“Our nursery exists today because we have invested in energy savings,” says gardener and owner of Gartneriet Skovbrynet, Jeppe Aavang, when asked what he has gained from investing in control technology from DGT by Senmatic. The savings are significant: from 150,000 cubic meters of district heating in the early 2000s to less than 48,000 cubic meters in 2020.
Every year, Gartneriet Skovbrynet produces around 1 million potted plants for the European market. To succeed in their ambition to produce potted plants of the highest possible quality and durability, to the benefit of both partners and end consumers, the nursery has in recent years invested in control technology from DGT by Senmatic.
In particular, the nursery’s fully automatic climate control, an LCC4, helps to control the many factors that affect the greenhouse climate and thus the quality of the products. The LCC4 climate control also interacts with another energy-saving investment: new curtains that are automatically controlled by the LCC4.
The investment and the resulting savings have now freed up funds to invest in other projects – funds that the nursery would otherwise spend on consumption.
Automatic climate adapted to the cultures provides high safety
LCC climate controllers control all climate functions. They are operated using a clear menu and the display shows the settings you use most often. This makes it easy to automate the elements that have a big impact on the growth of your crops. The many options for user settings mean that the climate control actions are completely tailored to the cultures you produce – without you or your employees having to remember everything.
“Climate control is a security for me. Some of my cultures I might have given them a high temperature to get them ready faster and then regulated their growth with chemicals. We don’t use that kind of chemistry anymore. Instead, I can now choose an average temperature so I’m sure it’s followed to the letter with curtains and shadows etc. In other words, I now know for sure that the crop will be finished on time and that they will continue to have our high quality.”
“Before, there was always some uncertainty. What if something happened at 3am? Now the climate control system regulates any changes itself and reacts quickly. That’s why I dare to run the plants relatively cold at night and the computer reacts accordingly. This means that I don’t suddenly have to use chemicals. I get a slightly longer production time, but also a very safe production and a great saving in heat.”
Jeppe Aavang Owner of Gartneriet Skovbrynet
Smarter climate saves money
The electronic climate control has already proven to have a huge effect.
“We have saved a huge amount of heat. Of course, you can’t compare two years purely because things like the severity of the winter also play a role, but our consumption has dropped significantly. In the early 2000s, we had a consumption of about 150,000 cubic meters of district heating. In 2020, our district heating consumption was less than 48,000 cubic meters,” says Jeppe Aavang.
This is mainly due to the fact that the computer automatically controls the climate in relation to very specific factors and p-values that Jeppe Aavang has fed into the computer. The same applies to the average temperature for the day. The climate control then calculates how the temperature should rise and fall over the course of the day – for example, the temperature automatically drops at night.
Before the installation of the automatic climate control from DGT by Senmatic, the optimal values were also known. But knowledge about the plants’ minimum and maximum values and how these could be actively used to achieve savings only came about when working with automatic climate control, because the computer can use these factors to act in the smartest possible way.
“We may have known that the cultures could cope with 10 degrees at night. But could they cope with 6 degrees? This kind of knowledge saves money on the bottom line when you use it actively in climate control and utilize automation. Of course, you need to have both the technical – i.e. the climate control system – and your horticultural knowledge in place.”
Jeppe Aavang
Savings leave room for new investments
With automation, unnecessary costs have been cut and energy consumption has been greatly reduced. The savings generated by the investment in the climate system mean that money that would otherwise have been spent solely on consumption can now be invested in other projects.
“In an older nursery like ours, investing in savings has been pure survival. Both in terms of costs, but also because we get a better product and avoid chemicals.”
Jeppe Aavang
Get started with climate control
Gartneriet Skovbrynet had no previous experience with electronic climate control. However, they were already familiar with DGT by Senmatic and decided to explore the many possibilities offered by LCC4 climate control. An introductory course was then conducted, where instructions for the program were thoroughly reviewed.
“We received good training and help to get us off to a good start. If we have any questions, we just call technical support,” says Jeppe Aavang.
About Gartneriet Skovbrynet
Gartneriet Skovbrynet is located in Odense, Denmark, and consists of 11,000 m3 glasshouses. The family-owned nursery has been in operation since 1972. Annually, approximately 1 million potted plants are produced in different cultures. The main cultivars are Chlorophytum Comosum (Ram’s-foot), Cyperus Zumula (Cat’s-foot) and Impatiens New Guinea (Diligent Hans or Balsamin).
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