The equipment we install, and why that equipment

We rely on them because it is the only coherent set that runs from the vent drive motor all the way to the supervision software. One supplier for both the mechanics and the control means settings that do not contradict each other, and parts that can still be found ten years after installation.

A badly tuned controller lets the setpoint oscillate, and the installation then runs short cycles that degrade boiler efficiency. We work with Anjou Automation because they manufacture in France, know the French greenhouse and answer in our language: when a controller fails in the middle of the season, the repair chain is short.

Hardware and software come from the same place, with a spare parts catalogue and input/output modules you add without changing ecosystem. Wireless connectivity also makes it possible to instrument an existing greenhouse without digging a trench, which changes the cost of a refit.

In irrigation everything comes down to distribution uniformity: a circuit delivering 15% more at the start of a row than at the end means an uneven crop and wasted fertiliser. We choose Netafim for the consistency of their drippers and because the range covers the whole chain, from dosing to the base of the plant.

Dripline is a consumable: it gets rebought, and a network tied to a single manufacturer is exposed to that manufacturer's lead times and prices. Having two qualified micro-irrigation sources protects your seasons, and lets us choose the dripper that suits the crop rather than the one that happens to be available.

A greenhouse pump works every day of the season, often with loaded or fertilised water. We favour Ebara for how the stainless steel versions hold up over time, and because wear parts stay available for years, which avoids replacing a whole unit because of a seal.

A fixed-speed pump runs at full power while the flow is throttled at the valve: the difference turns into heat and wear. Integrated speed control follows the actual demand, which matters on equipment that runs every single day of the season.

A heating circulator runs all winter: its efficiency compounds hour after hour, and that is where the gap between a high-efficiency model and an ordinary one becomes visible. Variable speed also avoids paying for oversizing calculated for the worst case.

A greenhouse fan clocks up thousands of hours a year. An electronically commutated motor draws considerably less at partial speed than a conventional motor being throttled, and it can be tuned finely: that is what lets you move air without drying the crop out.

A controller is never better than the sensor feeding it: running a greenhouse on a reading that has drifted by two degrees means heating for nothing all season. We fit Vaisala where accuracy is critical, and use it to check the drift of the other sensors.

pH and conductivity are the two numbers that decide a nutrient solution. A portable meter is there to check on site what the fixed probes claim: that independent reading stops you correcting a fertigation programme based on a fouled sensor.

A greenhouse is a humid environment, hosed down, in permanent condensation. ifm sensors are built for industry, with the ingress protection ratings that go with it, where a sensor designed for buildings lasts a season or two.