Growers could save water and fertiliser thanks to a unique weather-watching system that automatically waters plants according to a five-day weather forecast.

The system was developed by researchers at the University of Warwick HRI in a response to the UK’s mounting problems with water supply, and is based on the concept of ‘fertigation’ - a system where plants are fertilised and irrigated through a series of holes in a hosepipe - used in Southern Europe.

Addressing the UK problem, the team developed the system further to make its own decisions as to when plants are watered, based on commercial weather reports.

Called “Dynamic Fertigation”, the system uses an array of moisture sensors in the soil that send data to a control system hooked up to a laptop, using mobile phone technology. The control system switches on the water when the soil dries below a site-specific threshold and uses models of crop growth to predict when the crop needs nutrients, which can then be applied through the water. It also responds to data from five-day advance weather reports preventing fertilizer from being washed away by a heavy rainfall.

Six field experiments are currently underway at Wellesbourne in Warwickshire with supporting field experiments in Lincolnshire, UK and Cartagena in Spain. Early results show the system can achieve a 33 per cent saving in fertilizer for lettuce and 50 per cent for runner beans.

Researchers hope that as well as providing a useful tool to UK growers, the system may also be used in other regions around the world using primitive fertigation methods.

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