Harvest Results
Blumat vs. Hand Watering
24.7% Higher Yield!
Most of us know that soil moisture levels influence crop yields. But how much?
Dr. Ben Higgins, Tad Hussey, and their team organized an experiment at Gold Leaf Gardens in Lacey, WA to find out. They split 112 cannabis plants into two groups. Keeping everything the same except the irrigation method, they had expert growers with at least 10 years of experience hand water 56 plants and they used an automated Blumat/BluSoak system for the second set of 56 plants.
Studying the correlation between constant soil moisture content and crop yield (in terms of above-ground biomass), they hypothesized that the more constant the soil moisture level, the higher the yield. Their hypothesis was correct. We summarize some of the details below and this link takes you to the complete research description and results.
KiS Organics Blumats Study: "Measuring the yield of Cannabis sativa as a response to either automated irrigation systems or traditional hand watering methods in a controlled agriculture environment"
Key Takeaways
- Blumat watering increased yield by an average of 24.7%.
- Blumats kept the soil significantly closer to the target moisture level of 100 mBar.
"Cumulatively, cultivars grown in living soil beds fitted with Blumat irrigation systems were significantly larger, averaging 24.7% more AGB (5.08 lbs. per 8 plant trellis) than did plants grown in identical medium irrigated by hand (3.8 lbs. per 8 plant trellis)."
The Experiment
112 cannabis plants were grown for 73 days.
The plants were split into two groups:
Group 1. Irrigated with a Blumat and BluSoak system set to keep the soil moisture at 100 mBar.
Group 2. Hand watered with expert growers of at least 10 years of experience.
Results
- The Blumat group (plants on the right) had a smaller degree of soil moisture variation compared to the hand watered group.
- Hand watered beds were further from the target water potential value of 100 mBar, and had both the highest, and lowest readings.
Blumat:
Average Moisture Reading: 94 mBar
Range: 42-141
Hand watered:
Average Moisture Reading: 114 mBar
Range: 39-211
How did the constant moisture level affect biomass?
Blumats increased yield by an average of 24.7% AGB (Above Ground Biomass)
See if this system will work for you
We custom design, recommend, engineer and suggest ways to improve your watering methods. Just answer a few questions about your unique set-up and see what we suggest. Click here.