Guides & SOPs
How to use CropStack Weather
Short, printable procedures for getting a farm onto CropStack Weather — each with a two-minute narrated video. Share this page with anyone; no sign-in needed.
CSW-SOP-001
Sign in for the first time
Get into the app with your access code, then a password — or a 6-digit email code if you'd rather not have one.
- Who
- Everyone
- Where
- weather.cropstack.ai
- Time
- ~2 minutes
Steps
- 1
Open the app
Go to weather.cropstack.ai on your phone or computer. The app works in the browser — there's nothing to install.
- 2
Enter your access code
The first time on a new device you'll see “New here? Enter your access code”. Type the access code from your CropStack Weather invite and continue. You won't be asked again on that device.
- 3
Create your account
Tap “Create an account”, type your email, and we'll send a 6-digit code. On the next screen you type that code and choose your password at the same time — that creates your account and signs you in.
- 4
After that, use your password
From then on, type your email and password and tap “Sign in”. Forgotten it? Tap “Forgot your password? Or setting one for the first time?” — we email a 6-digit code and you pick a new one on the same screen.
Let your phone save the password when it offers. That's what makes it a fingerprint next time instead of something to remember.
- 5
The code always works
“Email me a 6-digit code instead” never stops working, so it's the one to fall back on if your phone doesn't fill the password.
- 6
Type the 6-digit code
Check your email and type the code into the “6-digit code” box. Creating your account? You choose your password on that same screen, then tap “Create account & sign in”. Signing in? Tap “Verify & sign in”. Resetting a password? Tap “Set password & sign in”. Every time, the screen shows which address the code went to.
The email comes from login@send.cropstack.ai — worth adding to your contacts so it never lands in spam.
Troubleshooting
| If this happens | Do this |
|---|---|
| You don't have an access code | The pilot is invite-based — email support@cropstack.ai and we'll send you one. |
| The code email never arrived | Check spam/junk for login@send.cropstack.ai. Still nothing after a minute or two? Tap “Resend code”, or use “Continue with Google”. |
| “That code didn't work.” | Use the code from the NEWEST email — requesting a new code makes older ones stale. Codes also expire, so ask for a fresh one if yours sat unused. |
| “Too many incorrect codes.” | Wait the number of minutes shown, then try the code from your latest email — or sign in with “Continue with Google” instead. |
| Signed in, but the farm page says “We couldn't find that page” | You're probably signed in with a different email than the one invited to the farm. That page shows which account you're in — sign out and use the invited address. |
CSW-SOP-002
Create your farm
Drop a pin on your farm and CropStack starts pulling its local forecast from that exact point.
- Who
- Farm owner
- Where
- Dashboard
- Time
- ~3 minutes
Steps
- 1
Start a farm
From the dashboard tap “+ Add farm” (on your first visit it says “Add your first farm”).
- 2
Name it
Any name your crew will recognize.
- 3
Drop the pin
Click the map or drag the pin onto your farm, or tap “Use my current location” if you're standing on it. Forecasts are pulled for this exact point, so put it in the middle of your planted ground rather than the office.
- 4
Check the timezone
It should read your local zone (for example America/New_York). Alert times and quiet hours follow it.
- 5
Save
Tap “Save farm”. That's it — the farm now appears on your dashboard.
Forecasts fetch on the next scheduled run (several times a day), so charts can be empty for the first few hours and fill in on their own.
Troubleshooting
| If this happens | Do this |
|---|---|
| The map won't load | Usually a weak connection. Reload the page, or try again on wifi — you can type latitude/longitude by hand in the meantime. |
| The farm spans two locations | Put the pin at the main ground. If a block sits far from it, you can give that block its own location later — it then gets its own forecast. |
| Not sure about elevation | Leave it blank — it's optional and only fine-tunes cold-air estimates. |
CSW-SOP-003
Set up a block
A block is ground you treat as one unit — same crop, same limits. Your numbers here drive everything the app tells you.
- Who
- Farm owner
- Where
- Farm page
- Time
- ~5 minutes per block
Steps
- 1
Start a block
On the farm page tap “+ Add block”.
- 2
Name and crop
Only two fields are required: the block name and “Crop” (for example blueberry). Variety and bud stage are optional but make the AI suggestions smarter.
- 3
Spray limits
Under “Spray limits”, set “Max wind for spraying (mph)”, “Rain-chance limit (%)”, and “No rain within (hours of spraying)”. All three are needed — leave them blank and spray mode simply stays off for this block.
- 4
Irrigation
Under “Irrigation”, the key input is “Application rate (inches/hour)” — the depth your system puts down per hour. Then “Crop coefficient (Kc)” (enter the crop first and tap “Suggest with AI” for a starting point), “Irrigation efficiency (%)”, and “Effective rain (%)”.
- 5
Chill tracking
Under “Chill accumulation”, pick a model — Chill Hours, Chill Portions, or Chill Units (Utah) — set your “Chill target”, and the season window (Sept 1 – May 31 is the North-America guidance). Leave the model off and chill tracking stays off.
- 6
Freeze thresholds — when you're ready
The freeze alert temperatures are yours to set — blank simply means freeze alerts stay off for the block. Start from the published critical temperatures for your crop and variety (your extension service lists them), and have them in before your first freeze season. Working with an agronomist? Even better — set them together.
- 7
Save
Tap “Save block”.
Every number on this form is YOUR limit, not a mandate — the app finds spray windows and run times from what you enter, and you can change any of it at any time.
Troubleshooting
| If this happens | Do this |
|---|---|
| Don't know the crop coefficient | Enter the crop, then tap “Suggest with AI” for a starting value — it's a starting point, and you can adjust it anytime as the season runs. |
| The Spray tab shows nothing | Check that all three spray limits are filled in — any one blank keeps spray mode off. |
| Chill shows nothing | The model may be off, or the season window hasn't started yet — accumulation begins on your season start date. |
| A block sits far from the farm pin | Give that block its own location on this form — it then gets its own forecast. Blocks near the pin don't need it. |
CSW-SOP-004
Add people & test their alerts
Alerts only reach the people you add here. Two minutes per person, then send a test so everyone trusts it before it matters.
- Who
- Farm owner
- Where
- Farm page
- Time
- ~2 minutes per person
Video coming soon — the written steps below cover everything in the meantime.
Steps
- 1
Add a contact
On the farm page tap “+ Add contact”. Add everyone who should hear from the farm — each person gets their own settings.
- 2
Name, phone, email
At least one of “Phone” (10 digits) or “Email” is required — phone for texts, email for the daily brief and longer advisories.
- 3
Pick their channels
SMS covers freeze alerts plus any heat, spray, irrigation, or brief texts you turn on for this person; Email carries the daily forecast summary and longer advisories. A person can have both.
- 4
Pick their language
“Notification language” — English or Español. Every text and email to this person arrives in that language.
- 5
Save, then send a test
Tap “Save contact”, open the contact, and use “Send test SMS” / “Send test email”. Do this during onboarding — trust built on a sunny day beats finding out on a freeze night.
- 6
Tune when they're alerted (optional)
On the contact page you can set the risk level that triggers their alerts (Warning, Critical) and “Quiet hours (optional)” for non-urgent messages.
- 7
Add the people who run the water
Contacts are not only for receiving. Anyone listed here can also text the CropStack number to log a water run as it happens — and only people listed here can, because the number they text from is how the app knows who they are. If someone turns your water on, add them, or their message is turned away and the run is never recorded. CSW-SOP-007 has the full flow.
Troubleshooting
| If this happens | Do this |
|---|---|
| The test text never arrived | Double-check the number (10-digit US). Some carriers filter a first message from a new sender — try the test email too, and text START if STOP was ever sent to the number. |
| Someone replied STOP and wants back in | Have them text START and then RESUME to the same number: START lifts the phone carrier's block, and RESUME lifts CropStack's. Don't delete and re-add them to get around it — only the contact can undo an opt-out, and re-adding them would text someone who asked us to stop. |
| Someone finds it too chatty | Raise their alert risk level so only bigger events reach them, or set quiet hours — urgent freeze warnings still get through by design. |
CSW-SOP-005
Read the daily brief & spray windows
One email every morning: today's weather, when you can spray, and how long to run water. Here's how to read it.
- Who
- Everyone on email
- Where
- Your inbox + the block page
- Time
- ~1 minute a day
Video coming soon — the written steps below cover everything in the meantime.
Steps
- 1
The morning email
Each morning, everyone opted into email gets “[farm] daily brief”: today's high/low, wind and rain, a wind & rain chart, each block's spray windows, and a suggested irrigation run time.
- 2
Reading a spray window
A window like “8 AM–1 PM (good)” means every hour inside it fits your limits. “Marginal” means it still fits, but close to a limit — the app says which (“close to your wind limit”) and when the tightest hour hits (“peak wind 8 mph at 1 PM”), so you can often work around one bad hour.
- 3
The Spray tab
The block page's Spray tab shows the same windows for the next 5 days, plus the wind and rain-chance chart behind them.
- 4
Plan a spray, get warned if it turns
Tap “+ Plan a spray” and mark when you intend to spray. If a later forecast turns your planned window windy or wet, you get a text — no need to keep re-checking.
- 5
The Irrigation tab
Shows a suggested run time built from yesterday's evapotranspiration and rain, in hours and minutes. If it rained and the app didn't catch it, log the rain there and the suggestion corrects itself.
Troubleshooting
| If this happens | Do this |
|---|---|
| No brief email this morning | Check that the contact is opted into Email on the farm page, then check spam. The brief also skips sending rather than using outdated data — it returns when the forecast is fresh. |
| Every window says “marginal” | Your limits are tight against this week's weather — the label tells you which limit. If it's constant, revisit the block's spray limits — they're yours to change anytime. |
| “No window inside your limits today” | That's the honest answer for the limits you set — loosen them only if you're confident it's right for your crop, not to make the app more cheerful. |
| Numbers differ slightly from weather.gov | Different sources update at different times. CropStack uses the National Weather Service plus a second source as a cross-check, and tells you when confidence drops. |
CSW-SOP-006
Get your alerts on WhatsApp
Prefer WhatsApp to regular texts? Any contact can receive their alerts there instead — same phone number, same messages, and you can reply to log water from the field.
- Who
- Farm owner + the person receiving
- Where
- Farm page + the phone that gets the alerts
- Time
- ~3 minutes
Steps
- 1
Check WhatsApp is on that phone
Before switching anyone over, make sure WhatsApp is installed on the phone and registered to the SAME number that's on their CropStack contact. If it's registered to a different number, alerts won't reach WhatsApp.
Free from the App Store or Google Play. Signing up asks for the phone number and a code sent by text — the number you enter there is the one to use on the contact.
- 2
Turn it on for that person
On the farm page open the contact (or add them), tick “WhatsApp”, then tap “Save contact”. It's per person, so one crew member can be on WhatsApp while everyone else stays on regular texts.
- 3
Save our number in their phone
Add +1 (689) 407-8425 to their contacts as “CropStack Weather”. Alerts then arrive under a name they recognize instead of an unknown number — the single biggest reason a first message gets ignored.
- 4
Send a test straight away
From the contact, use “Send test WhatsApp”. It goes over WhatsApp even if you haven't ticked the box yet, so you can confirm a message reaches them there before switching them over. Seeing it land is how you know the number and the app agree — do it now, not on the night it matters.
- 5
Reply from the field
They can reply to log work as it happens: “start north 10” when the water goes on, “stop north 10” when it goes off, or “low 29” to report a temperature they measured. The reply confirms what was logged. This is not a WhatsApp feature — it works the same on regular texts, and it is what fills the “actually ran” side of your weekly water report. Full steps in CSW-SOP-007.
- 6
Pausing and resuming
To stop the alerts, reply UNSUBSCRIBE (or “cancelar”). To start again, reply RESUME (or “reanudar”). Either takes effect immediately.
WhatsApp changes how the texts arrive, not which ones. Any alert you set to WhatsApp (freeze, heat, spray, irrigation, or the daily brief) arrives there; the daily brief comes by email unless you pick text or WhatsApp for it. And if WhatsApp can't deliver for any reason, that message is sent as a normal text to the same number automatically — an alert is never dropped just because WhatsApp failed.
Troubleshooting
| If this happens | Do this |
|---|---|
| The test arrived as a normal text, not in WhatsApp | That's the fallback doing its job. Usually the number has no WhatsApp account, or WhatsApp is registered to a different number. Confirm WhatsApp is installed and registered to the exact number on the contact, then send another test. |
| Messages show up from an unknown number | Save +1 (689) 407-8425 as a contact on the phone. It's the same number for WhatsApp and regular texts. |
| Someone replied STOP out of habit | On WhatsApp that logs the water off, so check the Irrigation tab and re-log if a run was closed by mistake. To actually pause their alerts, have them reply UNSUBSCRIBE. |
| Two people share one phone | WhatsApp goes by phone number, so one number is one contact. Give each person their own contact and number, or leave the shared phone on regular texts. |
CSW-SOP-007
Log the water runs from the field
Text when the water goes on and off, and CropStack records how long it actually ran. That is the half of your weekly water report the app cannot work out on its own — without it the report can only tell you what was suggested, never what happened. Works on regular texts or WhatsApp.
- Who
- Whoever turns the water on, plus the farm owner to set it up
- Where
- Any phone listed as a contact on the farm
- Time
- ~2 minutes to set up, seconds per run
Steps
- 1
Add everyone who will be texting
CropStack recognizes people by their phone number, so each person who logs a run needs their own contact on the farm — added exactly like someone who receives alerts (CSW-SOP-004). A text from a number that is not on the farm is turned away with a note to ask the farm manager, and nothing is recorded.
One number is one person. If a phone is shared, every run from it is attributed to whoever that contact is named after.
- 2
Give them the daily message too
On the contact, turn on irrigation alerts. That is the message that arrives each morning with the suggested run time, and it carries the reminder to text START. Without it they can still log runs — they just will not be prompted to.
- 3
Text START when the water goes on
Just the word START. The reply confirms what was logged and at what time, and tells you the word to send when you shut it off.
- 4
Text the stop word when it goes off
On regular texts send OFF. On WhatsApp send STOP. The reply confirms how long the run lasted. The two words are different on purpose — read the warning below before telling anyone which to use.
- 5
Name the block if you have more than one
“START north 10” logs that block; START on its own logs the farm. If two runs are open at once the stop needs a block name as well, and the reply lists which ones are running.
- 6
Report a cold night (optional)
“LOW 29” records a temperature somebody actually measured. On a freeze night that is worth more than a forecast, because it is the only number that says what really happened in your block. Text it in the morning and it goes on the night that just ended; text it in the evening and it goes on the night starting. Say “LOW 29 LAST NIGHT” if you want to be certain — the reply always names the night it recorded.
- 7
Fix one that came out wrong
Open the block, go to the Irrigation tab, and use “Water runs”. You can add a run nobody texted, correct one that is wrong, or close one that was left open.
If nobody sends the stop, the run is closed automatically after 12 hours and left OUT of the weekly report — that end time was a guess, not something anyone saw. It still appears on the block's “Water runs” list, flagged, so you can correct it; doing so puts the real time back into the report.
Troubleshooting
| If this happens | Do this |
|---|---|
| The reply said the number is not linked to any farm | That phone is not a contact yet. Add it on the farm page, then send the message again — the one that was turned away is not stored anywhere. |
| It replied with the list of commands instead of logging | The wording was not recognized. Lead with START or the stop word on its own. Questions (“can I start the water?”) and future times (“start at 6”) are ignored deliberately, so a plan is never recorded as a run that happened. |
| The reply asked which block to stop | More than one run is open. Send the stop word plus the block name, exactly as the reply lists them. |
| A run shows far longer than it really was | The stop never arrived and it was auto-closed after 12 hours. Correct it under “Water runs” on the block — that clears the flag and puts the real run time back into your report. |