On 16 November 2021, the first high-wire cucumber crop was planted in the data-driven greenhouse of BASF’s vegetable seed business in ‘s Gravenzande. The greenhouse was equipped with about 340 umol LED lights from Signify. The second and third crops were planted on 2 March 2022 and 15 June 2022, respectively.
In September, the limit of 400 cucumbers, with an average fruit weight of about 385 grams, was surpassed and again at the planned end date of the third crop 3 October 2022. The BASF cucumber team’s model was used to determine the potential based on the expected amount of sunlight and artificial light combined.
Besides Hi Light F1, the main variety in all three crops, many new Nunhems® hybrids were tested. The cucumbers were grown based on Plant Empowerment principles. No standard pruning method was used to keep the plants balanced. Every week, leaf splitting was looked at and based on that, it was determined how to prune. Also, based on plant registration, it was determined how many leaves needed to be cut per week for optimal crop balance.
On 9 November, the BASF cucumber team is organizing a cucumber event in the Netherlands and one of the topics will be data-driven cultivation.
For more information: E-mail: rens.muusers@vegetableseeds.basf.com