' Where in recent geezerhood vertical farming enthusiasts have perhaps been chiefly qualified as hipsters with a rather expensive rocking horse , this new branch of horticultural sport is steadily on the rise and traditional growers are also finding their way to the multi - layer installations . '
They see chance in using technique from vertical cultivation , for example in extension . “ It is not just about better the timber of the young plants , but above all about the controllability of the cultivation , and thus the speed and character , ” tell Koen with Mechatronix .
What is the most expensive greenhouse there is ? That would be an empty greenhouse , and that is exactly where , according to Koen van Mechatronix , opportunities lie for vertical farming . “ In lettuce cultivation you see many nursery work with fully automated refinement systems . With mobile gutter they can employ the available quad in the greenhouse as efficiently as possible . However , it remains unmanageable to adjust the speed of the preliminary culture to the usable infinite in the pool . By replacing traditional , unexposed or illuminated cultivation with a cultivation that is more governable in a multi - layer system , you’re able to contrive much more precisely how many plants to set up . precise to the day , you know how many industrial plant are quick to go in , ” he says .
The lighting fellowship evolve a multi - layer culture system together with Meteor Systems : an automated rails , admit atomizer booms . In the past quartern , intensive examination was already transmit out with a raiser who work with floating toilet . “ We have 120,000 cutting up in the test setup . Multi - layered , of course , because otherwise it would be too expensive in term of floor space . Now you may originate enough thinning on a few square meters to fill 1 / 3rd of the garden , ” he shows .
The controlled finish makes it potential to use the full cultivation system more intensively , which reduce the payback period and the disparagement period . “ you may get more heads of lettuce from your expensive greenhouse , ” Koen summarizes . “ In improver , you always send exactly the same quality industrial plant to the pond , which also gives you more control over your outgrowth . If you still bind to the correct kindling strategy , you may start making a double-dyed prediction on your preparation . This was n’t possible before . ”
Further opportunitiesIn herbs there are also opportunities for hybrid cultivation , where part of the cultivation will takes in an indoor or multi - layer culture system and the outgrowth will take billet " as usual " in the greenhouse . “ In the classical , fast - grow herbaceous plant , a full indoor cultivation is soon done , but in the woody herbs it is strictly the rooting that takes station in a VF installation , ” order Koen . “ Total cultivation is too dense for this . Your turnaround time is too long and that get to the investment per m2 too expensive , but rooting often goes utterly in a VF system . ” In the same way , plant breeders use the techniques in part of the extension , for example to meliorate healing after graft , or to cannonball along up cultivation from female parent plant life . " Ultimately , propagation is about the controllability of a known phase angle of the extension . "
All in all , this means that there come along to be more and more surprising chance for vertical farming , also in Europe . “ The first major projects are starting to arrive , although we also see that the great unwashed here are even less familiar with the possibilities and often depict it as expensive cultivation , ” says Koen . “ And of course an economic judgement must always be made . It will not be the causa that complete craw will be place indoors here tomorrow - there is always a reason to look at the sunlight . Where possible we use the Lord’s Day , and where necessary the lighting . ”
For more information : Koen VangorpMechaTronix[email protected]www.horti - growlight.com
© FloralDaily.com/Arlette Sijmonsma
