Part 1: Irrigation of Controlled Environment Crops for Increased Quality and Yield

Part 1: Substrates and Water

Stop guessing. Start measuring.

When you irrigate in a greenhouse or growth chamber, you need to get the most out of your substrate so you can maximize the yield and quality of your product. But if you’re lifting a pot to gauge how much water is in the substrate, it’s going to be difficult—if not impossible—to achieve your goals. To complicate matters, soil substrates and potting mixes are some of the most challenging media in which to get the water exactly right.

Without accurate measurements or the right measurements, you’ll be blind to what your plants are really experiencing. And that’s a problem, because irrigating incorrectly will reduce yield, derail the quality of your product, deprive the roots of oxygen, and increase risk of disease.

Supercharge yield, quality—and profit

At METER, we know how to irrigate substrates. We’ve been measuring soil moisture for over 40 years. Join Dr. Gaylon Campbell, founder, soil physicist, and one of the world’s foremost authorities on soil, plant, and atmospheric measurements, for a series of irrigation webinars designed to help you correctly control your crop environment to achieve maximum results. In this 30-minute webinar, learn:

• Why substrates hold water differently than normal soil
• How the properties of different substrates and potting mixes compare
• Why it’s difficult if not impossible to irrigate correctly without accurately measuring the amount of water in the substrate
• The fundamentals of measuring soil moisture: specifically water content and electrical conductivity
• How measuring soil moisture helps you get the most out of the substrate you choose, so you can improve your product
• Easy tools you can use to measure soil water in a greenhouse or growth chamber to maximize yields and minimize inputs

Presenter

Dr. Gaylon S. Campbell has been a research scientist and engineer at METER for over 20 years, following nearly 30 years on faculty at Washington State University. Dr. Campbell’s first experience with environmental measurement came in the lab of Sterling Taylor at Utah State University making water potential measurements to understand plant water status.

Dr. Campbell is one of the world’s foremost authorities on physical measurements in the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum. His book written with Dr. John Norman on Environmental Biophysics provides a critical foundation for anyone interested in understanding the physics of the natural world. Dr. Campbell has written three books, over 100 refereed journal articles and book chapters, and has several patents.