A confidential fresh herb-producing facility in the U.K. have adopted AutoPot in order to propagate and grow their crops. easy2Propagate and easy2grow systems are being used to feed and water (respectively) 72,000 seedlings and 8,400 plants at a time. The aim is to produce up to 1,000 kg of basil per week, with capacity to increase production should demand dictate.
Propagation consists of eighty, three-shelved Danish Trollies covering 150 sq metres. Each trolley accommodates three easy2Propagate units. That’s a total of 240 easy2Propagate units in all. Each easy2Propagate holds 3-4 seed trays – around 300 cells per unit in total.
The Production Area is laid out with 4,200 easy2grow modules, each module holding two plants. For up to nine months of the year the nursery expect to be growing. Depending on the weather in the early part of the year, they hope to start picking within 8-10 weeks from seed germination.
The easy2grow module is ideally suited to Production Areas.
Expert care from the team together with the responsiveness of AutoPot Watering Systems means just one crop should be necessary each year. As a rule this crop is going to be grown as a “cut-and-come-again” crop, although plants may be swapped in and out as required if tiring.
Sweet Thai Basil generally lends itself to high humidity levels and temperatures of up to 30 degrees Celsius. Therefore the greenhouse’s location has been an important consideration. Latitude obviously makes a huge difference when it comes to cultivating plants that, traditionally, hail from warmer climes. Even in a comparatively small territory such as the U.K. the benefits of growing tender crops like Basil in the south are clear. High light levels for a longer periods of time combined with much warmer temperatures in southern areas mean vast savings on lighting and heating. Locating thus, AutoPot producers of temperature-sensitive crops can maintain their competitive advantages in water efficiency and power free growing.
Growing in easy2Propagate units and easy2grow modules marks a departure from the rockwool-drip irrigation technique which the nursery have previously used. They are keenly anticipating the cost benefits of growing power-free with AutoPot.
