A new watering system at the Elmac Hydroponics tomato farm near Allansford is designed to save thousands of litres of water each year. Elmac, operated by Graeme and Barbara McLeod and Keith and Leonie Ellerton, is the first commercial hydroponic tomato growing outfit in Australia to use the new Autopot System. Graeme said that so far it had be installed on half of the Elmac greenhouse’s growing area, replacing the older run-to-waste system. “We have too much money tied up in the remaining run-to-waste to replace it before it is no longer serviceable”, Graeme said. “But when its ready to go out, we will be replacing it with the automatic system. “In the Autopot system, water is released into each pot only as the level drops. “The run-to-waste system does just that - excess water runs to waste. Water trickles through the system continuosly, with each plant taking up what it needs. The excess goes into a waste tank. “Because we use rainwater, once it goes through the system it cannot be used again in the hydroponic system. | “Though it can be used for outside irrigation, it’s not of much use to us in hydroponics. “Because there is no waste in the Autopot system, our estimated water saving is 39 litres a month for each plant. When you work that out for 1,3000 plants, the saving is about 51,000 litres a month” Elmac grows tomatoes hydroponically for the table, with off-sized sold for cooking and sauces, Cherry varieties are grown for salads. About half the tomato production is sold to greengrocers and other customers in the regions from Camperdown West to Portland and Hamilton. The other half is sent to the Footscray market. Elmac’s commercial operation has spawned a cottage industry operated by Leonie and Barbara, who have become chief cooks and bottlers for a fascinating range of tomato based sauces, pickles, relishes and jams. Their green tomato sauce attracts considerable attention. A multinational company recently said it was looking into the possibility of producing green tomato sauce to complement its traditional red sauces. |