Optimizing CEA with environmental monitoring data
Source: VFD.com
As growers strive to maximize yields and maintain consistency throughout the year, having access to accurate, actionable data is essential for understanding how conditions influence plant performance. An upcoming webinar from LI-COR will explore how monitoring key variables, including solar radiation, photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD), air temperature, relative humidity, soil moisture and temperature, and soil electrical conductivity, can help growers fine-tune conditions in both greenhouses and indoor farms.
Presenters will draw on real-world examples, including the HOBO MX2300 Product Series and the LI-COR LI-350 soil moisture and electrical conductivity sensor, to illustrate practical applications. Attendees can expect to learn how to measure and interpret PAR, daily light integral (DLI), and other lighting metrics to better understand growing conditions and identify opportunities to optimize lighting for higher yields and improved crop quality.
The webinar will also cover how temperature, humidity, and vapor pressure deficit (VPD) influence transpiration and crop timing, why monitoring soil or substrate moisture and temperature is critical to plant performance, and how tracking electrical conductivity supports effective management of high-value crops. Whether managing a commercial greenhouse, vertical farm, research facility, or specialty crop operation, participants will come away with practical guidance for using light and environmental data to optimize growing conditions and improve crop outcomes.
Why this matters: For operators, this is a water-management story. The useful signal is that direct substrate measurements can help cut drain loss materially without giving up yield or fruit quality, which is exactly the kind of controllable efficiency gain a facility can build on.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does substrate sensing matter in free-drain strawberry systems?
Because drain percentage tells a grower what already happened, while substrate moisture and EC data show root-zone conditions directly. That makes it easier to cut water loss without guessing.
What is the operator takeaway from this trial?
If the thresholds are understood well enough, growers can reduce drain water materially while protecting yield and fruit quality, which makes sensing an operational tool instead of a reporting tool.
