Jan de Smet
Another reason for the increase in coco substrate is the worldwide issue of waste. Coco is fully recyclable. In the Netherlands and in Leamington (Ontario, Canada) there is a well-organized disposal system for substrate. There's no such thing in the rest of the world. Jan: "Our ‘Profit’ is clean. In recent years we have worked extensively on this. We have started to wash the basic material even more so that we can supply the cleanest slabs." The same goes for the propagation cubes that have been doing very well on the market in recent years.
Forteco started in 1998 by offering coco as a growth medium. The years of experience now come in handy. Jan: "We were one of the first companies in this market. We are happy to let our customers benefit from this long experience. Of course we continue to support them with advice on fertilizers and drip strategy." Per region, they have somebody ready to assist the customers: Dave de Haan in Canada, Daniele Dell'Erba in Mexico and Nick Boelen, who takes care of the entire American continent, Bart 't Hoen in Europe and later Mao Liu in Asia.
Organic cultivation
Coco is also used more and more in organic cultivation. One of the problems in organic cultivation is the conversion of organic fertilizer into mineral, absorbable nutrients. After 5 years of research, Van der Knaap has installed a generator in their test greenhouse that converts organic nitrogen into nitrate, so that from the outset the crops have sufficient nitrogen. Cultivation on dry coco slabs helps quite a lot as well.
Carnations
Forteco products are also increasingly used for products other than vegetables. For the propagation of carnations, for example, propagation cubes and small slabs are used. Jan: "The growth of the cuttings is much quicker and the homogeneity of the final product is significantly better compared to pots and tables filled with local substrate." Also in the cultivation of berries, the use of Forteco growpots and growbags is increasing.
Forteco
Bovendijk 50
2295 RZ Kwintsheul
Netherlands
T: +31 174 296606
E: [email protected]
www.vanderknaap.info
