Kent-based soft fruit growers, B R Brooks and Son ltd, transitioned to 100% coir substrate production over the last few years and operations manager, Richard Pendry, says it’s been a learning curve, with less room for error, but more control of crops. “Growing in coir is very different to growing in soil, and irrigation is crucial to get right, and by and large yields are where they should be.
“Mark Davies and Simon Warren at Agrovista have guided us through the changing growing methods and have been very good to work with,” says Richard.
Richard manages 27 hectares of strawberries, the vast majority on tabletops and some bags on beds, and 24 hectares of raspberry crops under cover, and says it’s been a very different year so far due to the cold snap. “We only just started picking the early variety in April, which is around 2 – 3 weeks later than most years.”
Having worked with Botanicoir in his last post at a large soft fruit farm, Richard was confident of the quality and consistency of the products. “They supply a very good bag, and the quality of the coir is always consistent.
“I visited the Botanicoir manufacturing facility in Sri Lanka a few years ago and the set-up is impressive and can say that both Kalum and Samantha Balasuriya have done a fantastic job in the way they deal with customers.
“This year we have been encouraged to start thinking of next year’s requirements already, and we will be ordering earlier,” says Richard.
