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 Bauers Greenhouse

The Bauers brothers established the Flowers by Bauers company in 1975, and rapidly gained an reputation for producing high quality cut-flower snapdragons (Antirrhinum spp) in the NE United States.

They have remained competitive against South American cut-flower producers because of their attention to detail, and an in-depth knowledge of the physiological requirements to produce cut-flowers in a greenhouse environment. This, combined with their knowledge of the retail industry has made them a leader in the cut-flower industry.

Sensor Network Description: We have established a six-node Carnegie Mellon wireless sensor network in three zones in the greenhouse. These zones are related to the growth stage of the crop, since the greenhouse is in continuous production, each crop taking between 14 weeks (summer cultivars) and 20 weeks (winter cultivars) to produce

The sensor network is monitoring the soil water and electrical conductivity (EC) at three positions within each 72" x 12" bag of perlite, which is used as the substrate. Current plant density is 56 plants per bag.  Additionally, we are sensing soil temperature, canopy air temperature and relative humidity and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) on a 5-minute time interval for each block.

Production Objectives: The primary production objectives of this study are to improve the quality of cut-flower snapdragons, particularly those produced during summer. Maintaining the water and nutritional status of the crop during the summer months is the ultimate challenge, given the growing conditions in the greenhouse at that time of the year.

The true test of the sensor network will be to increase the percentage of No.1 quality cuts from an average of 80% in summer to about 92%, which is the current average for the rest of the year.

Sensor Project Objectives: Our primary challenges with this sensor network is to develop a robust data management and graphic user interface, that will allow for maximum utility in monitoring a large number of nodes and sensors in the future.

We intend to develop the sensor network system to be able to monitor and control irrigation events, not only based on the moisture status in the bag, but also the electrical conductivity in the root zone in real-time.

The greenhouse is a closed hydroponic system, so we have the ability to irrigate as frequently as necessary, without compromising efficiency. The ultimate goal is to maintain an optimal water and nutrient status for different stages of crop growth, with as little human intervention as possible.

Preliminary Data: from the network show that matric potentials in the mature summer crop (at right) are cycling between aproximately -7 kPa in the early morning to less than -1 kPa when plants are irrigated during the day.

This information (at right) indicates to us that plants may be exhibiting mild water stress early in the morning, and that irrigations should probably start earlier (around 7am) during hot dry weather.