Avocado
has joined the ranks of important agricultural commodities in Florida with their
own mobile irrigation app. Mobile apps for irrigation offer growers and homeowners convenient access to efficient irrigation scheduling and thus water savings. The
newly released Smartirrigation (SI) Avocado, along with citrus, strawberry, vegetable
and turf round out the Smartirrigation app suite for use in Florida.
How
does it work?
To use SI Avocado, the grower simply enters the irrigation system characteristics in the orchard. The app then estimates crop water demand
and provides irrigation run times and event depths by considering:
- orchard location
- crop growth characteristics
- weather parameters (rainfall, temperatures, relative humidity and wind speed) obtained from the nearest Florida Automated Weather Network (FAWN) station
- allowed watering days
 |
| Passing the savings on to you: a sample app-generated irrigation schedule |
Of course, it would not be a proper app without push notifications, and SI Avocado offers growers a variety of alerts, such as:
- estimated water savings
- changes to irrigation run times
- weather forecast
- when to turn off irrigation events
- weekly reports about irrigation schedules
 |
| App-generated weather forecasts let you plan ahead |
Does
it work?
“The
apps provide a 20 to 50% water savings, minimize nutrient
leaching and provide energy savings due to short pump run times (thus less
fuel) if recommendations of irrigation schedules are followed,”
said Dr. Kati Migliaccio, Associate Professor, Agricultural and Biological
Engineering, University of Florida. “Water savings for the Avocado app are
currently being evaluated in a study in Homestead, Florida, but are expected to
be in the same range.”
 |
| The goal: maximize outputs, minimize inputs |
Download today
SI Avocado is available for use with both iOS and Android devices and is tailored
specifically for Florida and Georgia residents.
For
more information on the app, contact: Dr. Kati Migliaccio.
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