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Open Source Farming Robot

farm.bot

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Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#151

Post by tzot »

mapt wrote: post #86
tuatoru wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was told that water beads on leaf surfaces act as lenses, creating burnt spots on the leaves. So water at night.

This is 99% urban legend. You can just barely create it in a lab with just the right plant (with thick hydrophobic trichromes) under just the right light with no wind... but that's not what happens in nature.

> but that's not what happens in nature.

Exactly. When it rains in nature, 95% of the times a) there isn't enough sunlight for the droplets to focus and make a burn spot, and b) the droplets don't stay on the leaf but flow down instead.

The original advice is solid and not an urban legend, but it applies to cases like watering plants in your balcony when the sun is out, bright and hot. Source: I have caused burn spots in plants of my own.

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#153

Post by nathancahill »

Loughla wrote: post #26
_heimdall wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd be better off doing the farming the old fashioned way if the goal is to feed a family. Farming is a terrible business to be in today, but that's mainly due to the abysmal profit margins. When your goal is to feed your family rather than turn a profit, that stops mattering. Most people with any yard or outdoor space could get to the point of growing/raising a large portion of their own food without too much inve…

I've talked about this on this site over the years. My family is close to providing enough food on its own little farm for the whole family, all year (except dairy products and wheat products). It has taken decades. And about 15 acres. And honestly I don't know how many hours. Tens and tens of thousands. You can grow a small amount of your own food "without too much investment or work". To replace a substantial porti…

I grew up in a family of 6, we had a 1 acre garden and 3 acres for goats and sheep, 2 acres of fruit trees. Yes, it was a full-time job for my parents, but we canned and froze everything for the winter and only went to the store for sacks of flour. It's possible to do on less land. It took about 5 years to get to the point of sustainability.

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#154

Post by Loughla »

snickmy wrote: post #128
antoniojtorres wrote: post #84

This worries me from a positioning standpoint. I imagine a large amount of people with a garden bed, even a large one, garden because they like it, this would get in the way of that. The device doesn’t appear like it would scale well to anything large enough, and even then it would compete with much more sophisticated solutions that do this. I feel like it’s actual market may end up being pretty narrow, not that it i…

Do you have any link to more sophisticated solutions ? genuine ask

Legitimately look into custom farming practices. The level of automation, data, and general technology in use in farming today is amazing.

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#155

Post by skywhopper »

efilife wrote: post #73
jahewson wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it’s the difference in frequency. There’s likely other factors too, I’d suppose rain purges mold spores from the air for example, as it does with particulate pollution.

May I ask why you used there's instead of there are? There is likely sounds wrong and is wrong and I see it very often

That’s a natural way to speak in American English anyway. You wouldn’t say “there is”. But “there’s” is fine.

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#156

Post by NotGMan »

willguest wrote: post #137

How many harvests would it take to offset the emissions that go into producing a kit? My guess is that this uses more steel per sapling than almost any other method of tending to a vegetable

Why always this obsession with emissions?

People don't want poisoned food from pesticides etc... primarly.

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#157

Post by klntsky »

ROI shouldn't be calculated based on the costs of transportation, because no one goes to the store to buy just vegetables (and not everyone drives to the store, it's a purely suburban american thing). Not to mention 'CO2 costs' that you don't pay at all

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#159

Post by Kerrick »

thatcat wrote: post #100
getpost wrote: post #30

It sill looks like the software is written by people who don't know how to care for plants. You don't spray water on leaves as shown in the video; you'll just end up with fungus infestation. You water the soil and nourish the microorganisms that facilitate nutrient absorption in roots. But, I don't see any reason the technology can't be adapted to do the right thing.

There's a thing called foliar spraying, where you do spray water and nutrients on the leaves. You don't do it in the sunshine though because the water droplets will magnify the light and burn the leaves.

This magnifying glass effect is a pervasive and dangerous (to thirsty plants) garden myth. Don’t let sunshine stop you from watering a plant that’s suffering from lack of water. https://s3.wp.wsu.edu/uploads/sites/403/2015/03/leaf-scorch....

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#160

Post by Kerrick »

tzot wrote: post #151
mapt wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is 99% urban legend. You can just barely create it in a lab with just the right plant (with thick hydrophobic trichromes) under just the right light with no wind... but that's not what happens in nature.

> but that's not what happens in nature. Exactly. When it rains in nature, 95% of the times a) there isn't enough sunlight for the droplets to focus and make a burn spot, and b) the droplets don't stay on the leaf but flow down instead. The original advice is solid and not an urban legend, but it applies to cases like watering plants in your balcony when the sun is out, bright and hot. Source: I have caused burn spot…

Those “burn spots” are almost certainly from a fungal disease, not from some magnifying glass effect. https://s3.wp.wsu.edu/uploads/sites/403/2015/03/leaf-scorch....
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