Since January, a school research project has started again within the World Horti Center research center in the All Climate Greenhouse. A large number of participants work together with students in an innovative greenhouse in which both indoor and outdoor climate can be controlled.
The active involvement from the business community is important for MBO (middle-level applied education). Thanks to that commitment, provided services and expertise, MBO Westland can train the best employees of the future. Also the commitment and involvement from Inholland's HBO (higher professional education) students is very important. This approach means working together on a completely new educational concept that is based on questions and ideas from the business community.
With this, a Learning Community has been built up in which different educational structures work together to answer innovation questions from the business community, so that students can fully prepare themselves for the innovative horticultural sector.
Remote cultivation
Until March, the cultivation in the All Climate Greenhouse progressed smoothly, but from the moment everyone was confronted with the corona crisis, it turned out to be impossible to continue the research. Therefore, the project unfortunately was stopped in April. Shortly afterwards, the corona crisis also turned out to offer an opportunity for the theme "remote cultivation".
In the All Climate Greenhouse there is now cultivation ongoing in one department with tomatoes and one department with cucumbers. Horti-tech takes care of the crop work and the crop assessment. Van der Knaap Group supplies coco substrate and provides advice on irrigation and fertilization analyses. LetsGrow.com is testing three new modules: crop registration, climate and trends. Every week, Horti Technics & Management students receive a web lecture in which all generated data is reviewed. During these web lectures, students and companies discuss the strategy for both crops.
September 2020
Lentiz | MBO Westland and Inholland will resume the cucumber project in September, which was stopped this spring; this will be done with the same research questions and working method. The educational institutions hope that the business community will again contribute to this special collaboration.
The experimental set-up will not change; after all, the research was never completed. In broad outlines this means that different plant loads will be applied at the same light amounts in mol / m2 / day, based on both SON-T and LED lighting. Work will be carried out in accordance with the MoniMenTal principle from participant HortiTech. Here Monitors, Mentors and Talents are working together on a research study. The Monitors are 2 students who already have gained experience in cucumber cultivation. The Mentors are 2 growers: Ary de Jong and Marcel van Koppen. The Talents are the MBO students.
The MBO students will do the crop works and the crop registration. The cultivation strategy is then further developed on the basis of this information.
The HBO students follow an assignment whereby the focus will be on crop protection in cucumber cultivation. Hereby a mildew resistant and a susceptible variety will be grown. A crop protection plan is made for both varieties. Research will be conducted into the control of fungi in both greenhouses with (green) products. The presence of both mildew and Mycosphaerella will be measured. The production quantity per greenhouse will be registered by MBO Westland students, who also will determine the cultivation strategy. For all other pests and diseases, scouting will be carried out and, in consultation with Biobest, the crop protection will be advised by the students and will be carried out by MBO in consultation with Demokwekerij Westland.
Source: World Horti Center