ISHS Acta Horticulturae 481: International Symposium on Growing Media and Hydroponics
AUTOMATED ECOLOGICAL FERTILIZATION AND IRRIGATION OF SOIL GROWN CROPS IN GREENHOUSES WITH A COMPUTER CONTROLLED SYSTEM (KLIWADU) |
| Authors: | K. Kell, M. Beck, F.-W. Frenz |
| Keywords: | fertilization, irrigation, control, computer, soil grown crop, ecological |
| Abstract:
KliWaDu is a computer system for controlling irrigation, fertilization and the climate in greenhouses. The basic hardware configuration consists of an IBM compatible PC, being linked with decentral placed input cards and output relay cards over a communication interface driver and a two wire bus system. The input cards can be connected with various types of sensors while the output relays are used to manage the irrigation- and fertilizer stations with pumps and solenoid valves as well as the controllers for heating and venting. The software makes it possible to control irrigation, fertilization and climate. Furthermore, it can be used for several statistical evaluations. By controlling and documenting water and nutrient consumption and irrigation frequencies, measuring and screening the moisture tension values in different soil layers, and by regularly calculating the hydraulic gradients it is possible to develop a control system for drip irrigated soil grown crops in greenhouses. This allows an environmentally safe water and nutrient management with minimal water or nutrient seepage into deeper soil layers, thus minimising groundwater pollution. Several examples are given to demonstrate the operations of this system. | |
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