Crazy roots on the rise among tomato growers in the Netherlands and Germany
Source: HD.com
Joris Mulders, a cultivation adviser at Delphy in the Netherlands, has been observing a rise in the bacterial disease among growers and is helping them manage the consequences of the excessive root growth. Mulders suspects that something went wrong at propagator level, allowing the harmful bacterium Agrobacterium rhizogenes to enter growers' greenhouses despite the hygiene measures in place.
Opening the top of the substrate slab helps in two ways: it increases oxygen availability in the slab and allows light to reach the roots, which has an inhibiting effect on root growth. Extra labor is sometimes a bottleneck "Once you have crazy roots, you are mostly in damage-control mode," Mulders observes among affected growers.
On top of that, not every grower has enough people who can recognise plants with problems." In the worst cases, plants affected by crazy roots can fail completely. Controlling the pest is the best growers can currently achieve, eradication is simply not possible with the strategies available.
Why this matters: For operators, this is a water-management story. The useful signal is that direct substrate measurements can help cut drain loss materially without giving up yield or fruit quality, which is exactly the kind of controllable efficiency gain a facility can build on.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does substrate sensing matter in free-drain strawberry systems?
Because drain percentage tells a grower what already happened, while substrate moisture and EC data show root-zone conditions directly. That makes it easier to cut water loss without guessing.
What is the operator takeaway from this trial?
If the thresholds are understood well enough, growers can reduce drain water materially while protecting yield and fruit quality, which makes sensing an operational tool instead of a reporting tool.
