Non-soil-borne bulb cultivation should yield better quality and fewer losses
No longer looking for fields far-away from home and no more soil-borne diseases. This is the appealing perspective of bulbs being cultivated on top of the soil. And it seems to work; this is the result of research by Applied Plant Research in cooperation with the Zwaagdijk Experimental Garden and bulb growers.
Cultivating bulbs in the open air but on substrate or water rather than in the soil. This revolutionary cultivation system offers numerous advantages in comparison with conventional cultivation in the soil.
Better crop management
No longer growing their bulbs in the soil would largely relieve bulb growers from soil-borne diseases. And it would give them better control over the cultivation conditions which enables specific measures to be taken to achieve a higher yield or a better quality. In addition, losses of nutrients and crop protection chemicals to the environment are decreasing because the supporting ground is protected. This means that any leachate can be collected.
The scientists are testing various non-soil-bound cultivation systems in their search for economically profitable systems that are suitable for application in commercial practice. They have already worked out how hyacinths and lilies are growing on different substrates such as dune sand and river sand. The researchers are also testing a system in which the bulbs are grown in the soil but where the subsoil is covered by foil. And they are testing aqua-cultivation of hyacinths in trays with nutrient solution and clay granules as supporting material.Questions to be answered through this research:
- What are the optimum conditions for bulb growth?
- how thick must the cultivation layer be?
- which substrate is suitable?
- what do nutrition and irrigation look like?
- what is the effect of temperature?
- Can non-soil-borne cultivation be shown to have a positive financial result for flower bulb enterprises?
Research together with growers
Much of this research is carried out on one of the experimental locations of the research organisations. At he same time, growers are also experimenting with flower bulb cultivation in gutters, pots, or substrate beds.
This flower bulb research is part of a larger project in which scientists are investigating how other crop groups can be cultivated ‘loose from the soil’.More information
Website of research programme “Soilless cultivation of outdoor crops"