SMART HYDROPONIC GROW SYSTEM
Soil degradation on agricultural land is one of the main problems facing farmers today. One of the most commonly used solutions is to add coir fiber to the crop row. However, 70% of the farms that employ this technique fail to take full advantage of the system, mainly due to inadequate fertigation management.
At Projar we have developed the Smart Hydroponic Grow System, an innovative solution that combines Soil Improvement Techniques with a fertigation strategy that is properly adapted to the crop’s water and nutritional needs in order to grow healthier crops that are more productive. It solves problems caused by soil fatigue, soil compaction, soil salinity and chemical treatments.
WHAT DOES IT CONSIST OF?
FIRST PHASE
Defining the crop row
SECOND PHASE
Positioning the coir slabs
THIRD PHASE
Dripper holder fixing for coir hydration
FOURTH PHASE
Hilling
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF COIR FIBER WHEN IT IS INCORPORATED INTO THE SOIL
- Excellent Water / air / solids ratio and optimal root development.
- Soil structure improvement.
- Water easily available.
- Greater aeration capacity.
- Good thermal inertia, essential for the root system.
RESULTS
Smart Hydroponic Grow System solution was applied as a pilote study in a tomato production in Murcia (Spain) with problems caused by waterlogging, excess salinity and inadequate irrigation management. The firsts results of our study confirmed a production increasing up to 40% in comparison with the previous harvest. Even though the initial investment in this technique was higher than a soil growing system, in the first year the productivity revenues were significant, even in the second year of production reaching a productivity increasing up to 30%.
The success of the study was possible thanks to the crop parameters monitoring that allowed to implement an irrigation strategy based on low volumetric dotations and multi-frequency irrigation adapted to the crop requirements as of the data collected.
