week of drought can from time to time be flip with heavy shower in which large amounts of water fall from the sky in a scant time . Strawberry agriculturist can not do anything about it , but can they do something with it ? Yes , to ensure that they garner as much water as potential .
Growers of protect greenhouse crops have long been familiar with the collection and processing of drain stream . In Flanders , strawberry agriculturist now have to comply with novel rules : from January 2021 installing a first flush system is oblige for growers with tray or container fields . This fashion they ensure that nutritive - plenteous drainage weewee from the open field does n’t get fall back in the surface water .
Dieter Baets before the three test lay - ups , which , as you may see in the photo below , are settle in the middle of the magnanimous tray battleground .
Filtering and disinfectingAll that water system , of course , must be properly filtered and disinfected . Only then can a raiser give it back to his crop . To help those growers and to be able to advise about investing in the proper installation , testing was carried out at Proefcentrum Hoogstraten .
In July , three filtration exercise set - ups were installed on the survive strawberry tray field to discover out which combination of filtration and/or disinfection works well . " Both growers with tray or container field of view , but also growers with lettuce on gutters can do good from our research finding , " according to Dieter Baets , strawberry researcher at the Hoogstraten Test Center and involved in the project . The same mental testing set - up can also be found at the Proefstation voor de Groenteteelt in Sint - Katelijne - Waver .
After the spray had been switched on and the water has been collected , the filtration starts .
textile filter and cloth filtersOf the three set - ups , part of theInterreg Flanders - Netherlands undertaking Recupa , two are equipped with a cloth filter . textile filters from Aqua D&S , get it on for combating legionella in other sectors and enter into agriculture and gardening because of the increase pursuit in water , combined with a vibrating blind from the same company .
Dieter : “ What straightaway struck me liken to other screen filter is the extra in high spirits edge on the material . Maybe not Eruca vesicaria sativa science , but it is something I have never see before with other fabric filters . That higher boundary ensures that the water on the cloth , even if the cloth is full of dirt , does not overflow like a shot and so enters the silo unfiltered . “The fabric filter , with the two floats hang above the body of water surface
Fabric filterA float above the fabric filter prevents the Aqua D&S filter from overflowing . “ If the water level rises and hits the air bladder , the ice-cream soda shoots up , after which the cloth moves up twenty centimetre . This means that again there is clean fabric on the filter and the filtration can continue ” . That ’s Dieter ’s experience in the trial run that will stay until December 2019.The vibrating covert removes the first grease from the water .
oscillate screensRianne de Baar from Aqua D&S point out that the addition of a vibrating screen in any case extend the life of the fabric . That is why such a vibrating screen has been add to two of the three curing - ups in Hoogstraten . The first dirt is vibrate out of the water on the 75 micrometer screen . Dirt that certainly is abundantly present in the finish of hemangioma simplex in trays on coco and white peat substrate from the first irrigation cycle per second on the 18 - square - metre mini - tray field . “ We are try the textile filters in a variant of 5 micron and 20 micrometer . We dribble stabilize hydrogen peroxide with the 5 micron cloth , while we apply ultraviolet light for disinfection with the 20 micrometer cloth . ”In one of the three set - ups , hydrogen peroxide is added as drops as the last disinfection measure .
Stone woolAnd what about the third set - up ? “ This is where the hemangioma simplex plants grow on stone wool substratum blocks . This causes less dirt , which mean that here we only disinfect the water with ultraviolet light light in the test . You might equate it with the difference between peck plant cultivation and tomato polish . A Lycopersicon esculentum grower normally also has less rough-cut , organic dirt in his irrigation water , while a pot plant life grower , but also a hemangioma simplex raiser with a tray field of operation , has much more organic dirt in his drainage water . ”Strawberry plants on substrate blocks of Isidor Feinstein Stone wool
Black foilAnyone who has canvas the set - ups in the photos above may have noticed something else besides the technical gadgets . Black transparency . Dieter , smiling after doing a round past the large filtration set - up for day-after-day practice on the tray orbit in Hoogstraten : “ Yes , I still want to explain that , there is a reason for enhancer . Because we are grapple with nutrient - rich water and because the set - up is outside and therefore is discover to sunlight , the alga develop faster than we would care . Black transparency helps to reduce algae growth . "
A distinctive point to take into explanation when refine the recirculation of water supply at grower . “ As a testing center , we are in a placement to test without straight endangering commercial cultivation . Our challenge is to screen the filtration and disinfection exercise set - ups and optimize them together with the involved suppliers . "
For more info : Aqua Development & Solutions B.V.www.aquadns.nl[email protected]Proefcentrum Hoogstratenwww.proefcentrum.be[email protected ]
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