Precision Fertilization
CE-Line 's technology will be integrated into the water system of horticultural greenhouses. Growers will thus have continuous access to up-to-date data on the concentrations of nutrients in the water, whereas now - after sampling - they receive results from an external laboratory at most once or even every two weeks. 'Growers can make adjustments much faster with real-time data,' says Wilco. 'Our measuring system contributes to the stability of the feed water and the effect is: more yield and better quality of crops and fruits. Moreover, thanks to precision fertilization, the consumption of fertilizers and water goes down. With their current approach to external lab testing, horticulturists already strive for the most sophisticated feed water possible, but now they are actually always behind the times.'
'The beauty of our system is that it can measure the ten most important macroelements among the nutrients,' explains the entrepreneur. 'Think, for example, of calcium, phosphate and potassium. The need for these substances varies by crop and conditions. Greenhouses are increasingly high-tech to properly control the climate, but even at stable temperatures, plants have different nutritional needs on sunny days than on cloudy days. Tomatoes in particular are very sensitive to the composition of nutrients in the feed water. Precision fertilization is especially valuable when growing fruiting vegetables like tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and zucchini, so that's what we're focusing on first. Although our measurement system is also applicable for other crops.'
