Australian tomato and cucumber growers gain expert insight on innovative greenhouse growing methods during a networking and information-sharing event Saturday, March 2.
Hosted by Provenance Propagation on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, and supported by vegetable seed breeding company Rijk Zwaan Australia, the inaugural event, 'Glasshouse Gala,' attracted more than 60 people, most of whom were local greenhouse growers.
A highlight of the event was a grower Q&A panel led by Fresh at Heart grower, Harrison Bruinsma, on the topics of grafting and advanced plants, integrated pest management, seedling establishment, adjustments of irrigation with decreasing daylength, and leaf pruning and layering plants.
Taree grower, Den Do, who specialises in mid and high-tech greenhouse growing, led a discussion on implementing mid-tech skills into low-tech setups, growing with scale, and people management.
Rijk Zwaan Client Manager, Phil Ritchie, shared his expertise on different seed varieties and rootstocks, ideal planting times and seasons, and provided a wrap-up of the Australian market.
"Growers on the Mid-North Coast have a strong presence in the current mini cucumber market, and grafted cucumbers are a growing sector on the Mid-North Coast," Phil said.
"This field day provided the opportunity for growers to get together and advance their current understanding of greenhouse production whilst hearing of the benefits of grafted cucumber and tomato seedlings, as well as advanced plants from Provenance Propagation," Phil said.
CEO of Provenance Propagation, Dr Jack Mooney, said the event was excellent exposure for the new company, and the feedback was that growers "learnt a lot".
"The event brought us together to celebrate growth, collaboration, and the future of cultivation," he said.
"Most of the growers are working in low tech, and they learned more about how the mid and high-tech growers manage the labor, the plants, and the irrigation side of things, so they got a lot of out that."
Provenance is Australia's newest high-tech plant nursery with state-of-the-art growing systems. The business supplies seedlings to the Australian glasshouse/greenhouse market, with a special focus on grafted, advanced, and multiple-headed seedlings.
For more information:
Rijk Zwaan
Burgemeester Crezéelaan 40
2678 ZG, De Lier
www.rijkzwaan.com