ISO Group and Florensis lift cutting planting to higher level

The aim of the cutting planter was not only to save labor but also a higher planting quality and uniformity. Together with Florensis, the ISO Group therefore started designing. Special attention was given to grabbing the cutting and to connect it to stem or plant without causing any damage. 

Market feedback to ISO Group shows that not only is there demand for more reliability with regard to the cost of planting cuttings but also increasingly for the quality of planting. Quality cuttings are of great importance. A visible stem and a uniform cutting ensure optimum efficiency of the cutting planter.

In the first cuttings planting season, Florensis and ISO Group together looked for the ideal combination for cutting and plant handling of the machine. Because of this close cooperation it is now possible to achieve speeds that are in excess of 2,500 cuttings per hour. With these quantities and uniform cuttings, the investment in the machines can be earned back within a very short period based on labor saving alone, without taking quality improvement into account.

For that reason Florensis started in late 2016 with 5 cutting planters that are fully employed in production in recent months. It takes 2 employees for the control, logistics and operation of the 5 machines. This comes down to an average of around 11,000 to 12,000 cuttings per hour, handled by 2 employees.

"The machines are easy to operate, though you should have no fear for computers," Edwin Kodde, External Contracts Manager at Florensis, remarks. "But we observe that if you enjoy fine-tuning of the software with the cuttings, then planting of cuttings suddenly becomes a very enjoyable and challenging activity. The result is immediately visible. For each species things like stitch depth and offset can be keyed in to ensure that each cutting is planted in the best way and as uniformly as possible."

Good and uniform cuttings are the base for optimally tuning of the settings of the cutting planter. Even with the self-learning software of the machine, good cuttings remain the basis for the success of the machine. Florensis notices in terms of cultivation results, that particularly small cuttings show improvements compared to old-fashioned manual cuttings planting. Both ISO Group and Florensis are present this week at the HortiContact Fair in Gorinchem, The Netherlands, to tell you more about the possibilities of automatically cutting planting.