Proefcentrum Hoogstraten

https://www.proefcentrum.be/contact/onderzoek/onderzoek-aardbei

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Peter Melis is a researcher in the cultivation of strawberry at Proefcentrum Hoogstraten in Belgium. His team does practical and demonstrative research on all aspects of the modern strawberry cultivation, both in soil and on substrate. At the centre the research program works in close contact with the growers to realize quick implementations of new techniques and systems into practice. Peter is well familiar with the different cultivation systems that make year-round cultivation possible, using short day cultivars and/or everbearers. He developed several techniques in the last few years to realize important steps in the evolution of the cultivation. Among them is the predictive outgrowth model for short day cultivars using flower bud analysis, the implementation of assimilation light for winter production in glasshouses, the capacity calculation for drain water recuperation on trayfields, the highly effective IPM strategy with control over the most common pests and diseases, the importance of timed and quantified fertilization during the plant production phase of short day and everbearing cultivars.