Growth of Garlic in Hydroponic System with IoT-Based Monitoring

Abstract

Garlic is one of the main crops the Philippines produce every year. Currently, this is cultivated in the traditional way wherein farmers used soil as its growing medium. A hydroponic system is a new method of planting that has a promising output in a better quality of production. This study focused on the cultivation of garlic as the testing plant in the Ebb and Flow hydroponic system and in the traditional way. An IoT-based monitoring system is also implemented in the study to monitor the pH, Electrical Conductivity (EC), and water temperature of the hydroponic system. The monitoring system used ThingSpeak to store, analyze, and visualize the acquired data by the sensors. As well as the IoT ThingSpeak Monitor Widget to monitor the data in the user’s mobile phone widget. The data that were gathered for the statistical treatment for both the traditional and the hydroponic system are the height of the plant’s leaves for the 20 days after transplant (DAT), 40 DAT, 60 DAT, bulb diameter at 60 DAT, and fresh weight at 60 DAT. Based on the statistical result, it was concluded that the Ebb and Flow hydroponic system has better plant production compared to that of the traditional.