Breaking News: Drain Monitoring System Now Available for Strawberry Tray Plant Propagation

Our Drain Monitoring System has been successfully installed in a propagation field for strawberry tray plants. This expands the use of our monitoring to the propagation phase: growers can now continuously monitor irrigation, drain (discharge), conductivity (EC), acidity (pH), Volume Water Content (VWC%), and temperature in the tray. The goal is more precise control, less leaching, and a more stable root zone for uniform, strong young plants.

What do we measure continuously – and why does that matter in propagation?

  • Irrigation and drain from the trays
    Better insight into the irrigation window and prevention of excessive leaching.
  • EC and pH of the supplied water
    Control over fertilizer-EC and lower risk of salt stress in young plants.
  • In the tray: VWC% (moisture content), EC and temperature of the root zone
    Calmer root zone and predictable response to fertilizer applications and rain showers.
Setup overview
EC and Flow In
Pear Growth Zeeland After Harvest
VWC and Flow IN

Initial insights from practice

  • EC control works through to the tray
    By adjusting the EC of the water given, the EC in the root zone remains calmer and peaks are flattened. Young roots grow more consistently.

  • Drain measurement reduces the irrigation window
    You can see exactly when excessive water is being given. This helps to limit leaching.
  • Fertilizing with a field sprayer: re-watering is essential
    When fertilizing via field sprayer, fertilizers are dissolved to a relatively high EC and evenly distributed. Sufficient re-watering:
    • safely dilutes salts in the root zone,
    • prevents the fertilizer-EC from entering too high,
    • and ensures that the EC in the tray drops and stabilizes in a controlled manner.
  • Rain showers: steering based on facts
    The EC sensor in the tray immediately shows what a shower does. If the EC drops sharply, (partial) leaching has occurred: additional fertilization or a higher fertilizer-EC may be necessary. If the EC remains at level, nutrition is retained and the schedule can continue.

Method and cooperation

This setup was developed and implemented by WolkyTolky in collaboration with Beekers Soft Fruitconsult (part of Berry Consultancy Group), represented by Marcel Beekers.

  • WolkyTolky supplies the Drain Monitoring System (hardware + sensors), the connections, and the dashboard.
  • The grower determines the irrigation and fertilization strategy in consultation with the advisor, including bandwidths and alarm limits.
  • Events such as fertilizer applications, recipe changes, and rain showers are marked in the dashboard, so that cause and effect are clearly visible and shareable.
Measuring Flow IN
VWC in tray

What does this mean for your propagation?

Propagation is no longer dependent on individual snapshots. You see directly:

  • what a fertilizer application does with VWC%,
  • how the EC in the root zone reacts,
  • and when drain occurs.

Important lessons so far: careful re-watering and flattening EC peaks keep the root zone calm and limit leaching; thanks to EC measurements, rain showers become predictable moments instead of surprises.

Are you a (tray) plant grower and do you want to steer your propagation based on more data? Schedule a pilot on your propagation field or request a demo/inventory discussion to explore how this approach can be used on your company and what insights this yields.