“The benefit of Ecobac is that you're planting sideways,” said EBBJ's Katia Luna. “You can increase the plant density, and you can effectively double the yield per area.” Another benefit of increasing plant density in this way is that there's actually more space between leaves. That, in turn, makes for better growing conditions because plants get better access to light.
“The quality of fruit is better because when there's more space between stems and leaves,” said Luna. “So yields improve because, in one sense, it's a more open crop.”
EBBJ also manufactures PVC gutters which don't leak heat like traditional metal gutters do. Their Thermo-gutters are made from plastic material that doesn't conduct heat like metal gutters do, so there isn't as much temperature fluctuation or heat loss.
Rooting in substrate on steel gutters (left) vs rooting on PVC gutters (right)
“Big temperature changes aren't good for plants,” said Luna. “But because our plastic gutters don't transfer heat as much, it's better for the roots and it results in better yields.” That helps with the quality of fruit grown and cuts down on overall heating costs. Right now, Luna said they have had great response from strawberry growers in the UK, and although French growers are traditionally sceptical about new technology like this, she sees them coming around.
“What we do is something new, but people are adopting it more,” said Luna. “15% of the French growers are our customers” and it keeps increasing.
For more information:
EBBJ
Katia Luna, Sales Export Manager
1 Rue de la Barre
Angers 49000 FRANCE
+33 (0) 6 48 690 954
+33 (0) 2 41 777 444
email: [email protected]
www.ebbj.fr
