Since last year, the Van der Knaap Group has been working with Biobest in the field of organic crop protection at its in-house 'de Kas' innovation center. The objective of this collaboration is to exchange knowledge on the effect of the use of organic phytosanitary products based on cultivation trials.

This ranges from thinking about organic pest control (natural enemies) within Van der Knaap trials, to jointly establishing trials and testing (new) organic protection agents. For each trial, tailor-made advice for the protection of organic crops is developed.

Crop protection

organic Organic crop protection goes hand in hand with the use of organic nutrients developed by Van der Knaap. With these nutrients, we can grow hardy plants that are more resistant to fungal and bacterial diseases like Pythium. An application that relates very well to this is Asperello T34. It is a strain of Trichoderma (Trichoderma asperellum T34) that can make the roots and the plant resistant to various diseases. The use of biological crop protection fits well within the Van der Knaap Group's strategy.

Research in 'de Kas'

At 'de Kas', the in-house innovation center of the Van der Knaap Group, various types of cultivation trials are continuously carried out. In these trials, Van der Knaap products are tested, but tests are also performed on behalf of third parties. We recently ran a large-scale test with our own rooting products and our organic nutrient solution is continuously tested on various crops, such as cucumber and bell pepper, but also hydroponic lettuce cultivation. In addition, there are substrate tests, which include strawberries and blueberries.