The invention relates to a method for the automaticirrigation of plants, wherein the temporal progressionof soil moisture is determined from measured soilmoisture values, and said progression is used for thecalculation of an optimized irrigation time duration,such that both water excess in the soil and soil dryingare avoided as much as possible. Preferably, the timeduration of irrigation is constantly evaluated andoptimized using comparisons of measured values withprespecified moisture- and dryness threshold values(GWmoist, GWdry), and automatically adjusted tochanging environmental conditions and/or plantrequirements.
