Besides a range of vegetable varieties, breeding company Takii also has rootstocks in its range. These are already well known among growers in Japan and elsewhere in Europe, among others. High-tech growers in the Netherlands are now also discovering their remarkable performance.
With a step-by-step and careful approach, Takii has been working for several years to introduce its rootstocks to the high-tech cultivation sector in the Netherlands. In a partnership with a Dutch cooperative, among others, tomato growers have been testing the Takii rootstock Radar F1 for three years in practice - and successfully. Based on striking performance, an extended trial of Radar F1 is being launched to introduce more tomato growers to one of Takii's promising rootstocks.
Sven Paauwe, Account & Product Manager at Takii Europe, will supervise that trial, which will be held next year at Delphy. Growers are invited to follow the trial and to set up a trial in their own greenhouse at the same time.
Sven Paauwe
Stable
So what are they going to see? A rootstock that is stable, Sven stresses. "That is what we see so far and on which we have also bred. Radar F1 has to grow as stable as possible. That means starting stably, also climbing steadily towards the peak in cultivation, but above all also declining stably again when the light in cultivation declines."
In October and November, compared to reference rootstocks in the market, Sven sees that Radar F1 continues to perform more stably. "The light then decreases exponentially, but the yield decreases gradually, thanks to the rootstock."
Trials with Radar F1 started three years ago in high-tech tomato cultivation in the Netherlands. Sven points to "surprising results" from those trials. "Radar is running well in the top three rootstocks," the product manager points out with various tables of growth performance.
Vegetative and open
In the rootstock market, unlike the market with cultivated varieties, numerous new varieties do not offer themselves every year. That makes the steady market introduction of the Takii rootstock in high-tech tomato cultivation in the Netherlands remarkable anyway.
Even more remarkable, however, is its performance. Feedback from growers tells the breeding company that the crop is vegetative and "very open." "So that means an advantage for photosynthesis," Sven stresses. "Radar proves itself precisely also at the end of cultivation."
2024 trial
With Radar F1, Takii is focusing on tomato, although the rootstock can also be used for high-tech aubergine. The breeding company is also looking at high-tech crops for cucumbers with new rootstocks for those crops.
However, the first focus now is on tomato and its own trial at Delphy next season. In January, an unlit trial will be planted in which Radar F1, two more Takii rootstocks, and a reference rootstock will be compared.
As a cultivated variety, Sven already knows that a variety with coarse truss (130-150 grams) will be grafted onto Radar F1. Growers have already gained experience with this combination. The choice of another variety, possibly a ToBRFV-resistant variety, has yet to be made.
The cultivation results from the trials so far and the fact that new rootstocks do not appear very often in the market mean that growers keep their eyes and ears open for developments with Radar F1 and other rootstocks, he says. "In the market, you notice a need for more choice in rootstocks. We are making it happen."
For more information:
Sven Paauwe
Takii Europe
Hoofdweg 19, 1424 PC
De Kwakel, the Netherlands
[email protected]
www.takii.eu