Irrigation Management
Irrigation that matches plant demand—not just timers or thresholds.
Sera interprets real-time substrate behavior, dry-back patterns, EC dynamics, radiation, and VPD to explain root-zone status and recommend precise timing, volume, and frequency adjustments—ensuring optimal water content, nutrient refreshment, and generative steering without over- or under-watering.
The challenge
In high-wire crops like tomatoes and peppers on stone wool or coco, irrigation is the primary lever for steering vegetative vs. generative growth, controlling root-zone EC, preventing blossom-end rot or cracking, and maximizing water/nutrient efficiency. Yet common realities create constant challenges:
Uneven dry-back across slabs or sectors: Solar asymmetry, micro-climates, or vent behavior leads to some areas hitting 18–20% dry-back while others stay at 10–12%, causing inconsistent fruit sizing, calcium uptake issues, or yield drag.
Reactive timing: Fixed radiation-based starts/stops or timer schedules miss transients—morning radiation spikes cause rapid WC drop and EC stacking too aggressively, or late-afternoon cycles over-saturate and delay generative stress.
EC management struggles: Without precise refreshment, drain EC drifts high (salt buildup risking root stress) or low (nutrient dilution reducing steering power), especially in recirculating or low-leach strategies.
Over/under-irrigation risks: Overwatering promotes lush vegetative growth but risks root pathogens, poor oxygen, and wasted fert; deficit pushes generative too hard, leading to smaller fruit, BER, or cracking from uneven moisture.
Labor-intensive monitoring: Growers manually weigh slabs, check drain EC/pH, or eyeball wilting—hours spent chasing variability across hectares, with junior teams missing subtle patterns.
Scaling complexity: Multi-site or expansion adds variability in water quality, substrate age, or crop stage—without unified reasoning, protocols drift and efficiency drops.
Without cause-effect insight into how irrigation interacts with climate, hardware, and crop demand, you accept preventable variability in yield, quality, and input costs.
How Sera helps
Solution / How Sera helps solve irrigation management challenges
Sera unifies substrate sensors (WC, EC, pH at multiple depths), climate data, radiation sums, irrigation logs, fertigation recipes, and your uploaded crop strategies/SOPs. It reasons continuously over physics-based dynamics and site context to deliver plain-English observations, root causes, and tailored recommendations—via chat, daily briefs, or automated triggers.
Daily root-zone overview delivered automatically
Morning push summary: Prioritized insights on overnight/early dry-back and status.
"Overnight dry-back averaged 14% across Sector B slabs—optimal for generative steering in fruit-load phase. Two slabs at 18% due to uneven shading; projected calcium uptake reduction ~8% if uncorrected. Recommendation: Advance first cycle 10 min or shift shading curtains earlier."
Flags top deviations: Uneven WC distribution, EC stacking beyond target, or insufficient refreshment volume.
Instant diagnostics and steering advice via chat
Query in natural language for immediate, context-aware answers:
"Why is dry-back hitting 18% in Sector C this week?" → "Dry-back accelerated by high morning radiation + delayed first irrigation (curtain lag). Slab WC dropped from 65% to 47% in 3.2 hours; EC rose to 4.2 mS/cm. Impact: Potential BER risk on lower trusses. Suggestion: Increase morning shot size to 5–6% substrate volume or add pre-radiation pulse."
"Audit irrigation strategy against current slab trends for tomatoes." → "Average dry-back 14% over 4.1 hours (in target generative range 12–16%). Sector B at 18% from solar asymmetry; drain % low at 3%—insufficient EC refresh. Projected: Stabilize by increasing cycle volume 15% on affected slabs; align with your VPD/EC protocol."
"Compare current WC/EC refreshment to last cycle at same stage."
Proactive detection beyond simple thresholds
Spots complex patterns thresholds miss:
Transpiration-driven dry-back stalls from mismatched VPD/radiation.
Uneven fertigation distribution (e.g., emitter clog or pressure drop).
Night WC drop from heating pipes stimulating evaporation without compensation cycles.
Applies your site rules to suppress noise:
"Ignore WC alerts in cold-corner slabs during low-radiation periods per protocol."
"Flag only dry-back >18% if EC > target by 0.5 mS/cm."
Knowledge base enforcement for consistent strategy
Upload your fertigation recipes, dry-back targets by phenology (e.g., 12–16% generative, 8–12% vegetative), EC stacking rules, drain % goals, and crop-specific SOPs once.
Sera cross-checks every observation/recommendation:
"Current strategy aligns with your Phase 5 generative targets (14% dry-back, EC 3.8–4.2 mS/cm); deviation only in uneven sectors—recommend localized volume tweak."
"Fertigation dose matches protocol; projected drain EC refresh to 3.5 mS/cm with next 5% volume increase."
Orchestrated actions for tight control
Smart alerts routed: High-impact dry-back/EC issues to head grower; hardware patterns (e.g., repeated low drain %) to technical manager.
Automated workflows:
Sustained uneven dry-back → push diagnostic checklist (check pressure, emitters) + create maintenance task.
Threshold hit → adjust timing/volume per your SOP + log for cycle review.
The results
Optimized root-zone dynamics: Consistent dry-back and EC refreshment—tighter steering, better calcium uptake, reduced BER/cracking, uniform fruit size and Brix.
Higher water/nutrient efficiency: Precise volumes minimize leach while maximizing refreshment—lower waste, reduced environmental impact, and cost savings on fert/water.
Less variability: Uniform execution across slabs, shifts, and sites—predictable yields and quality even during expansions or staff changes.
Reduced manual effort: Reclaim hours from slab weighing, drain sampling, and troubleshooting—focus on strategy over firefighting.
Data-backed decisions: Every adjustment traceable to real cause-effect, aligned with your protocols—not generic timers or guesses.
You steer irrigation like a precision tool, turning root-zone management into a reliable driver of yield and margins.
