Article taken from The Fruit Grower
By Joanna Wood
The switch from soil grown crops to growing in coir substrate has been a feature of the last decade for UK strawberry growers, and many can reflect on what they are looking for now that they have years of experience with the product. FAST Fruit Adviser Graham Moore stresses that growers are under increasing pressure to make money in the year of planting.
“We are trying to produce a full crop in one year whereas in the past you had several years to achieve this”, observes Graham. “We all know that even by May we can see if we can have grown plants that will make money and so, from the point of view of the grower, everything has to be right, so anything that causes unnecessary checks to the growth of the plant must be avoided.” He adds, “What growers and advisers are looking for is a high level of confidence in the chemical quality of the bag.”
Stephen Tasker, who grows 14ha of tabletop everbearers near Retford Nottinghamshire and is, advises by Graham, is adamant that you need to know that when a bag is delivered it’s the one you expected. You don’t want to send a coir sample for analysis to find out a week later that you will have to flush the whole system to rectify any imbalances – you want to hit the spring running”. Graham and Stephen both agree that if you have to correct an unexpected problem with bags they will need to be over irrigated. This flushing in turn leads to problems such as cooling of the roots – it has a negative impact on root growth and creates unnecessary humidity in the crop. “I want to use a supplier that can offer consistent product year on year”, says Stephen.
Sandy Booth, of New Forest near Beaulieu in Hampshire, considers that the key to growing in coir is that the substrate product must be nicely balanced for root growth. “Most bags have too high an EC (>2) when wetted, whereas I’m looking for an EC of between 0.8 and 1.2 which is perfect for planting. Botanicoir always come in at this level,” says Sandy. Over the years he has found that any problems with bags can be discussed with Botanicoir’s Kalum Balasuriya, who he says always reacts to feedback and new ideas. A few years ago Sandy had a problem under glass with albinoism in early fruit and the problem was traced to there being too much and the problem was traced to there being too much silica in the coir. Cocopeat, the raw material which is processed to produce coir, has naturally high silica content and this needs to be flushed out in the process of refining the product for strawberry growers. “I’ve seen the flushing process in the pits at the Bontanicoir facility in Sri Lanka”, says Sandy, “No one else takes such trouble with quality”. Botanicoir’s job, according to Kalum, is to produce “the best product, giving growers the least trouble.”
Richard Pendry, Farm Manager at Edward Vinson Ltd, Faversham, Kent also uses Botanicoir’s growbags, having compared bags from a number of companies over the years, and in a trial on the farm this year the results have justified his dethe results have justified his decision to order all his bags from botanicoir. In the pas he has had significant quality problems with other problems with other products and considers that although “some growers buy on price alone they are missing the point that buying quality pays off.”
At Starkeys Fruit Farm, Southwell, Nottinghamshire, manager Steve Hobbs has been changing from soil grown to substrates over the last five years for his 13ha of strawberries grown in tunnels with a 50/50 mix of low and standard tabletops. Steve first used Botanicoir bags in 2014 for Elsanta crop; “We had a very even crop with respectable yields which then carried over to the 2015 main crop which again produced good yields. The bags seem to be very evenly graded and give consistent results with no anomalies”. This experience led to the whole farm being planted in Botanicoir bags. Steve considers that the everbearer crop this year in Botanicoir has given respectable results, an improvement on previous years where he had a mix of soil and substrate grown crops. “The choice of bag is only part of the jigsaw, but quite an important part,” says Steve. He has been pleased with the customer service from Botanicoir. “We had a small problem with hydration this year where some bags did not expand properly”, Mark Davies of Agrovista and Kalum Balasuriya came to the farm and immediately said, “Take them out and we’ll replace them”.
Staffordshire grower Tom Busby and Sons has 120ha of strawberries, mostly grown in the soil, but 30% are now grown on tabletops. He started to move over to substrate growing in 2011, so he describes himself as being in the ‘juvenile stage’ of learning how to handle tabletops. He is still experimenting with types of coir and bags to decide what suits the farm best. He has tried using a bespoke washed, but not buffered, Botanicoir is that they react quickly to any problems and are reliable with good customer service. “They are amendable to the requirements of a business for a different type or dimension of bag”, says Tom. For this year’s order he is going back to a buffered bag as it fits better with his planting plans.
By Joanna Wood
The switch from soil grown crops to growing in coir substrate has been a feature of the last decade for UK strawberry growers, and many can reflect on what they are looking for now that they have years of experience with the product. FAST Fruit Adviser Graham Moore stresses that growers are under increasing pressure to make money in the year of planting.
“We are trying to produce a full crop in one year whereas in the past you had several years to achieve this”, observes Graham. “We all know that even by May we can see if we can have grown plants that will make money and so, from the point of view of the grower, everything has to be right, so anything that causes unnecessary checks to the growth of the plant must be avoided.” He adds, “What growers and advisers are looking for is a high level of confidence in the chemical quality of the bag.”
Stephen Tasker, who grows 14ha of tabletop everbearers near Retford Nottinghamshire and is, advises by Graham, is adamant that you need to know that when a bag is delivered it’s the one you expected. You don’t want to send a coir sample for analysis to find out a week later that you will have to flush the whole system to rectify any imbalances – you want to hit the spring running”. Graham and Stephen both agree that if you have to correct an unexpected problem with bags they will need to be over irrigated. This flushing in turn leads to problems such as cooling of the roots – it has a negative impact on root growth and creates unnecessary humidity in the crop. “I want to use a supplier that can offer consistent product year on year”, says Stephen.
Sandy Booth, of New Forest near Beaulieu in Hampshire, considers that the key to growing in coir is that the substrate product must be nicely balanced for root growth. “Most bags have too high an EC (>2) when wetted, whereas I’m looking for an EC of between 0.8 and 1.2 which is perfect for planting. Botanicoir always come in at this level,” says Sandy. Over the years he has found that any problems with bags can be discussed with Botanicoir’s Kalum Balasuriya, who he says always reacts to feedback and new ideas. A few years ago Sandy had a problem under glass with albinoism in early fruit and the problem was traced to there being too much and the problem was traced to there being too much silica in the coir. Cocopeat, the raw material which is processed to produce coir, has naturally high silica content and this needs to be flushed out in the process of refining the product for strawberry growers. “I’ve seen the flushing process in the pits at the Bontanicoir facility in Sri Lanka”, says Sandy, “No one else takes such trouble with quality”. Botanicoir’s job, according to Kalum, is to produce “the best product, giving growers the least trouble.”
Richard Pendry, Farm Manager at Edward Vinson Ltd, Faversham, Kent also uses Botanicoir’s growbags, having compared bags from a number of companies over the years, and in a trial on the farm this year the results have justified his dethe results have justified his decision to order all his bags from botanicoir. In the pas he has had significant quality problems with other problems with other products and considers that although “some growers buy on price alone they are missing the point that buying quality pays off.”
At Starkeys Fruit Farm, Southwell, Nottinghamshire, manager Steve Hobbs has been changing from soil grown to substrates over the last five years for his 13ha of strawberries grown in tunnels with a 50/50 mix of low and standard tabletops. Steve first used Botanicoir bags in 2014 for Elsanta crop; “We had a very even crop with respectable yields which then carried over to the 2015 main crop which again produced good yields. The bags seem to be very evenly graded and give consistent results with no anomalies”. This experience led to the whole farm being planted in Botanicoir bags. Steve considers that the everbearer crop this year in Botanicoir has given respectable results, an improvement on previous years where he had a mix of soil and substrate grown crops. “The choice of bag is only part of the jigsaw, but quite an important part,” says Steve. He has been pleased with the customer service from Botanicoir. “We had a small problem with hydration this year where some bags did not expand properly”, Mark Davies of Agrovista and Kalum Balasuriya came to the farm and immediately said, “Take them out and we’ll replace them”.
Staffordshire grower Tom Busby and Sons has 120ha of strawberries, mostly grown in the soil, but 30% are now grown on tabletops. He started to move over to substrate growing in 2011, so he describes himself as being in the ‘juvenile stage’ of learning how to handle tabletops. He is still experimenting with types of coir and bags to decide what suits the farm best. He has tried using a bespoke washed, but not buffered, Botanicoir is that they react quickly to any problems and are reliable with good customer service. “They are amendable to the requirements of a business for a different type or dimension of bag”, says Tom. For this year’s order he is going back to a buffered bag as it fits better with his planting plans.