Between December 12 and 20, 2018, Van Onselen Aubergines planted 12.5 ha Tracey RZ, distributed over 3 location in 's-Gravenzande. After years of good experiences with Beyonce RZ, the growers hope to bring the quality and reliability of their product to an even higher level with this step. The company maintains a planting distance of 1.7 plants/m2 in combination with a 3-stem system.
How is Tracey doing?
"Well. Up to now it has met our expectations. The percentage of fruits between the 300 and 400 gram is high, as we hoped. With regard to production, Tracey and Beyonce are close to each other. Hopefully we can keep this trend for the coming important months. If so, we will plant Tracey again next year."
What are the differences with Beyonce?
"We have noticed that Tracey easily bears more fruit and that you can grow the plant with a slightly lower average weight. This means more work for the pickers. They encounter many fruits of the same format. To prevent plants from being overburdened, we trying to clean the plant from the bottom up, by frequently harvesting the bottom of the plants and instructing the harvest team properly. We also allow less temperature peaks. With Tracey, we bring the temperature more quickly to 28 to 29ºC to keep the flowering up to speed; 30+ is too high."
And the hot periods?
"Luckily, we are close to the coast and regularly benefit from a cooler and more humid sea wind. Tracey kept doing well, certainly with regard to production. At that moment, the red coloring was not too bad. A week later, however, we did see quite a lot of red fruits. We have rigorously harvested the bottom of the plants to solve the problem as soon as possible."
For more information:
Rijk Zwaan Nederland
[email protected]
www.rijkzwaan.nl