"Even know the influence of your substrate choice on water reuse"
Source: VFD.com
"Even know the influence of your substrate choice on water reuse" During the GreenTech Amsterdam panel discussion 'Every Drop Counts – Water as a Controllable Asset ', industry experts highlighted how water availability, quality and reuse are increasingly determining the profitability and sustainability of greenhouse operations. "Awareness needs to increase across the entire industry as water becomes more scarce and regulations to protect it become stricter." He added that agriculture accounts for approximately 72% of global freshwater withdrawals.
While open-field tomato production may require more than 60 litres of water per kilogram of fruit, high-tech greenhouse production can achieve significantly greater efficiency through controlled environments and water recirculation systems. © HortiDaily John van der Wilk (GreenV), Ruud Schulte (Van der Ende Group), Simon Jones (Genap) and Theophilus van Rensburg Lindzter (Learning Academy Worldwide) Starting with high-quality water A recurring theme throughout the discussion was the importance of water quality at the beginning of the production cycle.
"Data-driven irrigation and water treatment allow growers to improve efficiency while reducing waste." Matching treatment technologies to water sources Ruud outlined how water availability and source quality should determine treatment strategies. "However, summer periods often do not provide enough supply, so growers need alternative sources such as municipal water, well water, surface water or drain water." © HortiDaily A slide showing possible water sources and possibilities of how to treat them Each source presents specific challenges.
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.
