Israeli agri-tech company Roots just completed a successful pilot scheme growing giant vegetables. The star of this scheme were a row of chives that Roots coaxed up to an average fresh weight of 268 gr, compared to an average weight of 75 gr. The bigger chives also grew for 55 days, while the regular chives virtually stopped after 28 days.
The secret lies in the soil. Specifically, around the roots of the vegetables where proprietary technology known as Root Zone Temperature Optimisation (RZTO) keeps the root zone temperature at a stable 25oC.
Roots’ technology allows crops to be grown all year round by both heating and cooling root systems to optimise plant’s growth cycles. The chive experiment was conducted during the Israeli summer from August through to October at Roots’ research site in central Israel.
Chives are traditionally a cool climate crop, but using the hybrid ground source heat exchange version of Roots’ RZTO system, the crops’ roots were cooled to remain relatively stable around 25oC despite air temperatures in the greenhouse frequently topping 36oC. In comparison, roots of control plantings fluctuated between 27 and 31oC.
Source: businessinsider.com.au
