TopKrop and Dry Hydroponics

Root system on hydroponic lettuce

Get to know your crop and the specialists that are working with it on a daily basis. We were invited by Chris Noordam of TopKrop to visit his greenhouse in which his family has been growing lettuce for more than 5o years.

At the same location in Schipluiden, Chris and his colleague Maurice van der Knaap have a demo-greenhouse with basins where they grow many different vegetables and herbs in their Dry Hydroponics system.

Floating tray with lettuce

It was impressive to see how lettuce grows so well in their system. Plants develop a strong root system that possibly helps the crop to be more resilient. We learned so much about stress conditions that negatively affect lettuce development and about diseases and how to combat them. They agreed that there is need for improved varieties that are ready for the future. The hydroponics system would be great to monitor the development and growth of the wild lettuce accessions that we will be studying in the LettuceKnow program. We will certainly keep in touch. Thanks for the nice visit Chris and Maurice.

Ready for harvest

New series of lettuce planted