The same drone vegetation index may mean something else next month
WHAT THE EVIDENCE SAYS
A two-cultivar UAV comparison under different irrigation conditions found that NDVI and thermal canopy signals varied across July and August, with senescence reducing some late-season separation between treatments.
WHY IT MATTERS / OUR READ
Signals used for habitat or farm monitoring may require season- and species-specific ground truth rather than one universal greenness threshold.
CAVEATS / UNCERTAINTY
Two potato cultivars do not establish vegetation-index behavior in native ecosystems or other crops.
SOURCE
Potato Research — Zhao and Grodek (2026)
View original evidence ↗
Potato growth stage and crop variety shifted NDVI's link to irrigation and yield.
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