Foliar Applications

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Optimizing Foliar Feeding with Leaf VPD Monitoring

What’s Leaf Vapor Pressure Deficit (VPD)?
Leaf Vapor Pressure Deficit (VPD) is a crucial indicator of your plants' ability to regulate water and nutrient intake. It measures the difference between the moisture inside the leaf and the surrounding air, showing how efficiently the plant 'breathes' and transpires. When Leaf VPD is in the ideal range, your plants lose just the right amount of water, maintaining a balance that allows optimal nutrient uptake during foliar feeding. This means that nutrients can be absorbed through the leaf surface without the risk of nutrient runoff or underfeeding. By monitoring and adjusting to the perfect Leaf VPD, you can ensure your plants are ready to absorb nutrients effectively, promoting stronger growth and reducing waste.
How is Leaf VPD Measured?
Our sensors track real-time leaf VPD data to ensure your plants are in their optimal moisture zone. The system continuously measures humidity and temperature to calculate VPD, giving you clear indicators of when your plants are stressed or in balance. With this data, you can adjust your foliar feeding times to ensure nutrients are delivered when your plants can absorb them best, without the risk of over-feeding or under-feeding.
How Can the Data Help You Make Decisions?
Leaf VPD monitoring allows you to time your foliar feeding with precision, ensuring plants are in the ideal condition to absorb nutrients. For example, with strawberries, maintaining the right humidity and VPD range is crucial to maximize yield potential and promote healthy growth. In strawberries, an ideal relative humidity of 60-75% results in a Leaf VPD range of 0.3-1.2 kPa, depending on temperature. When VPD is within this range, plants are more receptive to foliar feeds, allowing nutrients to be effectively absorbed through the leaves. By tracking Leaf VPD, you can apply foliar feeds at optimal times, maximizing nutrient uptake, reducing waste, and supporting stronger, healthier crops across different plant types.
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What Sensors Are Needed?
To monitor Leaf Vapor Pressure Deficit effectively, growers should use the following sensor:

Leaf Wetness Sensors
This sensor tracks leaf surface moisture and temperature, calculating VPD in real-time. With this information, you can optimize foliar feeding schedules and ensure your plants are in the best condition to take in nutrients, leading to improved yields and reduced waste.
Air Temperature and Humidity Sensors
This Air Temperature and Humidity sensor measures the surrounding environment, providing essential VPD calculations to guide your foliar feeding. By tracking these conditions, you can adjust feeding schedules for maximum nutrient absorption, ensuring your plants stay in an ideal moisture range.
What's Included in Your Subscription:
Our service offers everything you need for precise, dependable data and successful crop management. Start with our basic package at $8.99 per sensor/connection, including:

  • Dashboard Access with Advanced Analytics: Enjoy seamless access to your personalized dashboard designed for your specific crop, featuring advanced analytics that simplify data interpretation and provide valuable insights into your irrigation, nutrient management, and crop health.
  • Data Accuracy and Reliability: We manage and protect your data to ensure it remains accurate and reliable, providing you with the essential insights needed to support your crop goals and make informed decisions.
  • Customer Service: Our dedicated team is here to provide guidance and answer any questions you may have throughout the season. We’re committed to ensuring you have the assistance you need, so you can focus on your crops.

    • For additional support, you can enhance your subscription with these add-ons:

  • Training and Support ($10/month): Receive comprehensive training and ongoing assistance, including 1-on-1 personalized weekly meetings. This support helps you understand and effectively use data, adopt better data practices overall, and maximize the value of our system, empowering you to make informed decisions for your crops.
  • Sensor Repair and Replacement Service ($16/month): Our proactive monitoring ensures that any faulty sensors are quickly repaired or replaced. With our Sensor Repair and Replacement add-on, your sensors are insured, guaranteeing optimal performance and high uptime. If any issues arise, we’ll handle repairs or replacements promptly, ensuring a continuous flow of critical data for effective crop management.

With these flexible subscription options, you can begin with our basic package and expand with these add-ons as needed—allowing you to focus on what matters most: your crops.