Better plant uniformity at Heco Young Plants

A new cultivation floor in the hardening off greenhouse of more than 0.5 hectares is a new step in the modernization that Heco Young Plants from Biezenmortel is carrying out. Director-owner Paul de Jong chose an ErfGoedFloor Premium for an upgrade over the old floor, which drained horizontally with a slope. The new floor drains vertically. 'No puddles are left behind and the water management in the containers is more uniform. You can see that in a better uniformity of the lots.'

While employees of Heco Young Plants are outside picking cuttings from the bog plants, propagator Paul de Jong is shearing some of the young plants in the hardening-off greenhouse to an even height. Concentrated, he walks behind the pruning machine, which resembles an oversized clipper. A little further on, an ErfGoed groundskeeper is busy leveling the last caps in this section. His resolute meticulousness betrays that this is a routine job for him. Just a little longer and the entire department will have a new, high-quality cultivation floor.

Extensive orientation

For his client, the choice of a new cultivation floor was certainly not routine. De Jong therefore took ample time to explore and consider the various options. The old floor no longer had the sleek profile of yesteryear and really needed replacing. Opting for the existing concept with cultivation beds that drain horizontally with a slope would probably be the most advantageous. However, that concept also has some limitations, such as the limited carrying capacity. That would possibly hinder further mechanization and automation in the future. Moreover, because of the slope, the plants in the middle rows of the bed are slightly higher than those in the outer rows.

Across the width of the bed, this leads to small differences in the rate of drainage, but we have always been able to grow well on the old floor,' the entrepreneur tells us a little later when we have engaged in conversation over a cup of coffee. 'Over the years, some small level differences have developed anyway, so you get some puddling. That's not ideal. Because I wanted to make some quality improvements left and right, I ended up with an ErfGoedFloor Premium. It has a high load-bearing capacity, lies tightly horizontal and drains smoothly and vertically thanks to the porous top layer under the ground cloth. It wasn't the cheapest option, but I'm very glad I went for it anyway. We can really notice the difference.'

Roots make the plant

In this regard, De Jong points to the still-empty hoods, which have just been sprinkled to give the brand-new floor its first rinse. There are hardly any puddles to be seen. 'It really does drain better,' the nurseryman says superfluously. 'Because all the plants get the same amount of water and drain simultaneously, growth is just a little more homogeneous. Roots make the plant, so the smaller the differences are in the root environment, the nicer and more uniform the growth goes.'
Thanks to its greater carrying capacity, the new floor is also suitable for moving equipment and further mechanization or automation of cultivation. 'I'm not ready for that now, but it would be a logical continuation in the business development,' continues the Brabander. 'The floor is already designed for it.'

This article was written by Jan van Staalduinen and was published by Boom in Business in September 2025.