"This combination is new. We have not installed a double Top-loader with two corresponding cooling drums before." Frank Warnaar, salesperson at Total Systems, tells us this during a round through the processing area of Double Check Lily. This lily grower hit a logistical ceiling, with malfunctions of the soil processing plant and a limited turnover speed. That is remedied with this new combination.
Frank Warnaar and André Reijm
The previous soil processing system was subject to many malfunctions. The cause was, according to Frank, that the moving parts often came into contact with the soil itself. With the Top-loader, only the grabber makes contact and nothing else. Moreover, this would result in the machine having a much longer service life.
A cooler drum is shown at the top left, the double Top-loader at the bottom right
It is a tried-and-tested machine that, in addition to horticulture, also has applications in many other industries. Even more spectacular is the installation of the two cooling drums, which have remedied the problem called throughput time. Because the soil after steaming has to cool down first in order to be suitable for new plants and this certainly is applicable for the lilies, it has not been possible to plant unlimitedly at any given time. This is now possible with the two cooling drums that are connected directly to the Top-loader.
"In fact, two problems have been solved", as grower André Reijm summarizes it. "I do not have to get up at night to keep the machines running and we can, in principle, continue 24/7 with all the work, from planting to harvesting."
In lily cultivation, the soil is one of the most important factors. The bulb is rather picky and refuses service if something doesn’t suit it. Hence the steaming, which for example is also done by lisianthus growers, which is a necessary but costly procedure. Growing lilies in the open field without applying complicated tricks and treatments, would only be possible roughly once in a decade. Through the (increasingly obsolete) injection of chemical agents, steaming or (becoming more in vogue) fighting nematodes and the like as natural as possible, growing can be done more often, but also cultivating in crates, as happens at Double Check Lily, offers a solution. "In this way of cultivating, the soil is reused and the diseases are controlled by steaming of the soil. By using the Top-loaders and the cooling drums a considerably shorter turnover period is realized so replanting can be done much faster."
Double Check Lily is a respected customer of Total Systems, because apart from the Top-loader and the cooling drums, the complete harvest line is installed by the automation company. "A good soil is the basis for a good product", Frank concludes, "and we are happy to assist."
For more information:
Double Check Lily
Hasseltweg 9
2751 GZ Moerkapelle
Netherlands
T: +31 (0)79593 1846
E: info@doublechecklily.nl
www.doublechecklily.nl
Total Systems B.V.
Industrieweg 31
1775 PV Middenmeer
Netherlands
T: +31 (0)227 - 501211
E: info@totalsystems.nl
www.totalsystems.nl