PRODUCTION


By Dr. Yoseph Shoub


Controlling Gerbera Culture with “Sustainable Precision Agriculture” (SPA)*


Setting the “Sustainable Precision Agriculture” (SPA) system in our gerbera breeding farm (in 2005) significantly improved the growing conditions for our plants. Due to the 24-hour control, the SPA system shortens the growth-period of the seedlings to 110 days. It enables us to get 3 growth cycles in one year, 4 plants per cycle in 4-liter containers; this possibility increased the seedlings population 7 times more than before. Moreover, it reduced the resources invested per plant: water (40%), fertilizers (70%), heating (100%), and it avoid salinity problems we faced be- fore. At the same time it increased the growth-intensity of the plants and the seed production.


The “Sustainable Precision Agriculture” principles:


synthesis, growth, storing products, and more. The physiological activities are depending almost totally on the presence and the ability of the secondary roots to continuously supply water, oxygen, and minerals.


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A REMINDER: almost all “seed-bearing plants” have the same root mechanism for absorbing the soil solution. “Soil solution” is a composition of water, soil-minerals, and dissolved atmospheric oxygen. Almost all “seed- bearing plants” absorb oxygen only via their roots. But modern agricultural techniques and convention- al dripping systems do not follow in “real time” the physiological rhythms and the water-consumption of the plants. Instead, the growers follow irrigation programs planned ahead, disregarding what actually happens on a daily basis.


The SPA system reacts on time to the usage of wa- ter and oxygen needed for performing the plant activities. It does so by automatically restoring micro quantities of feeding solution in real time, when the


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The gerbera like any other plant is active 24 hours a day performing physiological activi- ties such as respiration, transpiration, photo-


water was actively consumed, and brings it back to the locations it was taken from.


Generally saying, the mineral quantities ab- sorbed by the plants are equivalent to the plants’ growth and to the accumulated dry matter in its structure, and in its products.


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A REMINDER: the “soil-minerals” N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S, are only 10 - 15% of the total plant’s dry-mat- ter. The rest 85 - 90% are Carbon, Oxygen, and Hydrogen, which are of air and water origin. But agricultural establishments advise using exag- gerated irrigation quantities containing fertilizers way above the requirements of the plants. These ex- tra irrigation quantities fill up the capillary structure of the soil/media, eliminate the presence of air in the root zone. At the same time the extra minerals accu- mulated in the root zone create and cause the well- known worldwide salinity problems that damage the plant’s development.


The SPA system always keeps free oxygen avail- ability in the secondary roots’ environment, as it supplies micro water quantities, holding low con-


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