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 Applied Sterilisation Technologies
(AST) 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.
AST 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.