An indoor farming test facility at Wageningen University & Research (WUR) in the Netherlands has produced a crop of sweet peppers.
The result comes after the Fieldlab Vertical Farming project had already produced a crop of tomatoes in the high wire cells at the BU Greenhouse Horticulture centre in Bleiswijk last year.
According to WUR, the 11 chosen varieties are a mix of both blocky and sweet pointed peppers. ‘We will be screening the different cultivars for their suitability for indoor cultivation in our high wire cells. From this trial we will be able to create a cultivation protocol for growing sweet pepper varieties in our vertical farm, based on the results of the best performing varieties’ WUR said in a statement.
One of each cultivars will be grown in two growth cells to check for consistency between the cells. ‘The growth and development of the varieties are closely monitored as well as the climate in the cells. So far, one of the lessons learned is the importance to monitor both micro and macro climate to control the climate,’ said WUR. ‘This micro climate can be quite different from the macro climate; considerably higher RH values were found in close proximity of the plant. We have seen upwards curling leaves, mis-setting and oedema that might be the result of this high RH. By lowering the RH setpoint of the macro climate the leaves are improving in general and at first fruit set also improved.’
Previous experiments have shown that higher temperatures are required compared to greenhouse crops to compensate for the lack of solar radiation, and it is expected that the first crops will be picked at the end of April.
Photo source: WUR