Irrigation and water for cut flowers
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Pick the plot first Open a new chat and tap Plots (All) under the question box. Choose the plot you want advice for. ORTH then works from that plot’s crop, variety, soil and documents, and from the farm weather. For cut flowers Pick one greenhouse plot of one variety. We picked Lote 1: Freedom, a red rose, on 0.48 ha under greenhouse at about 2,550 m, 31,200 plants from June 2021, loam soil and drip. Every number below is for that plot. - 2
Start from the Irrigation button Pick the plot and tap Irrigation. ORTH offers questions such as this week’s schedule, a water-quality check, or turning the water requirement into runtime for your system. Tap one to ask it. For cut flowers Under a greenhouse roof, rain outside does not water the crop. In a humid week the main risk is too much water around the roots. - 3
Ask for this week’s budget We tapped Build this week’s irrigation schedule for this plot. ORTH planned one drip event a day from 5 to 11 November, each after early ventilation, between 7:30 and 10:00: 13 minutes on 5 November, 7 on the low-demand 6 November, and up to 28 minutes on 10 November, when stem elongation starts. That is 17.03 mm, or about 81.7 m³ over the 0.48 ha, for the week. It used the crop stage and the drip layout from the farm records, so it gave minutes straight away at an estimated 8 mm per hour. Rain outside does not count inside the greenhouse. - 4
Check the soil before every event Before every event, check the soil at 10 to 15 cm, and hold or shorten the event if it is saturated, drainage is slow or roof leaks have wetted the beds. On the low-demand 6 November, skip it if the soil is wet and sticky. Check that the emitters wet the root zone without splashing crowns or foliage, and stop early if water reaches the paths. On 11 November, record shoot growth, root-zone moisture, drainage and how evenly the beds wet, so the next week can be recalibrated. - 5
Save the proposal as actions When ORTH proposes a plan, tap Review to see every action with its date, category and instructions. Change or add actions if you need to, then tap Create. The actions land in the plot’s plans, ready to assign to someone on your team. For cut flowers On Lote 1 this saved the weekly irrigation plan with 7 actions, one event a day from 5 to 11 November, the last one with a review for the next week. - 6
Give the drip layout, get minutes We gave ORTH the drip layout: two lines per bed, 1.0 L/h emitters every 20 cm, beds 1.25 m apart and one zone. ORTH worked out 3,840 m of beds, 7,680 m of line and 38,400 emitters, so 38.4 m³/h or 8 mm per hour: 7.5 minutes per millimetre. The 1.71 mm of 5 November becomes 13 minutes on the controller, the 3.67 mm of 10 November 28 minutes, and the week 128 minutes. Treat them as maximum runtimes. If the meter shows a different zone flow, multiply the runtime by 38.4 and divide by the measured flow in m³/h. - 7
Irrigation once buds show From clearly visible buds, recorded for 15 December, the aim moves to steady turgor and even bud growth, without wet and dry swings. Do not just raise the runtimes: work out the daily millimetres again for the larger canopy, the greenhouse conditions and the root-zone moisture, keeping 7.5 minutes per millimetre. Irrigate early with time to ventilate after, keep one early event while the loam wets evenly and split it only if one run drains away or wets unevenly, and with fertigation do not put the same fertilizer into less water without checking the EC. Too much water gives soft growth and humidity, and too little holds back the buds.
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