More and more pepper growers have had to deal with aphids this season. The current protection measures no longer seem adequate, causing the peppers to remain covered in aphids. The rejection of Verimark's request for exemption in the Netherlands puts Dutch growers in a difficult position. The Dutch grower will have to look for a sustainable solution that also works in the long run, says Buitendijk Slaman. The company sees (more) demand for pepper washers as a result of the aphid problem.
The aphid contamination mainly accumulates around the calyx of the pepper. This makes it difficult to remove the dirt from the pepper. It is necessary to wash the peppers thoroughly, without damaging them.
Buitendijk-Slaman has decades of experience in producing washers for peppers. In the past years, the customers for these machines were mainly organic growers and outdoor crops. Now that the aphids are not so easy to eradicate, there is more demand on the Dutch market.
Two sections
A pepper washer consists of two sections: A spraying/washing section and a drying section. The length of these sections is determined by the sorting machine and capacity. Special brushes and sponges cause the peppers to tilt through the machine so that the water, brushes and air can hit the pepper around its calyx. In most cases, the washer is placed in the line of the grader, but if there is no room for it, it can also be used stand-alone. Edwin Sol: "All that is needed to use the pepper washer is a supply of clean water, an electricity point and a drain.
He continues: "In the past, tomato dryers were used to clean peppers, but that was a hopeless task. Peppers remained dirty around the calyx and they couldn't be dried, so they started to rot. We then started to develop washers to improve this process so that a clean and good product could be delivered."
The current washers are made entirely of stainless steel and have a higher capacity. "To get the contaminated peppers in such a condition that they can be sold, there is more demand for pepper washers at the moment. With our solution we hope to help the Dutch growers with a sustainable solution.''
For more information:
Edwin Sol 
Buitendijk Slaman
+31 6 51 91 74 70
+31 10 52 16 377
[email protected]
[email protected]
www.buitendijk-slaman.nl