The Challenge
Floricultura wanted more than environmental monitoring—they wanted to understand how their irrigation strategy affected the weight of their orchid crops across multiple growing locations.
Their goals were simple:
- Compare watering schedules between three facilities
- Measure differences in crop evaporation
- Ensure every crop reaches the same target moisture level
- Improve irrigation timing, one of the most critical factors for orchid growth and plant health
As Floricultura shared:
"The weighing scale is going to be very helpful to see if we are watering on all three locations on the same schedule, to understand evaporation differences, make sure every plant reaches the same target weight, and improve irrigation timing, which is crucial for growth and health." - Edwin Knijnenburg
The Solution
Microclimates integrated wireless LoRaWAN load sensors directly into EnvOS.
Each growing cart sits on a precision load cell that continuously measures crop weight. The wireless LoRaWAN load cell communicated to EnvOS, allowing weight data to be transmitted over long distances without running communication wiring. The converter supports standard load cells, long battery life, and reliable long-range communication, making it well suited for greenhouse deployments.
The live weight measurements are displayed alongside other environmental data.
Why Weight Matters for Orchids
Unlike many crops, orchids respond significantly to small differences in substrate moisture.
Monitoring crop weight allows growers to:
- Determine exactly when irrigation is needed
- Verify each irrigation event delivers the desired water volume
- Measure daily water loss through evapotranspiration
- Compare growing conditions between facilities
- Identify irrigation inconsistencies before they affect crop quality
- Standardize irrigation strategies across multiple locations
Instead of watering based solely on time or experience, growers can make irrigation decisions based on actual plant water status.
Benefits
Using wireless load sensors integrated with EnvOS, Floricultura can now:
✔ Monitor crop weight remotely
✔ Compare irrigation performance across all three facilities
✔ Track daily evaporation trends
✔ Verify irrigation consistency
✔ Optimize irrigation timing
✔ Improve crop uniformity
✔ Reduce water waste while maintaining plant quality
Integrated into EnvOS
Weight data becomes another layer of environmental intelligence inside EnvOS.
By combining:
- Climate
- Temperature
- Humidity
- VPD
- Light Irradiance
- Crop Weight
growers gain a more complete understanding of how environmental conditions influence plant performance.
EnvOS doesn't simply display weight—it connects crop weight to the environmental conditions driving plant growth.