Controlling chrysanthemum cultivation based on sensor

Added on 20 June 2024

Tags

Controlling chrysanthemum cultivation based on sensor

Chrysanthemum cultivation faces a number of challenges in the coming years: reducing energy consumption for steaming soil, reducing nutrient emissions, and controlling cultivation based on plant measurements. These challenges formed the basis of a trial at Wageningen University & Research's Greenhouse Horticulture business unit, where chrysanthemums were grown in containers with a soil mixture.

"We grew two chrysanthemum varieties with two irrigation strategies. In one strategy we watered by default ("sufficient irrigation") in the other only 75% of that amount per turn ("limited irrigation"). Growers show a lot of interest in water uptake by the crop in chrysanthemum cultivation. To monitor this properly, we used a number of plant and substrate sensors during cultivation for continuous and automated measurements of plant weight, plant temperature, water uptake and drain,' explains Anja Dieleman, senior researcher in plant physiology at WUR Glasshouse horticulture.