Sending runs as a pilot. Elf already sends alerts by SMS and e-mail, but there is no toggle in the module yet - we switch them on for your account on request ([email protected]). Without the pilot you still see the warnings only when you open the module screen.
What the pilot sends
Once a day in the morning Elf checks the forecast for your vineyard coordinates and the current station
reading. The e-mail goes out only when there is a reason:
-
frost - when the forecast for the next 24 hours reaches the threshold (2 °C during the growing
season by default, -18 °C in winter dormancy); frost also triggers an SMS, - downy mildew - the 10:10:24 rule: at least 10 mm of rain in a day with a minimum of 10 °C,
- powdery mildew - average temperature and humidity over the last 7 days in the range that favours it,
- silent station - when the sensors stop reporting for more than an hour.
A spraying window is added to the e-mail as context, but never triggers one on its own - so “all is well”
does not land in your inbox every day. Elf reads the season from the weather (the highest temperature of
the last 7 days), not from the calendar month, so an autumn frost on green leaves raises an alert too,
and a vineyard in the southern hemisphere gets the same thresholds in its own months.
Thresholds are set per account - tell us if your vineyard needs different ones.
What Elf calculates today
Frost risk
The Frost protection screen shows the ground temperature from your weather station, how fast it has been falling over recent hours and a risk level. When the threat is real, a frost flag appears together with a recommendation as to which spray sections to run. You confirm the start yourself.
Disease risk
The disease monitor calculates the risk of four fungal diseases from the weather of the last few days:
| Disease | Model | Key conditions |
|---|---|---|
| Downy mildew | Mills 10:10:24 | at least 10 mm of rain, at least 10°C, 24 hours |
| Powdery mildew | Gübler-Thomas | 20-25°C, humidity above 40%, no rain |
| Black rot | Cornell (Spotts) | leaves wet for at least 6 hours, 15-27°C |
| Botrytis | IFV / UC Davis | humidity above 90% for at least 12 hours |
Next to the risk, the module shows spray windows - the hours when the weather allows a treatment.
Cellar conditions
Cellar monitoring shows temperature and humidity from the sensors, plus a recommendation on switching the anti-frost heater on or off.
What is missing today
There is no toggle in the module: no Settings and Alerts screen, no channel picker, no WhatsApp, no delivery history. We configure the pilot on our side, so you cannot switch it on or change the thresholds from the app. If your account is not in the pilot, leave the frost protection screen open on your phone through a frost night and set an alarm.
What we are planning
- Events: frost (both forecast and current reading), a rise in disease risk, an official deadline at 30, 7 and 1 day’s notice, cellar conditions out of range, no fresh data from the station, and a low sensor battery.
- Thresholds: configurable, with sensible defaults. Today’s on-screen thresholds - ground temperature, disease risk level - are the starting point.
- Anti-spam: no more than one notification per 12 hours for the same threat.
- Quiet hours, with an exception for frost.
- Notification history: date, content, channel and delivery status.
- Channels: email, SMS, WhatsApp. The order and the per-channel cost are still being worked out.
The rule we will not break
A notification informs and recommends. It will not start the sprinklers or the heater for you - that stays a human decision. Elf works on the principle of observe, recommend, a person confirms, and with frost protection we hold to it deliberately: a failed automation means frozen buds.
Do you have a view on the thresholds, or on which channel matters most to you? Write to [email protected] before we build it.