Worldwide , and peculiarly in the US , the demand for flowers usually peaks for holiday such as Valentine ’s Day . How to meet this high demand while also deliver fresh , high - quality flower ? It is a true challenge for the industry . For this rationality , many engineering have been developed to keep cut flowers fresh for a long stop . Among these is the innovation developed by RipeLocker , a US AgTech party based in Seattle , Washington . To protract the spirit of postharvest spoilable , they developed patented , low - pressure vacuity chamber called RipeLockers . Four years ago , they did the first trials with fresh - edit out roses at US wholesalers , and two years ago the bedroom were commercially loaded , now being used for the third time for Valentine ’s Day and Mother ’s Clarence Day flowers . This technology allows rose to be stored for up to 6 week , without experiencing gray mold decay and timbre loss . They are continuously trialing with different trade good and recently they discovered that the chambers earmark chrysanthemum cutting to be stored for up to 4 - 6 week . Also , the chambers allow for the disinfestation of insects , without the employment of any chemical . " It ’s unique to have a engineering that can do so much with just a little bit of air control " , says Selynn Vong , Director of Marketing at RipeLocker .
How does it work?The technology may sound easy , but it involve a lot of inquiry , a appendage that continues to this day . Richard Kim , Director of Pathology at RipeLocker , explains what it is . " RipeLocker ’s patented modest - pressure level sleeping accommodation plan allow for commercial - scurf implementation . It allows flower agriculturist and supplier to have a uninterrupted supply of blooms throughout the class . It ensures the quality of touchy roses and other prime , and it in effect manage supply fluctuation . Moreover , it suppresses grey mold radioactive decay and provides chemical - free disinfestation treatment for insects " , he says . And how does it work out ? " In a RipeLocker , flower are held in a vacuum under low-toned pressure maintaining optimum levels of 02 and CO2 . By using this hypobaric or downcast - pressure memory method the RipeLocker reduces oxygen levels to slow down respiration , and by lowering water vapor pressure it forbid flower desiccation . In plus , the RipeLocker eliminate possible ethene buildup within the plant tissue or surrounding strain . In this way , our solutions prolong the life of perishable commodities beyond what can be attain by modern storage engineering . In plus , the circumstances in the bedchamber can be remotely accommodate and monitor . And thanks to their small size , the bedchamber are very moveable and shippable . "
What does it mean for the flower industry?Vong shares some concrete example : " Take for case the Colombian rose which are currently ship in composition board boxes . Thanks to our chambers , which can store approximately 2,500 rose stems each , these flowers can be put in for up to 6 week in Miami . By using RipeLockers , wholesalers , but also growers can stash away fresh - turn off flowers for an extended menstruum without character loss . This allows them to lay in nimiety when demand is small and to increase handiness during peaks . In this room , the chambers smooth out supply fluctuation and importantly raise the yearly riposte on investment for the users of the chamber .
And of late , we discover that the chamber are also useful for storing chrysanthemum thinning . Usually , they only can be stored for up to 2 weeks , which think of that harvest and replanting them is a very labor - intensive cognitive operation . By using the RipeLocker chambers , which we have conducted two trials with a Colombian agriculturist , the cutting can be hive away for up to 4 week result in leveling out this labor - intensive operation . "
She continues by offering an example of the Ecuadorian flush industry , where the roses are shipped via air . With sleeping room installed at the port in the US , they can embark the flowers by sea from Ecuador to the US port and store them for up to 6 week , till they are take . Vong accent the essential of a cold elbow room . " We can set up the chamber everywhere , but they need to stay in a cold room with a certain temperature . In Ecuador , we are now doing demos at the production emplacement . "
SuppressingAside from extending the season and maintaining the flower tone , the sleeping accommodation can also be used for suppress decomposition . Kim explicate : " The fungusBotrytis cinereanot only diminish the yield in pre - harvest but also bear upon the postharvest quality of cut flowers . However , it ’s hard to address due to the combining of the fungus ' ability to have latent infections and the delicate nature of flowers . Over the last three yr , RipeLocker has demonstrate a square step-down of botrytis gray cast by controlling the floor of O2 , CO2 , and air pressure . After 7 weeks of cold storage at 1 ° C , RipeLocker reduces the incidences of botrytis grey-headed clay sculpture by 81 % at the metre of first step and 59 % after 7 days of moisture - pack simulation compared to the ascendancy . "
Disinfestation of insectsFurthermore , RipeLocker states that its chambers can be used for quarantine insect plague . " manage thrip in turn off prime production remains exceedingly unmanageable . Methyl bromide ( M ) has historically serve as a backbone for thrips control in cut flowers . However , its usage is being phased out as a fumigant under the Montreal Protocol due to its ozone - depleting property . The impending loss of mebibyte could profoundly affect world-wide husbandry , especially as there are currently no alternatives for achieve rapid disinfection of commodities . In this context , RipeLockers are an efficacious non - fumigant alternative . We conducted trials for which we stored flowers with thrips for 4 weeks . Under lowly pressure , the eggs of thrip larvae do n’t last long , and we managed to obliterate 96 % of the thrips . trial have shown that we can even kill 100 % of the thrips when we put in low - dose Ozone speck into the chamber . However , even when you do n’t inject any kind of atom the RipeLockers are already highly effective , " Kim elaborates .
More and more good are being trialedVong adds : " Currently , thrip command is mostly used for commercial peony but we ’re trialing with other varieties , such as roses , hypericums , and more . We ’re also trialing with other usages of the organisation . We are a start - up with a small but highly experienced science team . We work hard to find out for which commodities our chambers are profitable while demand for our ware Is increasing . We have a stemma at the door of people who ask us to try the RipeLockers on their commodities . We ’re doing trials on avocados , kiwis , papaya , peaches , pomegranate tree , Lycopersicon esculentum , and even tree diagram nuts - the list is so long . So far , we ’ve done trials in Morocco , Australia , New Zealand , South Africa , Latin America , Italy , and Belgium . Our chambers can serve a large number of commodities across the circuit card . I suppose it ’s unequaled to have applied science that can do so much with just a little bit of air dominance . A main difference between our technology and other storage solutions is that it can also be used for insect and decline command . Moreover , the proceeds on investment is 1,5- 2 year , frankly speaking , that ’s a very curt meter for a novel , high-pitched - technical school excogitation . "
For more information : Selynn VongRipeLocker[email protected]www.ripelocker.com
