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An Interview with Liam Spencer @AROYA

Admin • 2 October, 2026

Today's podcast explores AROYA's approach to data-driven cultivation, discussing crop steering, precision irrigation, substrate sensors, water content, EC, VPD, drybacks, field capacity, irrigation strategies, environmental monitoring, wireless connectivity, software integration, and the tools growers can use to better understand and manage cultivation environments.

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Introduction

Welcome to today's episode, where we sit down with Liam Spencer, Account Executive at AROYA, to explore crop steering, precision irrigation, and data-driven cultivation. Join us as we discuss substrate monitoring, water content, EC, VPD, drybacks, irrigation strategies, environmental conditions, and how growers can use real-time data to better understand plant responses.

From Teros substrate sensors and climate sensors to the Drip and Drain Station, runoff monitoring, wireless connectivity, and AROYA's software platform, this conversation takes a closer look at the tools used to monitor and manage cultivation environments. We also discuss vegetative and generative steering, field capacity, irrigation windows, EC stacking, beneficial microbes, root-zone biology, Modbus integration, and the importance of matching technology and cultivation strategies to each facility's needs.

Liam Spenser

Account Executive at AROYA

0:00

Meet Liam Spencer of AROYA

Elliott introduces Liam Spencer, Director of Cultivation Solutions at AROYA, and sets the stage for a conversation focused on crop steering, precision irrigation, sensors, and cultivation technology.

0:49

Liam's Path: Curaleaf, 300 Lights, Scynce LED, AROYA

Liam discusses his background in commercial cultivation, including his work with Curaleaf, Beg Good, Scynce LED, and his transition into cultivation solutions and customer support at AROYA.

2:26

What AROYA Actually Does

Liam explains AROYA as a cultivation management platform that combines instrumentation, sensors, precision irrigation practices, and software to help growers use data to improve cultivation strategies.

3:07

What Crop Steering Really Means

The conversation defines crop steering as a precision cultivation methodology that uses data and plant feedback to guide irrigation, environmental controls, and other decisions that influence plant responses.

3:49

Everybody Is Already Crop Steering

Liam explains that every grower is effectively crop steering, but the difference is how intentional they are about the stimuli they apply and how they respond to the plant's behavior.

4:26

The Sensors and What They Measure

Liam introduces AROYA's sensor ecosystem, including Teros substrate sensors, climate sensors, Apogee light sensors, the Drip and Drain Station, and the Runoff Sensor for tracking irrigation and root-zone conditions.

5:45

The Misconception That Crop Steering Costs Growers Money

The discussion explains that crop steering involves more than irrigation, with environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity, airflow, CO2, and light influencing how irrigation decisions should be made.

7:31

Light Sets the Ceiling, Everything Else Follows

Liam explains how light intensity influences the plant's photosynthetic capacity and why CO2, nutrition, irrigation, and other environmental factors need to support the available light.

8:42

Field Capacity: How Much Water Your Block Really Holds

Liam explains field capacity, water content, and how optimal ranges vary depending on the growing media, container size, planting strategy, and irrigation approach.

11:20

How Low You Can Safely Go

The conversation examines minimum water-content levels and how aggressively growers can dry back coco and rockwool while considering plant phase, cultivar response, and the risk of channeling.

13:08

The Pepper Garden That Explains Everything

A story about peppers illustrates how changes in watering can influence plant development and introduces the broader discussion of crop steering through different stages of the cultivation cycle.

13:44

The Four Phases of the Grow

Liam breaks the cultivation cycle into vegetative growth and three flowering phases: stretch, bulking, and finishing or ripening, with different irrigation strategies used throughout each phase.

15:04

Vegetative vs Generative, in Plain English

The discussion explains vegetative and generative steering, including how abundance and reduced stress support vegetative growth while deeper drybacks, higher substrate EC, and increased root-zone oxygen can create stronger generative stimulus.

16:38

Microbes, Oxygen and the Root Zone

Liam discusses how beneficial microbes interact with crop steering, oxygen availability, root development, synthetic nutrition, organic inputs, and the changing conditions within the root zone.

20:24

How Plants Fed Themselves Before We Did

The conversation explores the natural relationship between plants and microorganisms, including how microbes help make nutrients available in the root zone and how plants evolved alongside these biological systems.

22:21

The Trade Happening at the Root Tip

Elliott and Liam discuss root exudates and the relationship between plants and microorganisms, describing how sugars produced by plants can support microbial activity around the root zone.

24:09

Brix and Your Margin for Error

Liam explains the relationship between plant health and sugar content, discussing Brix as a contextual measurement and why highly precise management can become increasingly important in synthetic nutrient programs.

26:27

Does AROYA Measure Brix?

Liam explains that Brix measurement is outside AROYA's primary instrumentation and discusses how plant tissue analysis, sap analysis, and additional laboratory data can provide context when sensor data alone cannot explain plant behavior.

28:06

When More Data Makes It Worse

The discussion returns to drybacks and frequent irrigation events, explaining why growers should focus on the overall irrigation strategy rather than becoming overly focused on individual shot sizes.

29:20

Shot Size by the Numbers: 38 mL on a One-Gallon Pot

Liam explains how shot size can be calculated as a percentage of container volume and discusses emitter sizing, irrigation duration, and practical considerations for coco and rockwool systems.

30:42

Shot Size, Shot Interval, Shot Frequency

The conversation defines the three key irrigation variables: the size of each irrigation event, the time between events, and the total number of events used throughout the irrigation window.

31:32

Backing Into Your Irrigation Window

Liam explains how growers can work backward from transpiration rates, desired dryback percentages, field capacity, and irrigation windows to determine an appropriate irrigation schedule.

34:09

P1 and P2 Explained

The discussion breaks irrigation into P1 and P2 phases, with P1 focused on reaching field capacity and establishing the day's irrigation target while P2 uses maintenance shots to manage water content and EC.

36:17

EC Is Pressure, Not Food

Liam explains substrate EC as an osmotic pressure factor that influences how easily water moves through the plant and how EC should be considered alongside VPD and the plant's growth phase.

37:52

What Stacking EC Actually Is

The conversation explains how drybacks and reduced runoff can increase salt accumulation in the substrate, creating higher osmotic pressure, while additional drainage can be used to reduce that accumulation.

40:39

VPD: The Accelerator to EC's Brake

Liam explains the relationship between VPD and substrate EC, describing how environmental demand and root-zone conditions work together to influence water movement, transpiration, and crop steering.

42:19

Inside the AROYA Product Line

Liam provides an overview of AROYA's core tools, including Teros 1 substrate sensors, climate sensors, light sensors, the Drip and Drain Station, runoff monitoring, wireless connectivity, and the software platform.

44:11

How AROYA's Wireless System Works

The discussion explains AROYA's self-healing wireless mesh network, including the Nose transmitter, gateway, internet connection, and software platform used to collect and analyze cultivation data.

44:34

From Sensor Data to Harvest Results

Liam explains how AROYA's software provides historical data and harvest groups that allow growers to compare runs and strains with quantitative and qualitative outcomes.

45:52

Modbus and Control System Integration

The conversation explains how AROYA software can integrate with external control systems through Modbus protocols, including systems such as Rhythm and CCMS.

46:55

Why These Sensors Read Differently

Liam compares the Teros 12's capacitance-based technology with the newer Teros 1 complex dielectric technology, explaining how the newer approach separately measures water content and EC.

48:59

Getting the Right Solution for Your Room

Elliott and Liam discuss the importance of understanding a facility's growing media, goals, cultivation strategy, and operating requirements when selecting and configuring cultivation technology.

49:35

Getting Help With Your Own Room

Elliott explains how Green Thumb Depot customers can reach out for assistance and have their cultivation needs reviewed before being connected with Liam or the appropriate AROYA team member.

49:52

Liam's Final Thoughts

Liam emphasizes collaboration, sharing knowledge, and bringing different cultivation backgrounds together to help growers continue learning and improving their practices.

50:42

Stay Humble and Keep Learning

The episode closes with a discussion about maintaining humility, staying open to new information, and continuing to learn as cultivation knowledge and practices evolve.

51:31

Wrap Up

Elliott concludes the episode with Liam Spencer, recapping the discussion around crop steering, cultivation technology, irrigation, sensors, and AROYA's approach to data-driven growing.