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Climate Cells at the Beginning of their Success
- 24 July 2013
Several plant breeders in vegetables and flowers and plants are interested in Climate Cells and the use of LED lighting and multilayer cultivation. They orientate themselves and some of them conduct small-scale tests. That became clear at an Arena session about Climate Cells wich took place on Thursday the 11th of July at the GreenQ Improvement Centre in Bleiswijk. There were 30 participants present, with a lot of plant breeders participating. The Chairman of this session, Eric Poot from the Wageningen UR Greenhouse Horticulture explained that the purpose of the afternoon was to get information about the current state of climate cells and where we stand in this development.
Tom Dueck, researcher at Wageningen UR Greenhouse Horticulture talked about possibilities with LED lighting in climate cells. During the presentation the differences between the effects of blue and red light were explained. “One of the biggest challenges of the multilayer cultivation with LED lighting is to create the right amount of humidity” said Tom Dueck.
Martin Veenstra (Certhon) and Bas van Eerdt (WPS Horti Systems) provided a presentation. Certhon and WPS Horti Systems jointly offer climate cells with an integrated approach. The total package of disciplines such as light recipes, climate and handling see the collaborating companies as key to success.
The vision of Certhon and WPS Horti Systems is that climate cells are still at the beginning of their success.
The innovators in the horticulture industry are now in the testing phase, including a few successes. Technically, the companies see no restrictions. The last couple of years provided a lot of experience, particularly in the control of a closed space in which plants are grown using multiple layers. Certhon and WPS Horti Systems assist entrepreneurs in setting up a business case with climate cells. The companies acknowledge the importance of knowledge developments because each situation requires a different approach, the right light recipe plays an essential role in this.
The participants of were very active in terms of questions on the subject. These questions showed that each situation is very different, which makes it difficult to apply the received knowledge directly into practice. There is also much more information to be obtained about the cultivation in climate cells. It is for example not yet known why a plant in the southern hemisphere under “the same” growing conditions is quite different from the similar growing conditions in the northern hemisphere. The variety of questions did provide a great interest in the use of climate cells.
Source: HortiBiz - Climate Cells at the Beginning of their Success
