Cucumbers and blackberries clipped to the wire

Belgian horticultural company Joosen grows both cucumbers and blackberries, and though the end product is obviously totally different, both plants grow upwards. This is why Wim Joosen uses the Qlipr clips by PellikaanQ on both crops.

 

Soft fruit in greenhouses has become very popular in the last couple of years, but they've been grown for much longer. Wim Joosen, a grower from the Belgian town of Brecht, has been growing blackberries in the greenhouses where he used to grow cucumbers for over ten years already. The cucumbers he still grows in other parts of his plant nursery. Now there are also raspberries in the 1.5 ha nursery. "The warmth needed for the crops is totally different, so we grow them in different zones. Thanks to the CHP we can supply this warmth all year round.”

 

 

When the blackberries were added ten years ago, Qlipr was used as well. Wim tells us: “Just like the cucumbers, the blackberries grow upwards. So the use of Qlipr is also the same in this way”. The plants grow via a biodegradable burlap rope.

 

For every two plant stems, Wim uses only one clip: every ten days the clip is moved up. Before the grower used Qlipr he secured the plants with a max-rod. "But because I grow plants up to 3.5 meters instead of the usual 2.5 meters this was difficult to do", he tells us. "I still want to keep growing up to 3.5 meters because this way I can harvest more produce." That’s why working with Qlipr is ideal for Wim. "It is very easy and also very sustainable. This way I save on labor and still realize a high production rate."