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Home → Publications → Tree Planters' Notes → Tree Planters' Notes Volume 59, Number 2 (2016) → Wireless Network of Electronic Scales To Monitor the Substrate Volumetric Water Content for Managing Irrigation of Containerized Seedlings Produced in Forest Nurseries

Wireless Network of Electronic Scales To Monitor the Substrate Volumetric Water Content for Managing Irrigation of Containerized Seedlings Produced in Forest Nurseries

An automated monitoring system of substrate volumetric water content (VWC) based on gravimetry has been developed to measure several seedling containers at a time. This tool is a wireless sensor network (WSN) using field stand-alone electronic scales that transmit data to the nursery office. At the office, computer software automatically estimates the fresh mass of any seedling crop, at any moment of the season, and then calculates the substrate VWC. This system, specifically designed for forest nurseries, is, to our knowledge, the first in which gravimetry is automatically monitored by using field stand-alone WSN technology to improve irrigation management and reduce water and nutrient losses and groundwater contamination.


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Author(s): Daniel Girard, Jean Gagnon

Publication: Tree Planters' Notes - Volume 59, Number 2 (2016)

Volume: 59

Number: 2