What the F*CK is Crop steering?
Crop steering... possibly the most over used and over hyped word in the industry or is it actually something worth looking at?
Crop steering in agriculture refers to the deliberate manipulation of environmental, Irrigation, feeding and lighting conditions to influence the growth and development of plants. Crops can be steered by adjusting factors like light intensity, light spectrum, environmental temperature, humidity, irrigation cycles, nutrient strength and CO2 levels.
By optimizing those inputs you will be able to achieve certain outcomes such as increased yield, quality, or specific growth characteristics ie: making a plant 'stretch or stack'.
We could go really deep into this rabbit hole but for now we will give you an overview on how crops can be steered using Fertilizer, Lighting and irrigation cycles.
Examples:
Fertilizer
Crop steering with nutrients/fertilizer involves adjusting the type, concentration, and timing of nutrient delivery to influence the plant's growth stages.
Vegetative Stage:
Nitrogen (N): Higher levels of nitrogen during the vegetative stage will stimulate plants to grow taller and produce more leaves and branches
Flowering:
Decreasing the nitrogen levels as the plant transitions into the flowering stage will help shift the plant's focus from vegetative to generative (flowering).
Increase Phosphorus and Potassium: Boost phosphorus to support root development and flowering, and increase potassium to enhance flower size and overall plant health. Maintaining high levels of phosphorus and potassium will support flower development, it will increase your fruit density, and improve oil production.
Lighting
Using spectrum-adjustable lights to crop steer involves manipulating the light spectrum at different stages of the plant's life cycle to optimize growth, yield, and quality. The concept of using light to steer plants is not new however with the constant development of LED lights, we are now able to push the boundaries and experiment more than ever before!
Blue Light:
Increase the intensity of blue light during the vegetative stage. Blue light promotes strong vegetative growth, enhances leaf development, and encourages compact, bushy plants.
Increase Red and Far-Red Light:
During the flowering stage, increase the proportion of red and far-red light. Red light promotes bud and flower development and increases flower size and density.
Far-red light has been shown to speed up the flowering process, which could potentially lead to a quicker crop cycle resulting in a more efficient use of the space and potentially more revenue for commercial applications
Day Length:
You can maintain a longer day length (18-24 hours of light) to keep the plants in the vegetative state, while switching the light cycle to 12 hours on and 12 hours off will let the plant know that it needs to start flowering. (Think of it like winter and summer, in summer the days are longer and winter the days are shorter - Not all plants respond to changes in light cycles ).
Irrigation
Crop steering with irrigation involves controlling the timing, frequency, and volume (of water) that is delivered to the plants.
Vegetative Stage:
Frequent Watering: During the vegetative stage, plants require frequent watering to support rapid growth and leaf development.
Dry-back: During the vegetative stage you will want your root zone to maintain a higher moisture content. This will lead to taller more stretched plants.
Flowering:
Adjust Frequency: Reduce the frequency of watering, This helps to signal the plant to shift its focus from vegetative to generative growth(flowering).
Dry-back: Introduce larger 'dry-backs' over night to stress the plant more - having large dry-backs (over night) will make the plants stay shorter with closer internodal spacing.
Important things to remember
Crop steering is a balance and you will need to consider all factors before you start to push your plants to hard.
Watering to much during flowering can cause root rot or botrytis and having lights that are too bright or the wrong spectrum can cause your plants to grow with undesirable characteristics.
To reach your plants full potential, we recommend doing small changes and monitoring your plant - not all plants are the same and not all environments are the same, what works for your mate might not work the same for you
Final thoughts
Crop steering is a deep topic with a lot to still be discovered, there are break throughs on a daily basis as technology changes and more scientists look to the future of growing, and how it can be done in the least impactful but most productive way.
Hopefully this still helped you get excited about the possibilities of crop steering, Now go do some research and start experimenting!
The future of cultivation is bright!
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