JP4394396B2 - Plant irrigation method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for irrigating plants.

Here, irrigation means giving water to a plant.
Recently, greening of buildings and verandas has been screamed. This is because greening the rooftop, etc. improves the heat insulation of the rooftop, reduces cooling costs, absorbs carbon dioxide by planting plants, and further changes in temperature due to the latent heat of evaporation of moisture held by the soil, etc. Such as mitigation.
The government has also made various arrangements to promote this. For example, deciding on the occupancy rate, granting subsidies, and reducing taxes.

  The planting method involves planting, irrigating and raising plants, but it is difficult to secure workers to irrigate due to rising labor costs and cost savings. It must also be considered that humans forget.

  Therefore, various automatic irrigation methods are considered. For example, soil moisture is measured, and water is irrigated when it becomes below a certain level, and irrigation is stopped when it becomes above a certain level. However, in this method, it was actually impossible to secure soil moisture by stopping irrigation as soon as the sensor portion of the soil moisture measuring device was slightly wet.

  In addition, when the method is appropriately performed using only the timer, it is not possible to properly irrigate when the rain continues or during extreme sunshine.

Furthermore, a method using a moisture meter and a timer as in Patent Document 1 has been devised. In this method, a dry state is identified by a soil moisture sensor, and a small amount of high frequency irrigation is performed using three timers.
However, as described in this document, irrigation is very frequently performed and the operation is complicated.
JP2002-281842

  Therefore, a irrigation method is provided that automatically irrigates and efficiently avoids unnecessary irrigation as much as possible.

  In view of the above situation, the present inventor has completed the irrigation method of the plant of the present invention as a result of earnest research, and the feature is that the soil moisture is reduced below a certain level by the soil moisture sensor. In the method of detecting and irrigating with a timer for a certain time from that point, the irrigation time by the timer is determined by the time from the previous irrigation to the detection.

  The soil moisture sensor may be any sensor as long as it can detect moisture in the soil. For example, the resistance value or conductivity between two electrodes in soil is measured. In the present invention, there is no control based on the amount of moisture, and it is an on / off concept. For example, it may be considered on or off when a predetermined value is exceeded (or becomes below).

  Among the moisture measuring devices, those operating with high-frequency alternating current are suitable. This is used by changing the frequency with an inverter. Of course, a normal AC type or a DC type may be used.

  Soil moisture below a certain level means that moisture has decreased from a value determined by a specific plant or specific soil. This is not determined botanically, but may be determined appropriately by the grower. If this is made large, water will be irrigated even if the water content is slightly reduced.

  Usually, a constant value of water content is difficult to measure, and thus means that the value measured by the apparatus exceeds (or becomes below) a predetermined value.

  This predetermined value is appropriately determined by the grower depending on the plant or soil to be cultivated, and may be determined by the value of the measuring device used in that state. For example, if the plant is A and the soil is B, the water is first determined to be irrigated when the water content becomes C (for example, pF value 1.8). If the measuring device to be used shows a value of D when the measuring device is in the state of C, the D becomes a predetermined value.

  Then, the timer starts from the time when the constant value is reached, thereby irrigating for a predetermined time. That is, the irrigation time is determined only by this timer, and does not depend on the measured value of the moisture measuring device or the like.

  The time from the previous irrigation to the detection is the time from the start of the previous irrigation (or at the end of the irrigation) to the time when the measuring device detects a predetermined value. That is, it is determined how long moisture has been maintained by the previous irrigation.

Based on this time, the irrigation time by the timer is determined. That is, if the time until this detection is 48 hours, the timer set value is determined to be 10 minutes. After that, the irrigation time may be changed by inversely proportional calculation.
For example, since it is inversely proportional, if it is 10 minutes in 48 hours, it will be 20 minutes in 24 hours. In this way, even if the water retention time changes for some reason, the irrigation time (i.e., irrigation amount) is changed accordingly, so that the intervals gradually become constant.

  In the present invention, the method of irrigation is free. Even if it is carried out by a pump, it may be simply supplied with water pressure. The amount of irrigation can be set freely.

The irrigation method of the present invention has the following advantages.
(1) Since the next irrigation time (irrigation amount) is determined by the moisture retention time, the retention period will gradually become constant, and the moisture state in the soil will repeat repeated humidification and drying, which is good for plants. It becomes a state.
(2) The amount of soil moisture at the start of irrigation can be set freely.
(3) A proper amount of water can be maintained during the rainy season and during the dry season.
(4) Since numerical control based on the measurement value of the moisture measuring device is not performed, there is no possibility of hunting or becoming uncontrollable.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail based on embodiments shown in the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing an apparatus for carrying out the irrigation method of the present invention. The control unit 1 and the two electrodes 2 are connected to each other and are also electrically connected to the pump 3. The control unit 1 includes a computer, a moisture measuring device, a timer, and the like. A pipe 5 is laid from the pump 3 to the soil 4.

First, water a suitable amount at first. Then, the value of the moisture measurement value is checked while drying. Confirm the moisture measurement value (predetermined moisture value) when it is determined that it is time to irrigate after the drying progresses. If it becomes this measured value from the next time, water will be irrigated.
Next, the timer is set to a certain time, and the pump is operated for that time to perform irrigation.

And when it dries next (a moisture measurement value becomes a predetermined value), the time from the start of irrigation to that time is recorded. Then, the next irrigation time is determined according to the inverse relationship . For example, if it is determined that it is 10 minutes for 100 hours, the next irrigation time will be 5 minutes if a measured value of 200 hours is obtained. That is, since it was held for a long time, it will be judged that the next time it will not be required so much.

It is a schematic sectional drawing which shows the apparatus for implementing this invention irrigation method.

Explanation of symbols

1 Control Unit 2 Electrode 3 Pump 4 Soil 5 Piping

Claims (4)

In the method of detecting that the soil moisture has become below a certain level by the soil moisture sensor, and irrigating for a certain period of time with a timer from that time , in inverse proportion to the length of time from the previous irrigation to the time of the detection, A method for irrigating a plant, comprising determining an irrigation time by the timer.   2. The plant irrigation method according to claim 1, wherein the irrigation is performed by a water supply pump.   The plant irrigation method according to claim 1, wherein the irrigation is performed by water supply. The plant irrigation method according to claim 1, wherein the soil moisture sensor operates with high-frequency alternating current.

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