Lettuce and new Hydroponic Hothouse

Lettuce and new hothouse

This new hothouse covers 2 hectares of hydroponically grown bell peppers. All together we have 8.5ha of hothouses. The hydroponic system excludes insecticides. Instead, we have been successfully using certain non-propagating insects from the Netherlands that eat our South African insects. So, the “carnivores” eat the “vegetarians”!

The “wetwall” photo is a system which naturally cools down the house by running water down a special cardboard. Air gets sucked through the board, which then cools down the hothouse temperature.

The lettuce project is only 2 months old and is becoming very successful. The pepper growing bags, which had previously been discarded, now get used to grow the lettuce in.

Last week, Ms Lydia Dube, one of the founding co-workers, planted the first bell pepper plant in the new hothouse.

WetwallWetwall  IMG_0612IMG_0582IMG_0638IMG_0639 IMG_0633 IMG_0631 IMG_0632 IMG_0630 IMG_0622 IMG_0621 IMG_0623 IMG_0625 IMG_0624 IMG_0626 IMG_0627 IMG_0628 IMG_0629 IMG_0619 IMG_0613IMG_0596 IMG_0609 IMG_0604 IMG_0590 IMG_0595 IMG_0589 IMG_0583 IMG_0579 IMG_0580 IMG_0575 IMG_0567 IMG_0556 IMG_0565 IMG_0555 IMG_0544 IMG_0551 First plant