extremism, and the automatic pumpkin

Alright, I'll come clean.  I am trying to cobble together an automatic
watering system that responds to garden conditions. The system pipes data
from sensors into a PC, which runs a program that makes watering and other
decisions.

I've been fantasizing about this project for some time, but now, I can
honestly say that the hardware and software is under construction.   That
means it is the perfect time to ask the group for suggestions about growing
the "automatic pumpkin".

So, imagine that you lived in your pumpkin patch  and had the opportunity
to *reallllllly* stay on top of a few garden conditions... as in measure
them every few seconds.  What would they be?  What actions would you take
in response?  For example, if air temperature ever went above 90 F, you
could turn on misters.  If the soil was ever too dry, you could irrigate.
This requires two sensors, for temperature and soil moisture, and two
"actuators" -  in this case, computer controlled valves.  Another idea is
to work on  keeping leaves in a water-happy, pumped-up state, since that is
a hallmark of plant well-being.  It would require a leaf-turgor sensor,
however, and I am not having much luck locating one.  Anybody have a
pointer?

I figure that I am either onto something wonderful, or that I am headed for
a truly royal disaster, since we all know it takes a computer to "mess"
things up in style.  Nevertheless, I am going to give it a try.

I'd really appreciate any (and all) of your ideas.

	Dan Shapiro



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