Graceland Hydroponics in the Northwest Province is the only production site in South Africa of Sweet Palermo peppers, Rijk Zwaan’s sweet pointed pepper which was launched in 2015.
Under tunnels, 2 ha of Sweet Palermo peppers have been grown for the past two years and delivered to PicknPay supermarkets countrywide.
“Demand is definitely growing. When we started in 2015 we delivered small volumes but at the moment we’re delivering more and more,” says Johan Joubert, owner of Graceland Hydroponics and Rijk Zwaan’s Palermo partner in South Africa.
It is still a niche product. “The big thing is to convince consumers that it’s not in the least hot, but completely sweet,” says Rudi Weyers, general manager of Graceland Hydroponics’ Kleinfontein operation.
Pointed peppers have a shorter life cycle than block peppers, a turnaround time of around 9 months, with a yield of around 18kg/m², enabling them to deliver the Sweet Palermo peppers every day.
Plants are nestled two in a bag, allowing 28 000 plants per greenhouse. The company furthermore supplies sweet pimento peppers to Spar.
The Kleinfontein area near Brits has very hot and dry summers (36°C to 40°C were not unusual this past summer), with high insect pressure, and therefore the temperature within the Graceland greenhouses is regulated with a pad and fan, where the pad functions as a wet wall and is covered by anti-insect netting. The temperature within the greenhouse remains at 28°C for older plants, 30°C for young ones.
During winter, night-time temperature is maintained at around 13 or 14°C through use of a central coal boiler that heats up water, which in turn is run along the floor of the greenhouses, heating from below, as well as heating up the atmosphere.
Graceland Hydroponics also grows cucumbers in greenhouses, using Rijk Zwaan varieties like Litoral RZ grown on Ferro RZ rootstock. The use of grafted cucumbers is becoming more prevalent in the vegetable industry, despite additional costs of R5 (€0.34) or R6 (€0.41) per plant. At Graceland Hydroponics, the use of grafted cucumbers has drastically reduced their losses due to improved pathogen resistance. They obtain a yield of around 250 000 crates of cucumbers monthly which is packaged for their retailers at their own packhouse.
The decision to use grafted cucumbers is a response to the deteriorating water quality of its water source, the Hartbeespoort Dam which has much higher than allowed bacterial levels. They have tried a number of options, like flocculating the water, treating it with ozone and UV light, but at the moment they are impressed with the results they’re getting from a biological treatment. This treatment adds beneficial micro-organisms to the water, which combat pathogens and enrich the water.
The cultivation of block peppers (bell peppers) differs from pointed peppers, for instance regarding the pollination of the flower. With the former, thorough pollination is very important to allow equal development of four distinct chambers.
Weyers explains that previously, when growing conventional block peppers, when the pollen would be damp due to high humidity, the plants’ trellis strings had to be agitated to facilitate pollen mobility. “The pointed pepper just needs some initial pollination to initiate fruit formation.”
For more information:
Johan Joubert
Graceland Hydroponics
Tel: +27 82 574 6262
Email: jvbjoubert@mweb.co.za
Gerhard Smit
Rijk Zwaan SA
Tel: +27 76 300 7860
Email: g.smit@rijkzwaan.co.za