Smarter Tools for Peatless Growing Media: Monitoring Substrates in PEATLESS Trials

Reducing peat use in horticulture is not only about developing alternative substrates. It also requires new ways of understanding and monitoring how these materials behave under cultivation conditions.

Within the PEATLESS project, this challenge is being addressed through the development of advanced monitoring solutions capable of supporting growers during the transition toward peatless systems.

In this context, CESENS is contributing to the development and optimisation of a digital monitoring system designed to improve crop management, irrigation control and substrate evaluation across different horticultural applications.

Why monitoring matters in peatless cultivation

Peat-free and reduced-peat substrates do not behave exactly like conventional peat-based growing media. The differences are clear:

• Water retention
• Moisture distribution
• Irrigation response
• Physical structure

For growers, this means that adopting alternative substrates also requires reliable tools capable of helping interpret what is happening inside the growing media under real conditions.

This is where monitoring technologies become essential.

Improving sensor calibration for new substrates

Following the first proof-of-concept activities carried out in mushroom cultivation, CESENS has focused on improving the precision and adaptability of the monitoring system for a wider range of crops and substrates.

One of the main areas of work has been the calibration of capacitive sensors for the new peatless materials developed within PEATLESS.

Because these alternative substrates behave differently from traditional peat-based media, standard sensor configurations are not always accurate enough. To address this, CESENS has been carrying out laboratory tests combining:

• Oven-drying techniques
• Precision weighing methods
• Sensor response analysis

This work is helping transform raw sensor readings into more useful and easy-to-interpret information for growers and researchers.

Towards more flexible and scalable systems

Beyond sensor calibration, the monitoring platform itself has also been improved to support greater flexibility during trials. This updated system now allows:

• Individual calibration of each sensor
• Remote adjustment of monitoring parameters
• Adaptation to different crops and substrates
• Easier scalability across multiple experimental sites

These improvements are particularly important because PEATLESS trials involve different cultivation systems, including mushrooms, seedlings and ornamental crops, each with distinct monitoring requirements.

Exploring alternative monitoring approaches

During the implementation of the system in horticultural seedling trials, project partners identified some limitations when using conventional soil moisture sensors.

Due to the characteristics of these production systems, it proved difficult to obtain fully representative measurements of substrate water dynamics using standard approaches alone.

To address this challenge, CESENS is currently working with project partners to explore alternative monitoring solutions.

One of the most promising approaches under evaluation is based on continuous weighing systems, capable of tracking weight variations over time. This method provides a more integrated understanding of how water behaves within the substrate and allows more robust comparisons between peat-based and peatless growing media.

Preparing for validation across Europe

The monitoring solutions developed within PEATLESS are now moving toward a broader validation phase.

In the coming months, these systems are expected to be deployed across several experimental sites in Europe, where PEATLESS partners are conducting trials under different cultivation conditions.

The data generated through these activities will help improve the understanding of peatless substrates and support growers in making more informed irrigation and crop management decisions.

Supporting the transition toward smarter peatless systems

The transition toward peatless horticulture is not only about replacing one material with another. It also involves developing the tools and knowledge needed to manage these new systems effectively.

Through its work on monitoring technologies, CESENS is helping bridge the gap between substrate innovation and practical cultivation management, supporting more efficient, adaptable and sustainable horticultural practices within the broader objectives of the PEATLESS project.