Photo: All the 165,000 tomato plants need to do now is grow
Source: swr4
Approximately twelve people had their hands full with planting the huge amount of seedlings, a total of 165,000 this week. The seedlings are about 40 centimeters tall.
The tomato shoots use the white cords coming from the ceiling to grow. The seedlings grow in small sponges, which stand on a wet surface, so the tomatoes always have enough water. The surface is a water rail and about waist high. The Eifel tomatoes never come into contact with real soil. This results in a thoroughly clean work area during cultivation and later when the tomatoes are harvested, explains the Dutch investor Donne Jacobs.
Photo: Donne Jacobs has realized his dream
Source: swr4
Two million tomatoes will be harvested annually
Donne Jacobs hopes that within six weeks bright red vine tomatoes will be ready. The farmer wants to harvest two million tomatoes annually in Mehren. In the Vulkaneifel of all places, this area is not really known for its Mediterranean climate.
But Donne Jacobs solves that problem with high-tech solutions. He can watch over his tomatoes in the Eifel from the Netherlands “It is all done with computers. We can water them; change the temperature in the greenhouse. We can see if there is a malfunction."
And no pesticides are used, promises the business owner. All the tomatoes get is a little fertilizer, just as in any vegetable allotment. Soon the tomatoes will be sold in discounters and supermarkets in the Eifel.