Propagating tomato plants in vertical farms may soon be a reality. After a series of trials with the AVF+ Young Plant system, Artechno is quite confident that such an expectation could actually be met. "Now that these techniques are being put into practice through demos, there's some serious investment interest going on., says Sven Duijvestijn, vertical farming sales consultant at Artechno.
Sven far right at GreenTech Amsterdam this year
Reduction in losses
In De Lier, the company is currently conducting tests with AVF+ Young Plants. "At the end of last year, we started new tests with tomato propagation following a client's request," Sven explains. The potential for propagating tomato plants in a vertical farm has been explored before, though not always with success.
Thanks to new technical developments, the trials focusing on the early stages of propagation are now successful. The grafting process is extremely sensitive, requiring precise propagation of both rootstock and shoot. For graft healing, growers typically set up a plastic tunnel greenhouse within their glass greenhouse, where climate control is not optimal. "The process heavily depends on the grower's knowledge and a good climate. Preventing losses in the greenhouse proves to be a significant challenge," Sven notes.
In the trial, conducted in collaboration with a Dutch plant nursery, it was possible to keep losses low in an AVF+ Young Plants Compact system. "Our goal was less than 5% loss during graft healing. After two cycles, we were already at just 2%, and after four cycles, the success rate was 100%," shares Sven. "This plant can only be produced in the greenhouse for three weeks a year," said the grower. Propagating under high solar radiation also proves challenging.
Energy saving
In a vertical farm, there is no distinction between winter and summer, allowing for a completely tailored climate. In the Netherlands, Sven sees particular opportunities for the AVF+ Young Plants Compact. "Our scalable vertical farming systems are fully climate-controlled and designed for propagation. They enable growers to propagate cost-efficiently on a large scale," he explains. One of the first considerations for growers in propagation is the cost per plant. "The system must serve the best possible plant," he asserts.
Contrary to what some might expect, propagating in a vertical farm can save energy compared to greenhouse propagation. "You only need minimal light levels in the early stages of propagation. Our system will not deliver 45-centimeter tomato plants to a Dutch plant nursery," Sven explains.
In the greenhouse, sunlight often provides much more light than necessary. "Sometimes it's 2.5 times as much as in our vertical farm. Due to sunlight, the temperature also increases, requiring cooling. You don't have that issue in our system. We've already calculated and seen that we are competitive in terms of cost per plant. Together with the client, we are now determining the next steps and working towards the best configuration for their propagation."
Acceleration
Over the past few years, Artechno has hosted visits from virtually all Dutch propagators, according to Sven. Companies are exploring the possibilities of multi-layer propagation for various crops, not just tomatoes. Artechno also recently conducted trials with chrysanthemum and kalanchoe, aimed at better and faster rooting. "In kalanchoe, we saw that an acceleration of up to thirty percent is possible. That better-rooted plant also buds faster in the greenhouse."
The possibility of accelerating propagation was also evident in the tomato trial. Artechno was able to reduce the graft healing period from the usual seven days to five days. "And four days is also possible with a bit more fine-tuning," Sven adds.
The advance of robotics for grafting, for example, requires uniform plants. In a vertical farm, this is perfectly achievable with complete control over the propagation conditions.
Making significant advances
With this fine-tuning, Sven also sees opportunities to increase plant density, allowing more plants per layer in the vertical farm. "With the AVF+ Young Plants Compact, you need six to seven times less space for propagation compared to a greenhouse," he says, considering the space needed for transport belts, among other things.
The vertical farm can be placed in a hall at the grower's greenhouse and integrated into the propagation process. With propagation on ten layers in an AVF+ Young Plants Compact, it's possible to propagate as much on 150 square meters of floor space as you would on about 6,000 square meters of floor space in a greenhouse.
But that's not the only advantage Artechno likes to point out. Now that the propagation results are also promising with tomatoes, they expect the first AVF+ Young Plants Compact to be put into use by a Dutch propagator by the end of 2024 or the beginning of 2025. There is also international interest, with options including the AVF+ Freestyler, which can be placed in a greenhouse, and the AVF+ Explorer, for research. "With propagation in a vertical farm, we can make much bigger strides in many crops, far beyond lettuce and herbs, where vertical farming has already proven itself," Sven concludes.
For more information:
Artechno Growsystems
Tel: +31 (0)174 512051
[email protected]
www.artechno-growsystems.com/avf-hybrid