With the holidays approaching , it is also party time in the greenhouse at Van Vugt Kruiden . lily-livered , purple and snowy pansies look as if springiness has already spring . And that is exactly what Piet van Vugt wants . " With the installation of the veracious light-emitting diode spark , we can now add mellow quality eatable bloom to our customers all year around . "
Small , growing market"The pansies are still the most democratic , " Piet say as he walks through the colourful greenhouse in Ridderkerk . " Here are snapdragon , these are fuchsias . All edible . Begonias go there , as do carnation . " Since he started growing comestible flowers , almost twenty years ago now , he has gained a wad of noesis of the product . Both of the cultivation , and of the grocery . " In herbs , we have always responded to the need of the customer and in comestible flowers , that is just as important , " Piet aver . " It is still a very small product , although the market has been mature for years . "
In response to that farm demand , Van Vugt Kruiden built a full - electric new glasshouse in Ridderkerk three age ago , fully equipped for the year - troll cultivation of edible flowers . " import ware from far away always brings risks with it and a big advantage of growing locally is that we can react directly to the securities industry , " Piet believes . " In comestible flowers , we often have to deal with last - bit orders . "
Within Europe , Van Vugt Kruiden handles sale itself , in cooperation with logistics partners . The Netherlands is an crucial market and the Germans also appreciate the flowers . Outside Europe , customer are supplied with edible prime by exporter . They can be bump as far away as Dubai .
Same product twelvemonth - roundThe client ’s wishes were also central to the realisation of the raw greenhouse . There are many different segment , so that many different heyday can be raise . In bay window , gutters and in the open field of force . " The customer demands the same Cartesian product all year round , grown as sustainably as possible . So that is what we set out to reach , " Piet tells us . That mean growing without gas : the greenhouse , demo area and offices are heated by 3,500 solar venire in combination with the residual heating from the cool down cell . three-fold screens keep as much visible radiation and vigour inwardly as possible , and ground and hoist heaters supply high temperature in the correct places .
COVID , however , threw a wrench in the works : the market for comestible flowers crack up whole when the catering industry closed down . Again drive by need , Piet settle to grow herbs in the new greenhouse . Meanwhile , the marketplace has picked up considerably and he is step by step filling the glasshouse with edible flowers again .
Grow lightsNow an extra attribute has been supply . develop lights have been install in the greenhouse . These make it possible to hand over the same timbre all year around . " You would in reality care it to be the middle of June in terms of light stratum in the greenhouse . Just in terms of clean level , that is ; the temperature can be a lot lower for the best flower formation . " partially due to the humble vigour consumption of light-emitting diode lamps , the choice fell on the CoolStack ® MAX lamps from Mechatronix . " Together with this supplier , the idealistic light formula was determine . This shoot office partly in our own research and demo room , where special luminaires with controllable spectra were used to find out what works well for the edible flowers . The LED lamps with this spectrum are now install lattice by grille . The amount of light and the exposure time can be adjust . "
" Apart from the fact that we can now get flowers year - around , we also see that the quality is better , " pronounce Piet . " The growing cycle is brusk , so you reap from younger plants . That benefits the quality of the flowers . " And that is ultimately what it is all about for him . " All the engineering science here is in service of the flora and in service of the customer . If you rescue 100 % quality every daylight , the customers will eventually know where to find you . "
For more entropy : Patrick CasteleynMechaTronix[email protected]www.horti - growlight.com
Piet new wave VugtVan Vugt KruidenHoogzandweg 162988 DA Ridderkerk+31 ( 0)180 625 660[email protected]www.vanvugtkruiden.nl
© FloralDaily.com/Arlette Sijmonsma
