Horticulture
Horticulture is a challenging area to work within due to
product demands for specific growth media, the challenge of
minimising product spoilage due to contaminants, as well as
ensuring that product volumes are sufficient to meet your
customers’ demands. All of these factors are critical to the
success of a business.
What are the challenges?
There are two main challenges for minimising
contamination. The cleaning of growing trays is possibly the
most difficult element for horticulture companies. 
It is widely accepted that this ‘cleaning’ is a
timely and costly process – yet despite this, it is also widely
acknowledged that washing is not the most effective method for
decontamination. The washing process can be labour-intensive and
requires significant investment in washing equipment. There is also
a risk of post-washing contamination which can result in the
spoiling of a large number of products.
Waste management is the second critical element of managing the
growing process. New laws have imposed strict levies on all
businesses where there is significant waste from the manufacturing
process, with the volume of cultivating pots and trays increasing
with market demand, the risk of incurring some waste management
fees also proportionally increases.
How can we help?
With changes in legislation eliminating the use of soil
partial-sterilants and problems with fungicide residues in some
crops, the horticulture market is starting to appreciate the need
for more suitable methods of biological control of contaminants.
Although various pesticides and bacteriological
agents are being developed, viral agents, their fungal vectors and
fungal pathogens are still a challenge.
Irradiation is a proven technology that is widely used across
the world to eliminate potentially harmful pathogens from growth
media & associated products and Isotron has been working with
horticulture customers for many years, helping them effectively
decontaminate their growing trays, pots and other equipment, with
greater efficiency than could ever been realised by current washing
techniques. Some of the products we regularly process within the
Isotron group include:
- Growth Media: soil, substrates &
sphagnum
- Water and fertilisers
- Growing mats and trays
- Pots
Additionally, irradiation offers a number of benefits to
wholesale growers from an environmental perspective; by delivering
an effective and safe method to recycle used pots and eliminate any
potential pathogens they may harbour, the user can then reuse their
pots time and time again.
Isotron has a number of facilities around the world that can
potentially help your business eliminate pathogens and ensure your
products are given the best chance of successful growth.