Strawberry - AgroSense soil moisture, temperature, humidity

Strawberry cultivation

Strawberries
Strawberries are one of the most popular fruits, not only in because of their taste but also due to their high content of vitamins, minerals and flavonoids. The Strawberries have an excellent taste internationally, thanks to the soil, sunlight and expertise. However, cultivating it is not an easy task. Its development, yield, shelf life and taste depend on many variables that need to be measured and must be measured for success.

Klaas Plas – strawberry cultivation with the eyes of a consultant

Klaas Plas, a Dutch consultant who works in Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Romania, and the Netherlands outlines the factors that need to be taken into account and the parameters that need to be measured in order to achieve high quality and high yields of strawberries.

Soil moisture

The soil – or in soil-free cultivation, substrate moisture is a very important factor that is difficult to measure. The use of hand-held tensiometers (water potential gauges) is increasingly common, but their reliability depends largely on the accuracy and frequency of readings. The AgroSense system overcomes the inconvenience of measuring, making life easier for farmers. It continuously measures soil moisture, which can be accessed anywhere by the user, whether at home or on the road, as the system has a web interface that allows you to easily view current values. This gives you a helping hand to make the right and timely decisions

Nutrients

Knowledge of how strawberries absorb nutrients is essential in soil-free cultivation. By measuring conductivity (EC), changes in nutrient concentrations can be accurately monitored and intervened if necessary.

Relative humidity of the air

Air humidity in the environment of plants affects their development since evaporation is required for the “blood” circulation of plants. The optimum humidity value depends on photosynthesis (day/night) and the air temperature (or night cooling). The relative humidity of the air is also important in the development of various diseases. With high humidity, Botrytis may appear and a drier period after a drier period increases the risk of powdery mildew.

Temperature

The instantaneous optimum temperature depends primarily on how much energy the plants receive for photosynthesis. That is, higher temperatures in sunny weather and lower temperatures in cloudy weather.

Autumn development
The sum of heat calculated from temperature is a piece of important information at different phenological stages of plants. In the autumn development phase, the aim is to produce a sufficient amount of strawberries for the spring season. If the plant receives too much heat energy, it is possible that flowering will begin in the autumn, but it will not produce fruit, and if the amount of heat is too low, the amount of inflorescence will not be sufficient.

Cold winter hours
Depending on the type of strawberry, the plant requires 1000-1600 hours of cold hours. If the plants do not receive this, their spring development will fall short of expectations.

Klaas Plas has found a trusted companion in AgroSense!

The AgroSense system continuously and accurately measures the required parameters, whether outdoors or in a greenhouse. The system can be further expanded with EC (soil conductivity), leaf moisture, and base station meteorological sensors to help farmers optimise nutrient, plant protection, ventilation, and energy tasks.