Meet The Grower: Westlandpeppers
For our new Meet The Grower interview, we drove to De Lier, where Westlandpeppers has some huge greenhouses full of peppers. We wondered: what exactly do they do and how?
We spoke with Bram Kloosterman, who gives us a comprehensive tour of the greenhouses. We started in the back of the greenhouses where we begin to ask Bram questions.
Bram, what do you do within Westlandpeppers?
I keep myself busy a lot with the web shop, innovation and customer contact. Also with collaborations in hot sauces and new markets, for example. I don’t do that alone, by the way. There are a number of us here and everyone is always coming up with ideas. For example, what will we sow and harvest next year.
What should I imagine by innovation?
We always have a section here in the greenhouses where we experiment with pepper varieties, a kind of playground. Here we look at how certain pepper varieties grow and what they taste like. We then put that on the webshop, and if it’s popular, then we know there’s a market to grow them on a larger scale in a future season.
For example, we sometimes have supermarkets and large buyers visiting us. They also want to try something other than what they take from us as standard.
Another example: several years ago we started growing Aji Amarillo’s. The first YEARS you’re basically just drying this for powders and making sauce out of it, but now the peppers are running out of the tent. “Those are nice things.” However, these are projects that take us years to grow completely right. Cause:
- Do you have the right seed?
- Is the plant doing well?
- Does the plant have sufficient yield?
You say: do you have the right seed? Are you growing from seeds, or from cuttings?
We do use seed, but mostly cuttings. Because, from seed to a cutting is a very crucial moment. We can’t always do that here in the greenhouse, because if we have to do it here ourselves then the chance of confusion, or of it not growing properly is too great.
And, we are here cleaning, of course. If we cultivate here from March through November, then we have to clean up at some point. And that usually happens from late November through mid-December. Then everything is emptied and the greenhouses are cleaned. These are often the times when you should start seeding.
How enormous your plants are!
Yes, they are definitely big! Everyone is always talking about “urban farming,” making the best use of space. We’ve been doing that here for a long time actually. It often starts with a cutting of 2 or 3 centimeters and, depending on the plant species, they grow to a maximum height of 6 meters. Then we reach the ceiling of the greenhouses.
How do you guys do that?
We try to raise the plants as efficiently as possible. We start with one log, and we make it come out in a tripod, so we actually make it three logs. Those three stems, we accompany with three ropes up to the ridge of the greenhouse to make them grow as big as possible for the highest possible yield.
Bram continues: you can also see at the top of the flowers, which are pollinated by the bumblebees from the bumblebee hives we have here. Out of that comes a fruit that grows and matures, until we can harvest it.
So are people constantly walking through here to see what is ripe and can be harvested?
Yes, definitely. We have something like 110 employees here every day. There are at least 80 of those in the greenhouse, which changes a bit with how busy it is with orders. The rest then mostly work in the warehouse.
We don’t plan far ahead in that regard, it really depends on the number, and the size of the orders. Based on that, we know what to harvest. When beautiful days arrive, we also know, for example: that variety of pepper is going to ripen considerably now and must be harvested when orders arrive.
Where are we walking now?
So here on the right we walk along a trial path, which I mentioned earlier. Here we are always trying out new products. Sometimes species we already have, then here we try out how to make the plants grow and produce even better.
For example, we have Carolina Reapers here and yellow “try-outs.” But also Sweety Drops, or called “Biquinho’s.
Bram lets us taste a Sweety Drop: “very nice and sweet!” I indicate, “but very low on Scoville scale I think? There is almost no spirit in it .
True, answer Bram, these can go very well through a salad, or pickled for example. What’s funny, he continues, is that plants sometimes evolve as we grow them year after year. Thus, a pepper can become slightly spicier than previous seasons. We see it now, for example, with the Habanada, the Habanero without spiciness. That one is starting to develop a little spunk now!
Many of these varieties are hybrids created for flavor and disease resistance. For example, you can see with our yellow snack bell pepper that it has a bit of a Habanero flavor somewhere.
That’s interesting! But then I can imagine it’s hard to keep certain breeds if so much crossbreeding is going on.
Yes, it certainly is. Nowadays, with all the requirements for control and disease, you’re almost obliged to go along with that a bit. We don’t do that crossing ourselves, by the way! A third party does that for us.
So how does that happen?
Just imagine a yellow pepper. They then put these with 25 to 30 species in a greenhouse, and at the beginning and end of the season they watch the different species develop over years.
Bram: That’s like a candy store. After all, then you can see what you want. Do you want a pepper with a very nice color, a very nice flavor or, for example, a large production.
And that third party then stabilizes that for you?
Yes, right. We then indicate: this is a good pepper for us. For example, because of taste, yield or color. Sometimes we then ask to cross, for example, a plant with a good yield with a plant that has a very good taste. Then you are often 5 to 6 years away before you have a stable species.
By the way, what strikes me, Bram, is that there is virtually no sun protection right now?
No, that is indeed true. We have some kind of awnings rolled up on the sides of the greenhouses. It is not needed now, but last week with the tremendously high temperatures we did use it.
Because our plants are so tall, they just fizzle out, so to speak, when the sun power is too high. That’s mainly what we pay attention to, sun power.
So when do you determine that the blinds will close?
We have a garden computer that measures the “Lumen” count of the sun, and when the Lumen count is too high, we close the blinds. I myself also keep an eye on it, if we notice that there is too much light, or too long light, for example, we close the blinds as well.
Interesting! Are you already too late when you see it on the leaves?
Yes absolutely. Such a plant actually tells you what happened two weeks ago, which is a little behind. You won’t see the recent extreme heat, about three weeks ago when it was 35 degrees, for another eight weeks. Then you are going to see that the plant produces a little less, for example, the plant is struggling. All of this has repercussions, which is why it is important to pay close attention to conditions. If you see it on the plant, you’re too late.
What about at night? Then the plants should also stay warm of course?
True, we are also here at heating pipes. You would think: in the summer, in the greenhouse…. then you don’t need to heat. That’s not entirely true. Because, at night you still need to see some heat in the plant to get nutrients through the plant. The substrate the plants are in cools too much at night if we don’t heat it.
So what is the ideal night temperature?
25 degrees at the roots, which absorb the nutrients. As you see above us here, for example, the air vents are open. These also remain open at night. Because, the fruits need fresh wind and movement, but so the roots need to stay warm. Therefore, hot water runs through these heating pipes to keep the roots in the substrate warm.
But too hot is not good either. Basically, if you have a very hot summer day and a very hot summer night, the plant is just breathing and surviving. For example, we have a Poblano standing here saying, I’m not doing anything anymore, I’m just going to survive rather than produce.
And the substrate blocks we see, what are they?
That’s coconut substrate, which is the ideal substrate for pepper plants, nice and airy. We buy new blocks every year so we know they are virus free. The difference with growing in the ground is that there can be viruses and diseases from last season in there, in that we don’t do that. With new coco substrate every year, we are sure this is not the case.
And how does water get to the hundreds of plants here?
We have an irrigation system running through it. You can see the cables running through all the blocks here, and this allows us to determine exactly how much water and nutrients the plants get, and when.
There are also gutters between all the plants to collect drain water. This is the water that the plant cannot absorb. This is collected in a silo and filtered with UV irradiation. Then it goes through a sediment tank to filter it extra, and so we can reuse it up to 2 or 3 times. Good for the environment and the water bill.
With this drought this year, do you have any restrictions on water use?
No, that’s more with arable farming fortunately. However, we can’t just dump our used water in the ditch. Since, because of the plant food, it contains nitrate, we have to have it collected and disposed of by a special company.
How many peppers do you actually have here at the moment?
Well, we have several locations of Westland peppers, we grow here in De Lier, another place in South Holland, but we also have a greenhouse in Maasdijk, but completely filled with red peppers. That’s really kind of the core business because those are bought the most by supermarkets.
In total, we have about 25 to 30 varieties of peppers and snack peppers that we grow in large numbers.
And then who are your customers?
Very diverse. We have many private customers who order through our web shop or stop by to pick up their order. But the bulk of our peppers go to supermarkets scattered all over Europe. In the Netherlands, for example, we also see many orders from Spanish restaurants.
Wow, all of Europe?
Yes, we have greenhouses in Spain and Israel in addition to ours in the Netherlands. This allows us to provide fresh peppers to all of our customers throughout the year!
Conclusion
We found it very impressive to see how Westlandpeppers operates and are from The Grow Supplier very excited about this company.
So we definitely recommend checking out their web shop, because beyond a great selection of peppers and snack peppers, they also have delicious sauces. And believe us, Bram gave us a jar of sambal and it comes highly recommended!
Want to start growing your own? Then check out our seed market and growing products so you’re all set!
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