Fertigation Controllers

NutriDose II b

The NutriDoseII b is designed for use in a batched multi-station fertigation system. The main controller is used in conjunction with other modules to allow the system to be configured to best suit the growers needs.

Ten station, expansion modules are also easily added to provide from 10 to 30 irrigation stations.

A smart environment sensor module is available to provide data for triggering irrigations. Based around a solar integrator, this module monitors solar irradiance, air temperature, relative humidity and uses these factors to modify the solar integration rate. This means that if the environment is very sunny, very hot and very dry then the watering freqency will be at maximum whilst for dull, humid, cool conditions it will be at a minimum. For outside use the Autogrow weather station can provide additional information such as wind velocity and rainfall to further modify integration rates and reset the integration counters of outside zones if rainfall exceeds a set limit.

During the evening, night and early morning, irrigations may be triggered on a time-of-day basis whilst during the sunny part of the day triggering may be by means of a solar integrator. For example, a user may set the system to irrigate all stations at 6pm, 10:30pm, 3:15am, 7:30am, 7:45am and then switch to the solar integrator time zone in which each station has its own solar integration trigger. This allows crops that require frequent irrigations to be mixed with those that only require infrequent watering. In addition, each irrigation station has its own EC and pH value allowing quite different crops to be catered for.

Each irrigation station can have its own solar integrator trigger point and when reached a batch tank is prepared for that station just before irrigation. The tank is pre-filled but not dosed until a trigger is reached. It then doses and stirs to suit the station in question and then immediately irrigates that station. This allows each zone to receive a different EC and different additives. Batching provides for better mixing and greater accuracy than an in-line system but obviously takes longer to perform a complete irrigation of all zones. This makes it suitable and very cost effective for small to medium systems having relatively few irrigation zones or those that do not need very frequent watering.

Finally, each station can be dosed from one of two different sets of stock solution tanks. This allows two different nutrient to be selected from. In many cases a vegetative mix and a generative mix will be available to suit both mature and immature crops. Alternatively, a differnt mix may be used foir day-time or night-time waterings.

Where Tee tape is used, alternate zones can be used for Tee tape draining back into the main tank. This avoids the drip problem experienced at the lower end of drip tape runs.