Close to celebrating a first-year milestone at their new site, Ball Australia was only too pleased to be invited and involved with the 2018 Hydroponic Farmers Federation 11th Biennial conference that was held in Melbourne from 25th - 27th June 2018.
Held every 2 years and this year with it being in Preston in Melbourne, Ball Australia saw it as a good opportunity to show the conference delegates, who were a mix of local Australian businesses and overseas visitors, how their new purpose-built greenhouse operates and works to best suit Ball Australia’s growing needs for the markets it currently grows for and new markets that it is expanding into.
As a ‘Farm Tour Sponsor’ Ball Australia took the group of 80+ through the 3.0 hectare site which is divided into 12 different growing zones. Based on a traditional greenhouse structure but with the inclusion of double skin polythene cladding sitting on a Van der Hoeven frame, this style of greenhouse provides good thermal properties and excellent light transmission for the ornamental bedding lines they grow.
The environment is climate controlled by a Priva Connext computer, that has a predictive capability to ensure accurate and timely operation of the heating, ventilation, and fogging systems. The heating boiler has a CO2 extraction system allowing for elevated CO2 levels for enhanced plant growth rates.
Of particular interest to the visitors was the unique feature of Ball Australia’s greenhouse structure; a Cabrio style roof house in the hardening off area. This is where the whole roof surface opens as opposed to individual vents to give plants exposure to outside conditions.
Then there is the centralised irrigation room which services the needs of the facility. The main system has a number of fertilizer dosing units that operate independently, giving the flexibility to have up to four separate fertiliser recipes on demand, plus fresh water anywhere across the facility.
The growing area is serviced by a comprehensive mobile rolling bench system which makes for minimal plant handling. New Irrigation booms have been installed that are computer controlled and can be programmed to irrigate specific areas within the greenhouse.
On top of the traditional growing areas, the design has also included the construction of climate managed germination chambers to promote more uniform germination of seedlings, and also a plant quarantine and seed quarantine facility.
While the visitors moved through the nursery and got to see production in action Paul Boland, Ball Australia’s Managing Director, who did a presentation at the conference noted: ‘It was a real honour to be able to show the group from the HFF conference around the Ball Australia facility. Some of these growers are the most technically advanced growers in the horticultural industry so it was great to introduce them to what we do. The group appeared very interested in seeing another side of horticulture and were very engaged on the tour of our nursery. It was a pleasure to have them here.’
Ball Australia
www.ballaustralia.com