My vegetable garden at 54

[Doris]

on the other hand with this weather I hope that my potatoes will not rot in the hay

Here I also had a lot of water, since I put the first potatoes at the end of January, and the hay layer is good, well mineralizing, it's slushy. Today I harvested the very first early potatoes, no worries about rotting.

Ah that's cool, at the end of January what region do you live in?

On the Landes coast

[Miaos]

I go back to this subject to share my humble experience in relation to a point discussed above; the automation of the opening of the layers with an Arduino. Warning; dream breaker mode activated. Sorry

To put it simply: I work in a nursery. 8000m² of greenhouses managed by a necessarily "professional" system. The panacea? Rather practical, but far from the dream if the climate plays its part (it's so rare, yes, I know ... hum!). This kind of system may be over-studied, it very often comes up against some concerns: conflicts between the different probes. The classics: we're closing, it's too windy VS we open, it's too hot ou we close, it's raining VS we open, it's too hot.

Sometimes even the problem only comes from a probe, that of the wind, which must open a little more on the "leeward" side and close a little "into the wind" to prevent it from rushing too strongly. In the case of a wind that is perpendicular to the openings (N / S), it is easy and it manages rather well. But in case of wind in the axis (E / W) and a little variable, it is the fair. I open more to the north, less to the south because it comes more from the south than from the north, or rather more to the south and less to the north because it comes more from the north, although more or less north of the south and less more to the south from the north because it comes from the northern south... crzzzcrzzzz ... and it opens, and it closes, and it opens, and it closes and paf the wind rushes in and bam everything that flies in the greenhouses.

It is therefore very complicated to manage for a professional system and, in period of capricious weather (the famous change of seasons), we spend most of the time in manual mode, instinctively managing the opening of about thirty engines much more reliably than a battery of probes and a computer supposedly sophisticated in the matter. Isolated case ? Many of my producers and suppliers have the same concerns.

So I imagine the complexity of programming an arduino (I had my Raspberry Pi phase) whose cheap probes make data rather messy. It's not quite the same thing with layers: they are rather close to the ground, so we can break the wind with the help of hedges or the like and avoid one of the major problems but without guarantee of assured laziness. . It will always be necessary to be able to intervene in the event of a weather whim.

In short, not easy

[Moindreffor]

It is therefore very complicated to manage for a professional system and, in period of capricious weather [...] the manual opening of about thirty motors in a much more reliable way than a battery of probes and a computer

this is especially the problem, the management of about thirty engines and different parameters, because of the surface, as you say, if we do not manage the wind in a sharp way, on a chassis, we can therefore focus everything on temperature
I changed Fab Lab and in this one one of the projects is the automation and the management of a greenhouse with arduino, so we will quickly come to grips with the problem, I will keep you posted

[Did67]

... It's not quite the same with the layers: they are rather close to the ground, so we can break the wind with the help of hedges or the like and avoid one of the major problems but without guarantee of laziness assured. You will always have to be able to intervene in the event of a weather whim.

For my part, when I mentioned that (if it is about me!), I was indeed in this hypothesis: frames, with the enormous constraint of the opening you open too early, automatically, and it does not heat up; you open too late, and quickly enough it's "toasted") ... The wind is just to prevent the frames from catching the wind in full face (but my frames are very often "open", by wedges , while there is wind; a steady wind) ...

And I did not say it, I was also in a process: "to relieve the strain" - thus being able sometimes to be free, to leave sometimes without worrying about "it will burn out if the sun ever rises" ... With the weather, we know if "big disturbances" are likely to strain the system (thunderstorms, vortex wind, etc.) ...

But thank you very much for this remark.

[Biobomb]

So I imagine the complexity of programming an arduino (I had my Raspberry Pi phase) whose cheap probes make data rather messy.

Isn't the Raspberry better? You know them ?
There are probes for all budgets, but are the more expensive more reliable? .
Another difficulty: the motors that operate the arms and levers are they 12v or 220v, or even solar, what then in the evening or at night?

[Did67]

Another difficulty: the motors that operate the arms and levers are they 12v or 220v, or even solar, what then in the evening or at night?

Without knowing anything about it, I had thought of electric jacks, which exist in 12 V ...

[Miaos]

I played with a Raspberry Pi first of the name, it must be more than ten years. The principle must remain the same I imagine, even if it must have evolved. At the time, I tried an automatic watering system which ended up falling apart (yes I know) following inconsistent returns from the probes for the depth of the reserve. The sonar supposed to estimate the water height sometimes measured 100 or even 120cm of differences from one minute to another for a barrel of 200L. Yeah I know, I'm quibbling over details

I think it has improved since then. At least I hope so.

For Didier's project, it must be simple if we limit ourselves to a few parameters. Hours, temperatures, point. Adding the possibility of a manual mode is an additional difficulty; who has priority? What happens if we forget to switch back to automatic and it freezes? Worse, if we are sure to have put it back in automatic mode, will we go and check it once the sun has risen or will we let our seedlings roast, too confident in its program?

It must be exciting to do, I might even fall back into the game myself, but that raises a lot of questions and a hell of a technicality.

For the moment, I am thinking about the construction of the layers themselves, it is a first step. There is a fairly imposing pile of earth, the volume of which corresponds at first sight to a wall 4m by 1 high and 50-60 cm wide in adobe, with some natural slates, thick planks, glass to be cut, etc. If you see where I'm going ...

[Biobomb]

Another difficulty: the motors that operate the arms and levers are they 12v or 220v, or even solar, what then in the evening or at night?

Without knowing anything about it, I had thought of electric jacks, which exist in 12 V ...

Well done Didier, so we need a car battery or a transformer nearby.
But the blinds which close by themselves when the anemometer gives the order are controlled by an electric motor and an endless screw.

[Biobomb]

I think it has improved since then. At least I hope so.

What has especially changed is the gear: there can be more, it is the memory and the connections, and faster because the chips are faster.
Seriously: I programmed, in its time, in a professional context, the Minitel chip, and it worked well.

The difficulty is easy to understand: if there is a strong wind I want to close my windows. but what is a strong wind? It's relative, isn't it?
In simplified machine language this gives: if I exceed 4 Beaufort degrees then I send the order to close my
windows. If I set the Beaufort degrees or the wind speed in m / s then I will have an interesting flexibility.
another example: if the moisture content of the soil is too low, I want my watering pump to switch on
road.

Yes Miaos, it is not easy to program but not impossible, while avoiding the "gas factory".

[Moindreffor]

Yes Miaos, it is not easy to program but not impossible, while avoiding the "gas factory".

I think you are looking for complicated where we can make it simple, it is true that we have more and more probes of all kinds, more and more efficient gear, opening up more and more possibilities and we are starting to dream...

use a sonar to measure the depth of the water while a simple polystyrene ball would have made a very good float coupled that to a detector and there was no more problem, or even a simple system of switches will and comes

I think that given the weight of the windows of Didier's frames, it is not the wind that will make them fly away but on the other hand it's this weight that you have to lift, after even without spending hours at the gym lifting cast iron, I think that with a jack we have all already lifted our car to change a wheel

So we have the choice to either lighten and it may fly away or leave heavy and adapt the lifting system

if we look at a 3D printer, we program the movements to within 0.12mm and yet the limit switch is secured by a simple push switch,

so indeed, we can try to manage in a very high technology way or to use a little more D system reinforced by technology ...