Adaptation of an Automatic Irrigation-control Tray System for Outdoor Nurseries

Inefficiency in water and nutrient management in outdoor nurseries causes environmental concerns. In this sense, the irrigation-control system should automatically modulate irrigation in accordance with water consumption by the substrate-plant system. The irrigation-control tray method (ICT), which is applied extensively in greenhouse plants raised in grow bags for horticulture production, has been successfully adapted to the specific conditions of plants grown outdoors in containers. The prototype was employed to irrigate plants during the entire experiment (18 months). The performance of the ICT method was comparable to the tensiometric method that it is a sufficiently proven method. The plant biomass was not significantly different between the two methods and also the irrigation events were comparable.