Automatic Plant Watering System for Local Red Onion Palu using Arduino

Central Sulawesi Province in Indonesia has great potential for horticultural commodities, namely local red onion Palu. In the current climate change, local farmers are still watering plants in the conventional way. The automatic watering system simplifies the work of local farmers. This device uses a soil moisture sensor as a soil moisture detector and Arduino as a program brain. This study aims to determine the position of soil moisture sensor, the optimal length of watering time and analyze the quality of data stored. The experiment was carried out using a Completely Randomized Design (CRD). The position of the soil moisture sensor was analyzed by Profile Analysis. The optimal length of watering time was determined by Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Least Significant Difference (LSD). The quality of data stored was determined by a number of missing values and frequency of watering. The results showed that in soil planting media the position of soil moisture sensor had no significant effect, while in others planting media (water and combination of water and soil) the position of the sensor had a significant effect. The optimal watering time was 3 seconds. The stored data has low quality in terms of missing values and lack of consistency.