Greenhouses free of Cucumber Mosiac virus
Greenhouse cucumber grower Koos de Vries virus free
“Tight protocol recommended in the fight against attacks”
The greenhouses of cucumber grower Koos de Vries from Erica are virus-free. A great success. After years of trying all sorts of things, the grower now has something in his hands so that he can dispel the problems. De Vries does not attribute the spectacular result to a foam treatment at the start of this year, because even in greenhouses that were not foamed, there was no virus attack. A tight virus protocol is his egg from Columbus.
In January, cucumber grower Koos de Vries from Erica disinfected two of the four greenhouses with a Menno Clean foam treatment. The foam treatment was one of the measures that De Vries took in his offensive. The other step was to apply “the Ron Peters virus protocol”. He implemented this protocol in all four greenhouses. There was no deterioration on the entire company throughout the year. “The goal has been achieved,” De Vries looks back with satisfaction on the past growing season.
For De Vries, this protocol is the way to a virus-free status. The grower does not want to comment on the ins and outs, but does want it to be a method. The grower finds it recommended.
That this result cannot be attributed to the foam treatment is clear to De Vries. At the start of the cultivation, just after planting, leaf burning occurred. “It worked out well afterwards,” he says. In his opinion, the chance of damage in a delicate cucumber crop is much too great. The product remains in the picture as a disinfectant for the shed and concrete paths.
According to Eric Gerritsma from Holland Green Machine, other growers are satisfied with the foam treatment. “A large cucumber grower chooses to treat his greenhouse in this way soon. However, it is important to work carefully. “
In a response, the supplier Royal Brinkman states that the agent Menno florades (formerly Menno clean) has been assessed by the Ctgb and authorized as a crop protection agent for the disinfection of, among other things, empty greenhouses. Since 2006, an additional warning for cucumber has been included on the label in order to be able to use the product in this cultivation without risks. One aspect of this is application in a cucumber greenhouse before the new foil is pulled. When killing stubborn viruses, the contact time of the disinfectant is of great importance; a foam application greatly lengthens this contact time. The importance of working according to the user recommendations is even greater, according to the supplier. Incidentally, a foam application with a disinfectant is only one part of a total hygiene concept.
