The employees at Belgium strawberry grower Raf Quirijnen recently fell head over heels. Or rather cake, because Kurt Lauwers and René Mondt from Royal Brinkman had brought one from Bakkerij Vreugdenhil to celebrate the 200th installation of a Moleaer nanobubble system.
Raf Quirijnen, Kurt Lauwers and René Mondt with cake
Before the cake could be eaten on Thursday, a short check of the system took place. René had brought a sensor to check the oxygen level. The Moleaer NEO nanobubble generator provides an oxygen level of 37 ppm in water. After draining a measuring cup full of water, René measured 35.4 ppm. This makes him feel positive. "A small deviation at very high values compared to the figure on the unit is common," he says.
The system has been running at the Wuustwezel-based grower since last summer. The water for six hectares of strawberry crops in three greenhouses has since been enriched with additional dissolved oxygen from one central water room. Raf: "My water system is good. Still, I do believe in the importance of extra oxygen for better roots."
Check performance Moleaer unit: 35.4 ppm oxygen satisfies
Cleaner drip lines
At the Hoogstraten Test Center, the grower followed trials with a Moleaer NEO nanobubble generator in strawberry cultivation. He decided to invest in it afterwards too, after consulting his cultivation advisor.
One of the most important factors of water quality is the amount of dissolved oxygen in the water. Oxygen is an essential element needed for plant growth. Maintaining sufficient available oxygen in irrigation water supports healthy plant development, helps reduce stress and indirectly prevent diseases.
Increasing oxygen levels in the root zone improves nutrient uptake, enhances root growth and supports healthy vegetative and generative growth. Besides the fact that grower Raf expects to do the plant a favor with the extra oxygen, he is already seeing an effect by loosening dirt in drip lines. This is a nice bonus.
The autumn sun shines well into the water room. In one of the three greenhouses, the HPS lights are also on. This is where grower Raf grows exposed.
Customized
Grower Raf's water technology room contains one Moleaer unit. This enriches the irrigation water in the mixing tank where water from different sources is mixed. The strawberry grower collects rainwater with silos and a basin. He uses ninety percent rainwater. There is also the possibility of using spring water. Together with some drain water, this creates a mix that should also contain sufficient oxygen. Again, René measured a measuring cup of water on Thursday. 29.2 ppm. A good score.
Just after installation, Royal Brinkman's men and grower Raf noticed that the oxygen level in the mix tank was lower than expected. The cause was found to be mixing basin water with low oxygen levels. After some software adjustments, grower Raf will pump basin water in at night from now on. That makes a difference.
René: "You can lose some oxygen due to temperature differences between water. You also have to take chemical consumption into account, for instance, if the water is highly ferruginous, or biological consumption, which is a particular issue in organic crops. We calculate the required oxygen levels prior to installation."
Measured oxygen level in mixing tank: 29.2 ppm
Measurable
The strawberry grower who supplies his strawberries to Coöperatie Hoogstraten also has experience in using biostimulants. These too contribute to better soil life and roots, but unlike investing in the Moleaer NEO nanobubble generator, grower Raf still finds it difficult to decide which biostimulants to choose. "It is more difficult to measure. That's the advantage of working with nanobubbles. Oxygen in my pouring water is measurable."
The grower also raises his own plants, on a tray field. For the watering water, he gives those tray plants, Raf does not yet work with nanobubbles. "I chose as a first step to invest in the watering water for production cultivation," he says. Does he also expect an increase in production here, Kurt wants to know from him over a cup of coffee. Not directly, although Raf finds that difficult to indicate anyway. There are so many factors affecting this. "I am always critical of my cultivation, but find that everything is looking good at the moment," he says.
René taps a measuring cup of water to take a control measurement
Stability
With the investment in the Moleaer NEO, grower Raf mainly wants to prevent problems. "Preventing root diseases is becoming increasingly challenging due to the disappearance of agents," he says. In some crops, growers use hydrogen peroxide to keep the water clean and enrich it with oxygen. Raf grows without hydrogen peroxide.
Preventing problems is what investing in a Moleaer system is all about, nods René. "Especially at stress moments for the plant, growers see that the plant remains stable. Disease pressure does not increase then, nor is production affected. So you are not so much going to produce harder, but mainly have for a more stable crop, because the oxygen levels in the pouring water remain stably good."
René and Kurt studying the Moleaer unit up close
In basin
Besides the Moleaer NEO, there is also the Moleaer Clear, for in-water basins. "There, the focus is not on increasing oxygen levels, but mainly on preventing algae and pollution in the water basin," René points out. "Here we inject air, while at the NEO we make and inject oxygen."
Royal Brinkman's water technology specialist regularly moves around Belgium with account manager Kurt Lauwers. Thanks to Royal Brinkman's wide product range, Kurt has a lot of different products to offer growers. For larger investments, such as water installations, René offers support.
René points out that in recent years Royal Brinkman has increasingly started selling Moleaer's systems in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany, as well as via export. Kurt, who has been back with his first employer in horticulture since last year, received an app from René after the 200th sale. "He told me it was the 200th sale. That's to dwell on." And so it was that in Wuustwezel, a club of strawberry pickers sat enjoying a Westland cake on a weekday in October.
The display shows the oxygen level.
For more information:
Royal Brinkman
[email protected]
www.royalbrinkman.nl
Moleaer
[email protected]
www.moleaer.com