Can you Cultivate on a Danish trolley?
Reading time: 5 minutes
Introduction Vertical farming
History of vertical farming in the Netherlands
See the light
Feed and water
Substrate
Climate
Conclusion
Introduction Vertical farming
Vertical Farming has gained tremendous momentum in recent years. In these times of emission control, pressure on the use of crop protection products, and the call for clean drinking water, growing crops "out of the ground and in the rack" certainly has meaning.
But how do you actually do it, growing in a rack?
Opinions were divided on that. Quite a lot, in fact. In recent years, the possibilities have become increasingly clear.
In this article I introduce you to the Horti-Grow, our interpretation of vertical growing on a small scale.
History of Vertical Farming in the Netherlands
Although indoor growing has been researched for several decades, it took off in the Netherlands after a subsidy was released in 2009 to investigate how to grow certain crops with much less Nitrate leaching.
A group of enthusiastic growers, including myself, together with Proeftuin Zwaagdijk, focused on the group of leafy crops. The first trial ponds with floating lettuce were soon established.
Gradually, this turned out to cause quite a few problems outdoors, such as leaching from flooding ponds during heavy rain, not being able to control diseases and pests and the extreme radiation (temperature differences) between the young crops on the float.
As a result, many trials were moved to tunnels or greenhouses, where these problems were absent or much less prevalent.
It soon became clear that it would make more sense (and be more efficient) to stack crops and the move to Vertical Farming was made. Ideas about lettuce factories shot up like mushrooms.
See the light
With multilayer growing, we miss the sun, and so it wasn't long before several major manufacturers started getting involved, with the common denominator being that they all knew better. Over 15 years on, we have found out that a plant does use a bit more than the blue and red spectrum, and a bit of infrared for elongation.
That's why our Horti-Grow lamps mimic the spectrum of a beautiful spring day. Of course, there are various measured light recipes for various specialist conditions, but for growing herbs and leafy crops, baby leaves and other micro-vegetables, this spectrum is perfect. Besides giving the plants everything they need to grow, this is also a pleasant environment for the human eye, and preserves the natural appearance of all colours.
Nutrition and water
Besides light, we naturally want to get nutrition and water to our plants. Our Watertrays or Danish trolley trays are specially designed for this purpose. Our white Watertray is very suitable for applications in vertical farming. In Horti-Grow, we use a water tank and water pump to provide the crops with nutrition and moisture. We also have the overflows, feedthroughs and taps in our range.
Our water trays come in various thicknesses and colours. Besides this size, we also have various versions available based on the size of a Euro pallet.
Substrate
Many forms of substrate have already been used in multilayer growing. From common soil, rockwool and coconut, to rooting in a plastic mat, combined with an ebb and flow system. In general, you can say that the less buffer there is in the substrate, the more chance there is of shortages and/or failure. DFT (rooting in a nutrient solution with minimal to no substrate) is difficult to apply on a smaller scale. Irrigating a substrate (soil, rockwool, or biodegradable substrate) at regular intervals in the Horti-Grow has proven successful.
Climate
Of course, the climate in and around a growing setup depends primarily on where it is located. The humidity and temperature of the room where the grow-trolley is located can often be adjusted using climate control technology. Our Horti-Grow is also fitted with air-permeable Horti-Covers, which allow the humidity and temperature to be controlled on a smaller scale.
Conclusion
Can you grow on a Danish cart?
Yes you can! With the new Horti-Grow, you can easily and quickly set up ( possibly temporarily) spaces into a complete production area without an overly large investment. The flexibility of a Danish trolley, which forms the basis of the Horti-Grow, also has the advantage that you can set up your growing space easily and quickly, in addition to the advantage that the height can be put to good use by using several layers.
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