What can a smart irrigation system do?

Water Needs of Plants

A smart irrigation system makes watering your garden child's play. But how exactly does it work?

The water needs of a garden or irrigation area depend on many factors. Important ones include temperature and sunlight intensity, soil structure, plant species and root depth, wind, and humidity. And most of the time, the most important water source is still natural rain rather than artificial irrigation. The water demand of the garden fluctuates greatly. Even in midsummer, days with excess water from precipitation follow days with moderate or very high water demand.

A smart irrigation system can communicate via the internet and optimize water delivery based on measured parameters and internet control, thereby promoting the health of soil and plants.

Here are the most important features a smart irrigation system should have

1. App control and remote access: A smart irrigation system should be accessible via an app on the smartphone, allowing the user to monitor status, change settings, and receive notifications no matter where they are.
2. Customizable watering times: The system should support schedules that can be adjusted at any time to the individual needs of the garden and plants.
3. Weather integration: An essential feature of smart irrigation systems is considering weather forecasts to decide when and how much to water. When rain is imminent, irrigation is reduced or completely stopped.
4. Soil moisture Sensors: Using Sensors to measure soil moisture allows the system to precisely determine when the soil is dry and needs water. This prevents both over- and underwatering.
5. Water volume control: It should offer the ability to precisely control the amount of water to avoid waste and protect the environment.
6. Energy efficiency: To be smart, the devices must be connected, and constant communication consumes a lot of energy. Therefore, they ideally operate with solar charging and a long-lasting battery.
7. Compatibility with smart home systems: A good smart irrigation system should integrate into existing smart home systems so it can work with other devices like weather stations or voice assistants.
8. Adaptability to different plant species and garden areas: Different plants and garden areas have different watering needs, which a smart system can adapt to.

How smart is MIYO?

The MIYO irrigation system in a garden is controlled by the MIYO Cube. It stores and processes all data locally and is connected to the internet via a standard Ethernet connection, making it easily accessible from a variety of systems. Thus, the Cube is connected to the MIYO app on the smartphone, stores the garden status in the MIYO Cloud, receives weather data, and can be controlled by smart home systems or via the open API by self-created programs.

For optimal irrigation, the garden is divided into irrigation zones. For each zone, any number of watering windows can be created throughout the week. If a Sensor is used, the target range for soil moisture can be set.

On the garden side, the Cube is wirelessly connected to the Valves and Sensors. It receives information from the Sensor about soil moisture, temperature, and sunlight intensity for the irrigation zone. When irrigation is triggered based on parameters or manually, the Cube opens the Valves assigned to the irrigation zone.

What advantages does MIYO offer?

• Flourishing garden: With MIYO, irrigation is very easy and quick to adapt to the needs of soil and plants. This ensures that a key factor for a flourishing garden, irrigation, is always optimally maintained.
• Water savings: Through the diverse settings, integration of soil moisture measurement, and weather forecast, MIYO can significantly reduce water consumption. During periods of frequent rainfall, savings exceed 50%.
• Calculation of evapotranspiration: MIYO uses numerous factors from precipitation to temperature, sunlight intensity, and wind to calculate a theoretical water demand of the garden, which can be used as a basis for irrigation duration. More information on evapotranspiration can be found here.
• No battery consumption: The energy for Sensors and devices is provided via solar charging. Conventional Valves, e.g., from Gardena, consume at least 3 AA batteries per irrigation season. MIYO requires 3 AAA rechargeable batteries for a lifespan of 5-10 years. The saving of about 12 to 30 batteries per Valve (!) over the device's lifetime is an important contribution to conserving resources and the environment.
• Irrigation zones: With MIYO, the garden can be divided into any number of irrigation circuits, all individually adjustable to the needs of the plants. This ensures that plants with different water requirements are optimally and water-efficiently irrigated.

What can MIYO not do?

Every garden is different. Differences start with the soil and extend through microclimate, slope, orientation, to the plants. MIYO cannot make adjustments to these conditions, but it provides the garden owner with a powerful tool to efficiently and sustainably solve one of the main questions, namely water management.

Switch over and let your smart MIYO irrigation system do the work for you!