I pondered that for a long time. A climate screen is significantly more expensive than chalking, but it also offers more possibilities. Chalking stays on all summer and that’s it. A climate screen you can open and close, which lets you use light to the maximum.
Slateler Paul Ceulemans: Creating a 3.5-hectare paradise of light for healthy greens
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- Greenhouse:
- Slateler Paul Ceulemans
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- Location:
- Belgium
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- Crop:
- Lettuce
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- Challenge:
- Managing high solar radiation, energy use
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- Solution:
- Harmony 1315 O FR, Obscura 9950 FR W
JUNE 20202
The collaboration between grower Paul Ceulemans and greenhouse builder Walter Buth is no coincidence: the Ceulemans family has grown lettuce since 1969, and Walter has more than 40 years of experience with Maurice Kassenbouw. In spring 2020, Paul completed a new greenhouse project that included two brand-new climate screen installations, featuring HARMONY 1315 O FR and OBSCURA 9950 FR W screens.
Paul is an experienced lettuce grower and one of the largest in Belgium, operating 11 hectares of lettuce production. “A part is grown in open ground and a part is grown in a mobile gutter. That way we can grow lettuce year-round,” he explains. Recently, he renewed part of his operation by effectively removing 3.5 hectares from the center of his greenhouse to convert it to mobile gutter cultivation.
In the ZON greenhouse, two screens are installed: OBSCURA 9950 FR W and HARMONY 1315 O FR. Walter explains how each contributes:
“The OBSCURA is intended as an energy screen and to reduce light emission at night. That’s not yet mandatory in Belgium, as it is in the Netherlands. So Paul is ahead of the curve in Belgium. The OBSCURA also keeps heat inside and thus saves energy.”
The second screen, HARMONY 1315 O FR, is a climate screen designed to enhance diffuse light inside the greenhouse.
“That way he can take maximum advantage of the abundant sunlight in the ZON greenhouse.”
The new dual-screen greenhouse was completed in spring. The first harvest was a success and the second harvest was nearing completion during the summer.
“We had some quite intense summer days and I was able to regulate the light. The crop is doing well under it,” Paul says.
Curious what made it all work?
