At improving widely used techniques, TGS is at its best

Scale-up is a recurring theme in modern horticulture, and Kwekerij de Wieringermeer, part of Rainbow Growers Group in the Netherlands, knows it well. The company is one of the larger players in Dutch bell pepper production.

To keep all systems running smoothly, the grower works with Technical Greenhouse Support (TGS). “Where our own technical department stops, the TGS team takes over. TGS specializes in technical issues,” says Patrick Grootscholten of Kwekerij de Wieringermeer.

As co-owner of the company, Patrick is well aware that growers constantly need equipment that simplifies work. He also stresses the importance of proper system maintenance. Once the last peppers of the season have been harvested, TGS technicians carry out electrical and mechanical maintenance on the grading lines.

Crop changeover
During the crop changeover, equipment such as leaf blowers and leaf vacuums comes in handy, as do film unrollers and demolition cloth unrollers. TGS developed the film unrollers specifically for Kwekerij de Wieringermeer, Patrick explains. “A lot of time was lost when rolling out film in the greenhouse aisles. The heavy film rolls were difficult to unroll, and they had to be moved and turned for every new aisle.”

TGS designed a film unroller with antistatic rollers and wheels. “This makes the film easier to unroll, and moving the heavy rolls is much less labor-intensive.”

The demolition cloth unroller is another practical solution developed by TGS. “Before the crop is removed, heavy rolls of demolition cloth have to be unrolled along the aisles,” Patrick says. “To make this work easier and less physically demanding, TGS developed a special unroller. An internal shaft with smooth-running bearings allows the cloth to be pulled out easily to the end of the aisle. The wheels then make it simple to move the unroller to the next aisle.”

The crop changeover is also the time to carry out necessary maintenance on spray robots. TGS handles this maintenance, as well as SKL inspections.

According to Patrick, much of TGS’s strength lies in improving existing equipment. “Often a system already works 85 or 90 percent well, but that last detail is impractical for the person who has to work with it all day. TGS is good at optimizing precisely those details.”

TGS is also the go-to partner for urgent jobs and complex repairs to internal transport systems, such as pipe rail trolleys of any brand, induction lines, buffer systems for harvested product, and forklifts.

Solution for the use of banker plants
Technical Greenhouse Support will celebrate its tenth anniversary next year, and Kwekerij de Wieringermeer has worked with the company from the start. A relatively new development is the Graanpolstoel (grain pollen chair). “Ten years ago, cereal plants were already being used as banker plants in pepper cultivation,” Patrick says. In recent years, he has seen interest in banker plants return because of aphid pressure in pepper crops. “The Graanpolstoel is a typical example of a question from the grower for which TGS came up with a solution.”