The Benefits of Grow Room Automation

Perfect your grow and utilise the benefits of Grow Room Automation. Growing automation technology has become a pivotal part of increasing the quality and quantity of yields by effectively controlling and monitoring the growing environment. Not only is growing automation technology, one of the fastest-growing sectors in the cannabis industry, but its benefits are not only limited to large-scale industrial operations. The emerging-market provides solutions for the small home grower whose goal is to save time, increase efficiency and control. This article aims to appeal to both large-scale and small home grow automation. 

There is no limit in Grow Room Automation technology, the digital revolution of the twenty-first century has made it possible for people to innovate, automate and control as far as their minds can imagine. Regardless of your experience level or budget, there are many automation options, as small or as large as you can afford or comprehend that will allow you to work smart rather than harder on your grow. Technology is available to control temperature, humidity, ventilation, and carbon dioxide (CO2) content. Automation for home growers can extend well beyond meters, timers, and automated feeding systems. It can go as far as linking these different automated growing components to sensors that can be monitored on your mobile device; this allows the grower to monitor their grow from anywhere at all times closely. Full automation will enable growers to leave their crops unattended for reasonably long periods. Automation technology has the power to replace every aspect of manual work. 

Fully automated systems have not yet flooded their way into the homes of every grower; however, smaller automation systems have been trending in the growing industry for the past decade. Many that are new to the automation domain tend to start off by replacing one system at a time, with some form of automation. Plants, grown indoors or within greenhouses are separated from the natural elements found outdoors, making them more reliant on technology to survive and thrive. The need for technology means unlimited opportunities for the advancement of automated systems 

Humidity and temperature are the most critical factors to control in indoor settings. Indoor plants require specific conditions to grow. To ensure the best quality of indoor yields, you have to understand the plant's optimal environmental needs. Grow Room Automation makes environmental observation easy and gives every grower the ability to be precise and accurate. Automation systems extend as far as you can imagine. Each Automation system can be synced to another resulting in a simultaneous increase or decrease of mechanical degrees, depending on the plants' needs, and further improving the quality control of yields. Large-scale growing corporations have invested in growing autonomously to maximize profits. The same can be done for small-scale growers to maximize returns. Many individual automated growing components can make growing easy for anyone. This article will go on to list some of the components applicable to the everyday home grower as well as large-scale growing industries. 

Timers

The first component that growers can implement to their indoor gardens is a timer. Small-scale growers can utilize timers for various tasks and making the switch from manual to control is surprisingly affordably. A single primary analogue timer will offer a solution when connected to lights, fans, pumps and other climate control elements. Many timers include multiple inlets, allowing for more than one climate control element to run on an identical schedule. When setting up gardens with numerous lights and fans, these timer systems are crucial for preventing gardeners from always turning systems on and off manually.

Some plant lighting brands such as Gavita, which is supplied by Grow Guru, offer controllers which can be used switch your lights on and off in multiple locations, notify you by text message if there is an issue in your grow room, and dim down or turn off automatically if there is a heating concern which could result in damaged equipment or plants.

Digital timers are also perfect for more elaborate gardens and allow for multiple schedule settings to be programmed over a period of time. For example, digital timers can program fans, pumps, and CO2 systems to run on intervals over multiple schedules without the need for any manual input whatsoever.

Climate control monitors

Indoor, greenhouse, and hydroponic growers rely heavily on climate control to keep their gardens running smoothly. The Pulse 1 environmental monitor, available at Grow Guru, is a WiFi Smart connected monitor that can control humidity, light, VPD (Vapour Pressure Deficit) with alerts and journaling features. Monitoring systems like Grow Gurus' Pulse 1 are efficient for saving information, exposing valuable insight to the plant's environmental conditions. The Pulse 1 provides instantaneous notifications to dangerous conditions that may arise and result in irreversible damage to yields. The device will automate every aspect of your grow room, regardless of whether you grow in traditional methods such as pots and soil, or hydroponically. The consistent monitoring can prevent some of the most undesirable sceneries within your grow room. This includes fire, mould, wilting, releasing Co2 from the unnecessary ins and outs, unwanted pollination and much more. Consistent monitoring ultimately prevents plants from dying and saving the grower time and money.

Other types of meters include the pH continuous monitoring system designed to automatically monitor pH and TDS (total dissolved solids) levels over time. This system will continuously measure your PPM level to indicate whether the plants are getting enough nutrients. The system also measures the acidity of your grow medium. This type of control in your garden ensures time efficiency and constant access to the knowledge of exactly where your garden climate levels are.

Although these monitoring systems may be slightly more expensive than merely implementing basic individual control systems-such as timers-they provide a service to your grow that is invaluable. Going beyond necessary automating components with the use of these monitoring systems is an investment that will save the grower an immense amount of time, money and ensure quality yields.

Irrigation and feeding systems 

Watering and feeding are slightly more complex to automate than climate control. Individual plants within the same grow space may require different quantities of water and nutrients based on many variables such as microclimate patterns and genetics, to name a few. The process of incorporating a nutrient feeding system into an automated irrigator is often referred to as "fertigation", a practice which has become common in both outdoor and climate-controlled commercial agriculture. Fertigation essentially streamlines every aspect of the feeding schedule by calculating and mixing nutrients through an irrigation system. Fertigation systems provide many advantages which include; better nutrient efficiency, reduced leaching, reduced water consumption and less manual labour required. The systems often include both hardware and software components to control the dosage of nutrients in the watering system fully. 

Although these systems are slightly more expensive to install and are more likely to benefit large-scale grow industries; there are inexpensive DIY methods that use the equipment, carried by most garden supply centres and hydroponic stores -such as Grow Guru -that are more applicable to small-scale growers. The most basic fertigation only requires a tank with a distribution pump attached to piping systems that feed nutrients through a dripper pen. These systems work very well in smaller hydroponic setups as well as flood-and-drain style grow operations.

Grow Room Automation technology has proved itself useful across the growing spectrum from large-scale industries to the small home grower; automated systems can benefit all and increase quality control. Growing autonomously is not limited to individual automated components; components can further be synced and automated by environmental monitors, such as the Pulse 1 , as mentioned earlier, and various other sensors that exist. These sensors can further improve control and alert growers to any issues that may arise. From single plant grow buckets to fully controlled cabinet systems, and beyond the options keep growing and will continue to grow as technology continues to advance. It can be said that growing automatously will inevitably revolutionise the growing market and become the future of growing across the globe.