The moment of putting plants further apart has a strong effect on the amount of energy per pot plant. This is shown by calculations made with the new cultivation planning programme for ficus, poinsettia and hydrangea. The software has been developed in the context of the programme Greenhouse as Energy Source and is a further development of recently operationalised planning software for the cultivation of kalanchoe.
Financial returns in pot plant cultivation depend on the right planning and on the optimum utilisation of space and energy. Clever use of these resources increases returns. This requires the grower to be capable of taking advantage of the possibilities of greenhouse, weather conditions, market, gas price and available labour. This is not an easy task because there is no single optimum recipe for the best strategy.
Scientists Fokke Buwalda and Filip van Noort are developing software for balancing the effect of different cultivation measure for pot plants. For kalanchoe a simplified version of this software is meanwhile ready for use in practice and 25 growers have recently received a CD for testing the programme. The first test version for ficus, poinsettia and hydrangea is expected shortly.
Mathematical tool
The software enables entering different variables into the computer. The computer then calculates the expected harvesting moment and he required amount of energy for which it uses advanced mathematical rules from a model that describes plant growth and development. Greenhouse climate and energy need are calculated by means of a greenhouse simulation model. The consequences of a specific cultivation measure can be shown by, e.g., varying planting date, the moment at which the plants are placed wider apart, and temperature. For hydrangea it was, e.g., found that the moment of wider spacing could result in no less than 20% difference in the required amount of energy per plant, without negative effects on product quality or harvest date.
At the moment it is only possible to plan ahead. A next step in the development is for the computer to calculate back from a desired harvest date.
This research is financed by the Dutch Ministry of LNV and the Product Board for Horticulture in the context of the programme Greenhouse as Energy Source.