Automatic Water, Fertilizer and Insecticide Dispenser System for Rose Garden using ESP8266 and Blynk IoT Platform

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to develop an automatic water, fertilizer, insecticide dispenser system for rose garden based on timers set via a smartphone and Blynk IoT platform. With the aim to reduce manual labor and save resources, the system is able to control the water supply, fertilizer, and insecticide amount through a relay module connected to the solenoid valve. Fertilizer and pesticide mixture stored in separated tanks are dispensed into the rose garden plot of size 1m x 4.5m via PVC and PE pipes. A dropper is installed above the base of each rose plant for water and fertilizer distribution. As for dispensing of the pesticide, five spray nozzles are attached to the pipe at the top of the plot. To monitor the condition of the plot, soil moisture, air humidity and temperature sensors are installed and the sensor data are collected and displayed on the application. All control and data transmission are handled by an ESP8266 module in conjunction with a Blynk IoT platform. In addition, the system is able to send alert messages about the solenoid valve operations via Line Notify. The proposed control system and application were deployed and tested at Ponpimol Rose Garden in Chiang Mai, Thailand for a period of one month. Throughout this period, the system was able to continuously operate without any errors or downtime, and all LINE notifications were correctly sent. The target rose plot carried 45 rose plants which were between 30 – 50 cm in height. The amount of water, fertilizer, and insecticide dispensed at each instance were 42.75 l, 453 ml, 2.26 l, respectively. According to the cost analysis, the proposed system can help reduce the labor cost by 52%, and after considering the cost of equipment and installation, the break-even point is around 94 days.