60% Water Saving by Nursery

In the hot, dry UK summer of 2006, a 590 m2 bed of Spiraea was grown in 3 litre pots, with overhead irrigation controlled by a GP1 Logger and an SM200 Sensor.

This bed consumed 60% less water than a comparable adjacent bed where irrigation was timed according to the grower's judgement. The trials were conducted in the UK at Hillier Nurseries by Chris Burgess (agronomist).

The GP1 Logger, combined with a single SM200 Moisture Probe in a representative pot, has proved very capable of automatically controlling irrigation on commercial scale production beds at several nurseries using overhead sprinkler or drip irrigation. As well as seeing improved crop quality, growers benefited from lower labour cost, reduced environmental impact, and significant water savings. 'Pulsed' irrigation during a wetting-up period can be introduced with the GP1 software if needed, to allow 'soak in' periods and reduce pot drainage losses that can occur with high output sprinklers.

Chart shows how the GP1 + SM200 controlled bed did not suffer the excessive irrigation that was evident in the grower controlled bed. (Chart covers 20 week summer period; w/c 5th June to w/c 23 October.)