"In horticulture it is important to monitor a lot"

Van Lipzig Tuinderijen is a Dutch cucumber grower working on 8.5 hectares. The nursery has the size of 17 football pitches and annually cultivates 240 cucumbers per square meter. The cultivation period is from mid January to the end of November.

The company established itself in California in January 2008. California boasts the first Dutch development company for greenhouse horticulture on a private basis. This location provides the entrepreneur with the necessary space and meets his sustainability requirements.

Cultivation manager Peter van Ninhuys checks the dew point through the temperature and humidity meter at the crop level. This meter hangs at a few centimeters from the Pointed Temperature Sensor. The readings from the 30MHz sensors help him optimize the conditions in the greenhouses and reduces the loss of crop and fruit from mold and rot.

"We have started monitoring the fruit temperature. Seeing how quickly the fruit warms up and whether it falls below the dew point. With this monitoring we aim to prevent sunburn and mycosphaerella. In fact, after the first week we realized that the growth tube settings were pretty good and there was no condensation on the fruit. However, the temperature of the growth tube could be lowered somewhat so that we could save energy", Van Ninhuys explains.

After monitoring the fruit, the head of the cucumber plant was monitored for the head temperature range during emission and rain. After just two days of measurements, there was already a remarkable result. "We found out that the head temperature cooled down very quickly after an unexpected rain shower. As a result, we adjusted the screening strategy, so that the head temperature rose quickly again to room temperature. Now we doing this almost every night against emission, so that we can prevent cold problems at the head. We also think that through this measurement, the root pressure can be monitored better. If the head does not cool too quickly, relative to the root temperature, this will result in less problems in cultivation."

"Why we opted for 30MHz sensors? In horticulture we are quite busy with the Next Generation Growing, and it is especially important to monitor a lot. We think this is also a very good thing. We have been looking for affordable and reliable sensors. We soon arrived at 30MHz."