New UF/IFAS Apps Save Resources

With help from several departments in UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, UF has released a series of “smart irrigation apps” to help manage urban and agricultural irrigation.

The apps are designed to help commercial farmers and small-time gardeners calculate their plant’s precise water demand to save money and water resources.

There are currently apps available for citrus, strawberries, cotton, avocado, vegetables and urban lawn. Check them out here: http://smartirrigationapps.org/

Read more about these and other UF/IFAS apps here: http://news.ifas.ufl.edu/2015/08/ufifas-apps-give-irrigation-growing-tips-and-more/#more-9025

Hort Sci Professor Helps Create Irrigation App

UF Horticultural Sciences professor Jonathan Crane was part of a team of UF/IFAS professors who created an app to improve irrigation for avocado growers.

The app, known as Smartirrigation Avocado, creates a 15-day irrigation schedule for growers based on information about the growing site, plant types and weather. This data allows the app calculate how much water is lost from the plant and surrounding soil each day and generate specific irrigation recommendations.  The app’s creators estimate it will decrease water usage for each user by 20 to 50 percent.

Avocado has become one of Florida’s biggest fruit crops, second only to citrus, and has a $64 million impact on the state’s economy. More efficient irrigation in this industry could be an important step to decreasing state wide water use.

Smartirrigation Avocado is available for free in the Apple and Android app stores.