Grafting totally daylight-free tomato plants

The winter season of the fruit crops is coming and production peaks are also coming again. In addition to the daily focus for production, this is also a moment to acquire a lot of variety knowledge in the research area.

Beekenkamp Plants is conducting trials in which daylight-free tomato plants are grafted. They do this by placing the plants in the climate cells after the selection and grafting process under different lighting strategies. In the climate cells it is checked whether LED lighting, fluorescent lighting or a combination of these can lead to an even higher quality product.

The aim of the tests is to develop a product that is as uniform as possible and to investigate whether there are also positive effects on, for example, rooting of the plant, which makes it more powerful at the time of potting. Other important pillars are also included as uniform shoots of the plant and troop positioning.

With more than 150 varieties of tomato plants in assortment, the research team is still working carefully. Most of the plants remain internal and only a few batches are supplied to see how this plant develops further at the grower. “At the moment we are mainly validating what we are doing”, says Philip van Zanten, project manager at Beekenkamp Plants.

With these tests Beekenkamp Plants continues to develop and they are working on innovations for the future. Not only the research team of Beekenkamp Plants is involved in these tests. The cultivation coordinators and production teams are also closely involved in this process. In this way theory and practice are perfectly combined. “Together for the best result”.