“There has been an increase in greenhouse projects in recent years due to efforts to tackle food and water security. Greenhouses are a big part of the solution to these global problems, ”says Neta Isralls, engineering manager at Vegtech Netafim South Africa.

The company undertakes around 30 greenhouse projects in Southern Africa per year.

In KwaZulu-Natal, Vegtech has built a² hydroponic greenhouse for strawberries where there was a field of sugar cane. In the Mount Elias greenhouse there are 65,120 plants at a spacing of 17 plants per square meter.

The greenhouse now produces around 5 tonnes of strawberries per month for local retailers.

A strawberry greenhouse in KwaZulu-Natal, where sugarcane and vegetables were once grown (photos provided by Vegtech Netafim South Africa)

The greenhouse is maintained between 22 ° C and 28 ° C and at 60-70% relative humidity. The plants are replaced once a year and production is around 7 to 8 months, depending on the climate. Strawberry ripening is more controlled in a greenhouse than in the ground, with fewer peaks and valleys, but the ripening period is not necessarily faster inside a greenhouse, he notes.

In addition, greenhouse strawberries are rarely sprayed unlike outdoor crops, he points out, which makes them more attractive to consumers.

“The challenge was to move and convert a greenhouse used for vegetable production to a strawberry greenhouse in a very short time,” he says. “Strawberries have to be planted at a certain time of the year and the client wanted to have the last vegetables picked before moving the greenhouse and modernizing it for strawberries. “

The Mount Elias greenhouse seen from the sky, showing the sugar cane fields for which KwaZulu-Natal is known

Watch a video of the project below:

For more information:
Neta Israel
Vegetech
T: +27 21 987 6980
info@vegtech.co.za
www.vegtech.co.za