The banana - grow glasshouse at the Icelandic Horticultural College might be what the educational mental hospital is most famous for , but there ’s a lot more happen at the campus in Hveragerdi , about 40 km southeast of Reykjavik . As the area is looking to be more self - sufficient foodwise , research is being done into growing under LEDs and with optimal CO2 use . During the Fresh Publishers troupe trip , Guðríður Helgadóttir ( Gudridur Helgadottir ) register the HortiDaily team and their colleagues around .
The love apple , cucumber , and pepper works are still growing in the research greenhouse of the Icelandic Horticultural College , but Gudridur reveals that the students have already left for the summer . The group of educatee at the adroitness is a remarkable one . Whereas Icelandic teenagers tend to not be too tender of horticulture , mayhap because of compulsory gardening work conducted in the coarse Icelandic clime , the mental home sees a growing level of interest among older hoi polloi . “ Most students are approximately 30 , although we have them from 20 up to 60 and even 70 , ” she shares . “ Many are doing this as a 2d field . We have former lawyers , estimator analysts , and even former congress members , plumbers , and more . Global thaw and the grandness of local food for thought production encourages masses to get into our field . ”
Currently , Iceland is ego - sufficient in cucumbers and even export a bit to Denmark , the Faroe Islands , and Greenland . The tomato ego - adequacy level has decrease from 70 percent to 55 - 60 , as agriculturist distribute with virus and opt for smaller love apple to meet the market demand . Since bell peppercorn tend to be hard to arise throughout the winter , the sufficiency spirit level is 20 - 30 percentage .
For lettuce and herb , the acreage is grow . young crop admit strawberries and even a wasabi facility . “ With our outdoor potato crops and other root crops , we can be self - sufficient in about a year , but this year , growers have handle with cold , storm , and low temperatures , which have bad sham the outside crops . ”
Growing in Iceland mean growing under these circumstances . Even if your crops are protected by a nursery , raiser still have to deal with high short levels in the summer and short days in winter , combined with temperature fluctuation , snow , and violent storm . “ Due to global warming , we struggle with the intense weather , ” Gudridur enunciate . “ The high-pitched cost cistron for grower is electricity since we want to fire up our crop from October until the remnant of March , and even in summertime on overcast daytime . So while heating costs are low because we can use geothermic heat , and energy costs are not as high as in Europe , this is still a major broker . ” Most agriculturist here use hybrid installations as they can employ the heat of the HPS lamp in the colder months .
She adds that they also look into light spectra used in crops . “ Our researchers have complain about headaches after work for 40 or 50 minutes under LED lighting , and we need to see how to improve the working conditions . We do n’t sleep with if it has longsighted - term consequence , but we should be deliberate in exposing our worker to untried conditions . After all , who wants to give up their eyes for the interest of research ? That should be forefend at all cost . ” Also , labor costs and the cost of CO2 are a vexation . “ We have to compete with the beer and flaccid drink factories for the locally produced CO2 , so one enquiry area is how to employ CO2 in the most efficient way . ”
Also , IPM is an important theme , both at the adeptness and in Icelandic gardening . “ We learn our scholarly person all about IPM , which is also why the greenhouse is open . They learn how to deal with irruption without spraying . Thanks to Iceland being outback , we have few pests and disease than other state . ” Last but not least , substrate trial are conducted with volcanic pumice stone , an Icelandic material that resembles perlite a bit but originates from the volcano Hekla .
The enthusiasm for horticulture might be growing in Iceland , but the Horticultural College has shinny to keep up with the cost . This is part because of a transformation in governmental financial support and part because of other factors . Damage to the deftness after an earthquake in 2008 , the economical breakdown of Iceland , and a volcanic eruption all play a character as to why renovate the facility has ask longer than carry .
The campus is heated with 110 - 130 level Celcius steam from hot wells , and part of the facility is outfit with a heating plant exchange installation , but the steam flows instantly into the pipes of another part of the facility . The mineral - full-bodied body of water damages and clogs the pipes , and sometimes pressurized air is demand to get the steam going again . “ Keeping our greenhouse at a never-ending temperature can be a struggle , ” Gudridur tell . “ In our banana house , we aspire to keep the temperature above 20 degrees Celsius , but the geothermic energy fluctuates , and so does the temperature and insistence . It ’s like a moody teenager . ”
So what about those bananas ? Well , that ’s a jolly cool narration too . Ever since the 1950s , they have been grown on the campus , but bananas were one of the crops that growers tried out to find out which varieties work best in their nursery . The growers before long found out that bananas were not as desirable as the one-year crops like tomato plant and cucumbers , so the plants were give to the Horticultural College and have been in the banana tree theatre for about 70 years now . In addition to being a practice readiness for the pupil , it also get to be an attractor for many others , including local school day . The greenhouse hold back other interesting tropical plants , both perennial and foods such as figs , coffee , and citrous fruit , and recently the first chocolate yield was found after 11 year of grow . If they superintend to develop vanilla extract as well , which is high on their tilt , an Icelandic methamphetamine coffee or an Icelandic banana tree split could be on the menu for the 100th day of remembrance of professional glasshouse production , which will take place next year .
For more information : Gudridur HelgadottirUniversity of IcelandTel.:+354 433 5000Email:[email protect ]
© FloralDaily.com/Arlette Sijmonsma
