De perfecte chrysant teelt 1-9: Energiezuinige demonstratieteelten bij Delphy Improvement Centre

With funding from ‘Kas als Energiebron’, ChrIP and suppliers, nine chrysanthemum crops have been carried out at the Delphy Improvement Centre in 2017 and 2018. These crops had the following targets: • A heat use up to 475 MJ/(m2.yr). • This heat must be extracted from harvesting heat (cooling) and the electricity for the heat pump. • A CO2-use of 25 kg/(m2.yr). • A yearly electricity usage for lighting of 121 kWh/(m2.yr). • 5% more production than professional growers. The most important means to achieve this objective are hybrid lighting, diffuse glass with 2 AR-coatings, an additional energy screen, air handling units, well pumps and a heat pump. The crops are run under the name ‘The Perfect Chrysanthemum’ (DPC). The realised use of heat, turned out to be lower than the target. The amount of heat (cooling) harvested is much higher and the amount of lighting is has exceeded the target during the project. Fogging has increased the amount of harvested heat significantly. A 5% higher production has been succeeded only during three crops out of nine. At first, the growers rated the quality of the crop low, but that improved during the project. It is concluded that an investment in air handling units, heat pump and well pumps, an additional screen and hybrid lighting makes it technically possible to grow chrysanthemums without gas, if an alternative is found for disinfection by steaming.