Rose excursion groups more effective
Seven growers of the ‘Avalanche’ rose variety breathed new life into their excursion group thanks to a link to LetsGrow. Their sites are spread out throughout the Netherlands, from Groningen to Westland. The excursion group members meet every month, and since these growers have been able to watch each other's climate computer operations live, their meetings have become much more worthwhile.
“We were one of the first groups to go live,” says Richard van der Lans of Arend Roses in Maasland. “We work with different brands of climate computer, and the computer experts at LetsGrow have made sure from the beginning that everything went smoothly. The new insights provided by the clearer graphs are really unique. Our instructor also watches and thinks along with us. We can draw conclusions from the lines which we were not able to do in the past. The result is that both our crop results and our energy management have improved.”
CO2 dosing further optimised
Together with his partner Remco van der Arend, Richard van der Lans runs a modern rose growing operation with two sites in Westland. Together, they grow the large-flowered white rose ‘Avalanche’ on 2.8 hectares, and the large-flowerd dark red rose ‘Grand Prix’ on 8.2 hectares. The ‘Avalanche’ excursion group uses LetsGrow, says Richard van der Lans. A ‘Grand Prix’ crop can also be watched live via the Internet by colleagues
Van der Lans is responsible for the ‘Avalanche’ crop in the glasshouse horticulture area ´Oude Campspolder´ in Maasland. The site is fitted with 140 µmol lighting (11.000 lux) and runs a CHP. The roses are mainly processed by machines. Van der Arend's climate is regulated by a Priva computer. Colleagues in the ‘Avalanche’ study group have other types of computer, but that is no problem for the participants. They compare a large number of items with each other live. How much CO2 do the roses receive on the different sites, and when do colleagues increase their lighting and use their screens? These data are put next to yield and labour numbers, and some very interesting conclusions drawn from them.
Very informative
Van der Lans: “Thanks to LetsGrow, we can for instance calculate the efficiency of our lighting in co-operation with QMS by DLV. This way, we know how many grams the plant produces per µmol PAR light. We can also have a look at how many kilos of CO2 per m2 per 5 minutes has been dosed, and what the consequences are. This is how I found out that one of my colleagues dosed more, and that he was able to harvest heavier stems this way. I have learned from this and installed a bigger OCAP connection.”
“We undertake many more calculations now than we used to. It is really fantastic how you can go back step by step to find out why you don't achieve the required grams. You can draw the correct conclusions from this, and that's really informative. Thanks to LetsGrow, everything stays intelligible