The result of three years of development High wire cucumbers

摘要

A new cucumber growing technique is allowing one Dutch grower to reduce his harvesting labour costs by 20%. Steven Vale discovers that the new moveable technique fits in between current traditional and high-wire techniques. Cucumber growers are beingtargeted with a brand new growing system that allows the growing crop to be lowered for picking. Designed to simplify harvesting, early results confirm that the technique is capable of reducing labour costs. The result of three years of development workby Dutch-firm Metazet, a feature of the new concept is that although the gutter is fixed in height, the crop stems can be raised and lowered. Connected to a winch mechanism located in the glasshouse roof, when the first fruits are ready for picking, a simple push of a button to activate an electric motor is enough to engage the winch mechanism to lower the plants so that the fruits are at an easy height to pick.