"Jet 5 is our greenhouse cleansing agent of choice"

Van der Lugt specializes in the propagation of fruiting vegetable plants. After the winter peak around Christmas, they partly fill the vacant sections with large numbers of bedding plants from seed or cuttings. Bregman: "We do this at the request of fellow companies in ornamentals. They get busier when it becomes quieter in vegetable plants. It is great to help each other out in this way. The condition is of course that we can meet the wishes and requirements of our strategic partners and their customers."

One of these strategic partners is Florensis from Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht, which propagates more than 4,000 different cut flower and plant varieties from seed and cuttings. Manager Domestic Production Jan Arends: "The run-up to the spring is always very busy. We always fall short on help and space. So we outsource some of the work to plant breeders in the food horticultural sector in this period. This also happens in summer, when it's time for autumn-flowering plants like asters, primroses and autumn violets."

Arends calls Van der Lugt a highly valued partner. The company supplies stock material that meets the strictest health and hygiene requirements. "This is not only important for vegetable growers," he says. "We should also be able to trust that the supplied batches are completely healthy, meaning free of diseases, pests and harmful microorganisms. The hygiene protocols in vegetable breeding are among the strictest in horticulture."

Jet 5 is a fixed component in that protocol during the cleaning in early autumn, when the entire company is decontaminated. Bregman: "Before the start of the new vegetable season everything has to be spotless. This is accomplished taking several steps, partly with self-developed equipment."

The cleaning starts by clearing the condensation gutters and flushing the mesh of the ventilation windows. A special spraying mast with a swiveling head was developed for this. The third step is hosing down the deck and everything under it with a multiple head spraying mast. This is all done with clean water under high pressure. Finally, the entire greenhouse, including the floor and carts, are disinfected with Jet 5.

Bregman and his colleagues have been using Jet 5 for years. "For the interim cleaning of the cultivation floors and the water system we also disinfect with chlorine. To clean the greenhouse this cleansing agent is definitely better. It has no aftereffects and doesn’t accelerate the aging of the screen fabric. We always apply it in a concentration of 2%. Then it’s done its work in five minutes. With a 1% solution, the treated surface should remain wet for half an hour, which is not always possible."