Peet van Wingerden is a senior crop caretaker at Wageningen University & Research in Bleiswijk and has been involved in the trial with high-wire cucumbers in the winter light greenhouse from the start in 2016. Van Wingerden and his colleagues are responsible for all crop activities and the settings on the climate computer. Of course everything is done in close consultation with the researchers and growers from the BCO. Before his work at WUR, Peet himself was a grower in Honselersdijk, where he grew various fruit vegetables.
Super light greenhouse
“This is already the fourth crop in the winter light greenhouse. In terms of equipment, the biggest differences with practice are the misting, the dehumidification with outside air intake and the highly transparent greenhouse roof and screen. With regard to the cultivation settings, it is noticeable that the minimum pipe temperature is not used and that screens are used during many more hours.”
Practice is more cautious
“As a former grower who is mainly used to growing on experience, intuition and crop condition, I sometimes wonder about what happens in the cultivation. Sometimes we overdo things, for example with too high temperatures, so that I can see from the crop that too much is demanded from the plant. But this is a test, and with tests you just have to push it to the limit or sometimes even cross it. In practice that is not possible and you just might happen to cultivate too carefully."