Growing herbs traditionally could not meet the increasing demand for high medicinal value herbs in the pharmaceutical industry and domestic market. One of the solutions is by growing herbs using vertical structures in urban areas. Even so, the amount of water needed to optimise the growth of Asian local perennial herbs in vertical structures is yet to be explored. Hence, this paper investigated the performance of a fuzzy based irrigation method in optimising irrigation for boosting the local perennial herb growth. The understudy local perennial herb is gynura procumbens. The decision-making for irrigation relies on the data given by soil moisture, temperature, and humidity sensors. The performance of the proposed system is compared with a timer-based system, in terms of plant growth rates, given by average leaves diameter, height, and plant crown of local perennial herbs. The results have shown that the proposed intelligent irrigation system has reduced water consumption by 16.93% and the average plant growth rate has increased by at least 1.5% and to a maximum rate of 76.64%.

The proposed fuzzy-based irrigation system for vertical cultivation of Gynura procumbens demonstrates significant potential to enhance urban herb production while improving resource efficiency. By integrating soil moisture, temperature, and humidity sensors with intelligent decision-making, the system delivers precise water application, resulting in a 16.93% reduction in water usage compared to traditional timer-based systems. This optimisation not only conserves a critical resource but also supports sustainable urban farming practices. The approach has also shown measurable improvements in plant growth, with average growth rates increasing between 1.5% and 76.64% across key parameters such as leaf diameter, plant height, and crown size. These results highlight the system’s capacity to meet the growing pharmaceutical and domestic demand for high-value medicinal herbs, even in space-constrained urban environments, by ensuring both higher yields and lower operational costs. Furthermore, the adoption of this intelligent irrigation method could serve as a scalable model for other perennial herbs, contributing to the advancement of precision agriculture and the development of resilient, high-density farming systems.