The following chart shows the typical yields in a conventional nethouse and those achieved at the Cravo Demonstration and Training house during the 2015-2016 harvest season. The varieties were selected based on those typically used in nethouses and all crops were grown in the soil using a simple drip irrigation using approximately 69% less water per harvested kg than in the conventional nethouse.
Not only were significant increases in yield achieved, but in 2015 an independent shelf life test proved that bell peppers from the retractable roof had:
- 13-21% increase in fruit wall thickness (more kg/box)
- 40% increase in fruit firmness (longer shelf life)
- 35% less dehydration after 15 days of post-harvest storage (longer shelf life)
While some may think that these results are impressive, there are additional strategies which can help growers "hit the market even stronger when excessive heat is limiting."
For the 2016-2017 season Cravo:
- Advanced the transplanting 2-6 weeks compared to local growers
- tomatoes and colored peppers were transplanted and cucumbers were directly seeded on August 15 when temperatures are 40C-45C (104F-113F) and humidity is +80%
- Are comparing the impact of transplants grown in a retractable roof and in a conventional poly house
- they grew the young plants in BOTH a conventional greenhouse and in a retractable roof house to understand the impact of young plant development on early harvest and total yield
- Will do a planting which will target summer production
- secondary transplanting will be done on March 1 so that the harvest will begin when conventional greenhouses and nethouses have gone out of production
For more information:
Cravo Equipment Ltd.
Tel: 1 519 759 8226