Driscoll's are growing Victoria berries using glasshouses and LEDs

Berry company Driscoll’s kicked off the Dutch season by taking the successful variety, Driscoll’s Victoria, to the glasshouse and, by using an innovative growing technique, the berry company states that it is producing good results.

Driscoll’s growers Jan and Alfons Diepstraten of growers association Best of Four, are using special assimilation lights and LEDs.

Diepstraten: “The first season’s pick of our glasshouse blackberries is already looking very promising. Last year we already experienced how huge and sweet these blackberries are, that is why we decided to expand our production to 4 glasshouses, with a total of 11 hectare in the last years."

"Assimilation lighting is used by many growers, but we are the very first blackberry producers that are combining it with LED. This results in plants that are producing more flowers than normal.”

The Driscoll’s Victoria is the result of Driscoll’s own unique breeding programme, focusing on taste, appearance and shelf life. The variety can be grown conventionally but performs even better in the protected environment of a glasshouse.