive strawberry plantations.
Alentejo in intensive and superintensive olive tree.
Algeria
Médéa in the Benchicao area with sensors in vineyards and fruit trees.
France
Vatan we installed sensors in truffles .
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