Concrete floors versus tables

At the recent Grodan seminar, the second speaker was Roelands Plant from Ontario, a large propagator. The first speaker was Marta Streminski, and the third and last one was Thomas Douma. Read more about them in this previous article.

Roelands Plant is a large propagator in Ontario, Canada. Edward Thoren, head grower with the company, was present via video, but since connection always drops at the most inconvenient times, he had constructed a video together with Jack Mooney. Before, the company used to put their plants on concrete floors, now they use three different irrigation systems, including tables.

Edward and Jack explained some pros and cons of the new system. They noticed that the plants had a healthier root system on the tables, that the tables cool down more at night and that it is cleaner. “We compare diseases with wine, pour some wine on a concrete floor and you have to scrub it to get rid of it. On a steel table, it comes right off.”

For workers, it’s both a pro and a con. Of course with tables, they don’t have to work on the ground so it’s better for their back. But when the plants have to be shipped, the concrete floor system is much quicker to get larger amounts of plants.