Plant Lighting is investigating ways to grow strawberries year-round with minimal energy input and the most efficient use of energy for production. For this, continuous cultivation with one planting per year would be an important step, as a vegetative crop needs to be exposed and heated for just one period per year. To achieve this goal and continue harvesting continuously, the sector will have to move towards 'inducing' cultivation where, as in tomato cultivation, a plant bears fruit continuously.
Henny van Gurp writes at Kas als Energiebron that this strategy is not yet in practice and is being developed with the support of Kas als Energiebron and growers. After several years of research into this by Plant Lighting and Delphy ISFC, important steps have now been taken.
Figure 1. Left: Fandango at 16˚C for 24 hours and a day length of 13 hours. Right: Fandango at 19˚C for 24 hours and a day length of 13 hours.
It appears that for bunch-inducing cultivation with fresh June bearers, it is necessary to sail between two cliffs: (1) Sufficiently short day length to obtain bunch induction. (2) Sufficiently long day length and temperature to avoid (incipient) dormancy.
Results from previous trials suggest that at a day length of 14 hours, at which bunch induction can still take place, incipient dormancy can already occur. Experiments in climate cells have shown that by controlling at the right times of the day with the right light spectrum, a June bearer can succeed in stretching well and maintain truss induction at a day length of 18 hours. Changing the light spectrum during the day misleads the crop, so to speak, so that truss formation continues even when the day is long (i.e., truss-inducing cultivation).
Read more at Kas als Energiebron here.