Dirk wk11/12 / 2010

Due to a long period of cold and in general dark weather conditions everything did not go very smoothly lately. The grow of the fruits was slower than expected. There were still cold weather conditions, but with some nice sunny days last week.
At the earliest plantings first trusses are harvested now.

At almost all companies the advice is followed up to prune a leave consequently at the top of the plant. This is necessary to achieve an open and generative crop. There was still some discussion about the moment to prune at 6, but meanwhile this is done everywhere at the moment. The trusses also show that this is possible, Dirk flowers fast enough.

Temperatures

At some companies the crop is strongly vegetative. At nice weather conditions these companies are advised to maintain the day temperature until half an hour – an hour after sunset. If necessary increase the light intensity at the latter part of the night temperature and make sure the temperature is high enough during the day.

Except at the latest planting dates a pre-night temperature of 14-15 degrees is set at almost al companies at the moment. It is advised to maintain not too low  temperatures (<15 degrees) at bright weather conditions because this can support big strong flowers. Keep the screen open at the start of the pre-night and only use the screen at the latter part of the night if the temperature outside is lower than 3 degrees. Before the screen is opened the minimum temperature is 17.5 degrees at the end of the night. The day temperature is 18 degrees half an hour before sunrise and then open the screen. This will cause a temperature dip but it makes the trusses strong. Subsequently, slowly heat up to day temperature.

Fertilizing

The dripping-EC is 3.3 at nice weather conditions. At dark weather conditions 3.5. K-value target at the slab for Dirk is 7 to 8 millimol/l. With Boron the target value at the slab is 250 micromol/l.  Keep also an eye on the PH, it is important that the PH is not going too high.