thanks to LED lighting at Peters Nursery
Year round plum tomatoes for ZON Fruit & Vegetables
Growing under LED light worked quickly
Peters Nursery has grown plum tomatoes for over 10 years. Grower Wim Peters gives the same attention to the quality of the fruit, as his father and grandfather did before him. "That's the driving force," explains the grower. Produce from Peters Nursery is sold under the ZON Fruit & Vegetables 'Roma Vine' brand. The tomatoes are directly received by a steady group of customers in The Netherlands, Germany and Scandinavia. From these customers comes the demand for more year round produce. "We can always guarantee a safe quality product from The Netherlands," declares Maurice Langeslag of ZON Fruit & Vegetables, which is reassuring for both the receiver and the grower to know. "Through offering a quality product year round, we will not lose the market in the season change over."
Peters took the decision to install the LED lighting last year. "We first considered conventional lighting," explained Peters, "We felt the investment in LED was too high." With conventional lighting, the greenhouse would have needed to be lifted higher (leg height of 5 meters), but this was not necessary with the LED lighting. Peters also believes that LED is the horticultural light of the future. "LED gives much more control possibilities. For growth and quality, this is the optimal choice. Light is given in just the right place and this creates a better climate." Peters Nursery now hang LED lighting: 9.000 lux Son-T lights over the plants and 4.000 lux LED between, over 3.3 hectares (16 in total). Energy savings are estimated to be 10% compared to traditional lighting.
Natural?
Does it feel natural to grow with the new lighting? "Growing with light is always 'natural'," answers Peters. "We changed from an unlit crop, which is different but it went very quickly - they remain tomatoes." The first tomatoes were harvested between Christmas and New Year's. "The quality was perfect," Peters found - a view shared not only by himself but also his produce manager. Does this improved quality pay? "It is still to early in the season to say."
Loose and vine
In a traditional season, Peters grows loose plum tomatoes over 60% of the area and vine plum tomatoes over 40%. "In the winter we grow just vine plum tomatoes. We only harvest loose plum tomatoes on request. We compete with the Spanish plum tomato and they produce less vine tomatoes," explains Peters. From mid March unlit areas will come into production again and production will be increased to 11 ha of plum tomatoes and 6 ha of Tasty Tom.
Fore more information:
Maurice Langeslag (e-mail)
ZON fruit & vegetables
Venrayseweg 104
5928 RH VENLO
+3177-323 9690
www.zon-business.com
