At Artechno Growsystems, they expect that the propagation of young tomato plants in a vertical farm will soon be ready to be used in practice. The company conducted a series of new trials with a new cultivation system: AVF+ Young Plants. Not only tomato trials are running, propagation for chrysanthemum and kalanchoe has also been investigated. Agronomist Joris Groen gives an update on the Kalanchoe trial.
The focus of the kalanchoe trial is the rooting phase.That crucial phase is something that the grower wants to automate. To do so, he contacted the Westland vertical farming specialists. In previous research carried out elsewhere, the grower already gained experience with Kalanchoe in a vertical farm.
Joris with the kalanchoes in the greenhouse, which were propagated using the AVF+ Young Plants cultivation system
Lower light intensity
Artechno's research, which is focused on the early propagation stages, studied whether it is possible to grow a strong, uniform plant with lower light intensity. "And with less expensive, blue light," Joris adds. "The results show that propagation with this lower light intensity is quite possible."
Plant material for kalanchoe now often comes from Africa. Those who start working with the AVF+ Young Plants concept can start propagating plant material locally themselves. One advantage is that the number of plants per square meter can increase here, thanks to multi-layer propagation.
Accelerating rooting
Besides rooting, the Kalanchoe grower also wants to automate cutting and transplanting. A uniform plant is very important for this. The plants from the vertical farm are now in the greenhouse. "Visually, you can see here which plants come from the vertical farm. The grower is delighted with the quality and speed of rooting," shares the agronomist. "And with the higher plant density."
Also not insignificant is the reduction of the propagation failure rate. In the Kalanchoe trial, this worked well. The cuttings were staked manually. "The failure rate that there is, is due to this. When taking cuttings by hand, sometimes things go wrong."
Unlike lettuce, a now widely grown crop in vertical farms, the growing cycles for ornamental crops such as kalanchoe take longer. This is precisely why the acceleration that can be achieved with propagation in a vertical farm ticks all the boxes. "Rooting normally takes three weeks for Kalanchoe. In the trial with AVF+ Young Plants, rooting took two weeks. That one week gain counts, especially if the better-rooted plant also buds faster."
Research with chrysanthemum is also ongoing
For more information:
Artechno Growsystems
Tel: +31 (0)174 512051
[email protected]
www.artechno-growsystems.com