How to reduce labour when tying up greenhouse plants

Lack of labour is a growing issue in greenhouse farming. Therefore, the rationalization of the workforce is becoming a necessity. In this field, the system Ideal Tutor, developed by SIA Sicilia Group, provides a way to tie up greenhouse plants, as the company says the binding can be done twice as fast.

Alessandro Avarino

"The Ideal Tutor system has been appreciated for years by growers," explains Alessandro Avarino. "The traditional method of supporting plants in the greenhouse requires a lot of manual labor, which ends up being a big expense. The system we designed and patented avoids the waste of time, because the execution time is drastically reduced. Moreover, the system improves working conditions, because with Ideal Tutor, greenhouse workers no longer have to stand hunched over or climb ladders and improvised crutches. Our system saves time not only in tying up the greenhouse plant, but also in removing the wires after the harvest."

The horizontal wire

"Ideal Tutor consists of a structure of polyethylene wires used for tying up the most common greenhouse crops such as tomatoes, aubergines, and peppers. The system is versatile and is pre-machined and assembled. It can be supplied in different sizes in terms of wire length and distance between the different descending wires. There is also a wide choice of hooks, single or multiple, for anchoring at the top."

The horizontal wire is placed on the hook

The system comes in packaged rolls, which are reeled off. The wire length and the spacing between the multiple descending wires are predetermined by the customer. The upper anchorage is achieved by using hooks.

The ready-made wire structure is supplied in a box

To address growing needs for crops whose plant growth is indeterminate, there is a companion option called the Ideal Tutor Dinamico system. This is essentially the same system described above, but it is equipped with a modular system that allows the grower to lower the crop 30 to 60 cm per module. This operation can be performed up to three times, allowing the crop to continue growing by 90 to 180 cm. This allows the grower to extend the vegetative life of the plants for a longer period. As a result, their productivity increases and costs for crop replanting are avoided.