On Thursday June 23, Dutch and Belgian greenhouse companies Seasun and Tomato Masters opened their greenhouses to share their experience with the organic Peltracom Grow Bags.
The Peltracom Grow Bag is filled with 100% organic substrate and was launched in 2008 as an alternative to stone wool. The mat is suitable for growing various types of greenhouse vegetables (tomato, cucumber, eggplant, pepper, strawberry). Various practical experiences and research shows that the Crazy Roots disease is neutralized thanks to the composition of the substrate. Due to the added 'good bacteria and fungi that fight diseases, there should also be less need for the use of harmful products.
The growers group first visited Seasun, who used the grow bags last year as a solution for Crazy Roots. "So far expectations have been completely fulfilled" said Seasun's Jan Gresnigt. Seasun plans to reuse the bags now for another season.
To achieve a uniform cultivation start in the entire company, Jan fully saturated the bags with water before planting. This had its advantages and disadvantages and there was an open exchange of views on this strategy. Anyway, the cultivation did not miss its start. To preserve the homogeneity, Jan now also gives more prolonged waterings than last year.
Seasun visit
Later on the group visited the Belgian company Tomato Masters in Deinze, where they discussed the cultivation start on the one-year bag. Under the guidance of Jos Christianen it was decided to plant directly into the plant hole and provide 1L of water per hole. This proved to be the most optimal strategy to generatively start on the Peltracom Grow Bag.
The first 48 hours after planting, another 500 cc is poured through the plant pot in order to ensure the connection. What was notable was that the plants very quickly rooted through to the bottom, so the roots were nicely distributed along the height of the mat. Tom Vlaemynck (Tomato Masters) noted that the planting must be done carefully but in the end requires less labor than the traditional system of control next to the plant hole.
Tomato Masters visit
Both businesses have chosen to use Trichoderma in the context of resistant growing. Mixed in the substrate, this has the advantage that no maintenance treatments are necessary. Even in the second growing year at Seasun, the colonization of this biocontrol organism was still optimal.
Els Thoelen
Peltracom n.v.
Skaldenstraat 7a
9042 Gent (BE)
Gsm. 0032 496 560 297
Fax 0032 09 218 03 31
www.growbag.be
www.growbag.nl