• A legacy of sustainability: Stolk Brothers and Koppert’s shared vision

  February 17, 2025

  family’s dedication to innovation and sustainable practices led them through various crops—from lettuce to tomatoes, and eventually to their current specialty: [...] experience of the impact of chemical pesticides. My father developed severe eczema from handling chemical sprays, and it became clear that we needed a better [...] Brothers continues to feel the company’s personal touch. “Fifteen, twenty years ago, you could just call someone at Koppert and get a sample to try out. Things

• Towards a chemical-free future in agriculture: The vision of grower Koen

  too quick to completely abandon traditional methods. He decided to find a balance between both approaches. This way of working allows him to gain experience [...] using biological crop protection . As a result, he acquires a lot of knowledge and is prepared to fully transition to biological crop protection when the [...] approach stemmed from both practical considerations and a conscious choice. Inheriting the farm from his parents, Koen had the opportunity to continue the

• Phytophthora: symptoms starting to show

  April 7, 2021

  and attention given to the crop over the last few weeks, many growers are starting to see a percentage of plants ‘fall out’ due to Phytophthora and other [...] Phytophthora: symptoms starting to show The sun is starting to shine and strawberry crops are moving from the vegetative to the generative development stages [...] decreases. This leads to three things happening: The uptake of nutrients and water is affected, leading to further stress and occurrence of disorders. Leaf sap

• Pierce's disease of grapevine

  browning of leaves along the margin or the tip from early to midsummer. The necrotic area spreads over the leaf from the margin and is marked by a chlorotic [...] the low number of bacteria in peach leaves slows down the spread both within this crop as well as from this crop to other crops. How to prevent Pierce's [...] increases the risk of infection in cultivated crops. The spread from one host plant species to another is still under investigation and seems to depend on the

• Downy mildew of Cucurbits

  nutrients from the living plant cells. The pathogens continue to grow inside the leaves and after a while new spore-bearing structures are protruding from the [...] on the underside of the leaf, this is where most fluffy symptoms are found. How to prevent Downey mildew Choose resistant cultivars Use a wide crop rotation [...] extruding from the stomata. Life cycle and appearance of Downy mildew Pathogens causing downy mildew are not fungi but Oomycetes and related to Pythium and

• Loose smut of barley

  emergence. The first sign of infection is the appearance of a smutted ear. Instead of normal tissue, the ear contains a mass of olive-brown smut spores. [...] and within one to two days after pollination. How to prevent Loose smut of barley Use clean seed: Apply systemic fungicide treatment of seeds. Contact [...] within a day and infect the inner tissues of the newly infected seed. During maturation of the seed, the mycelium becomes thick-walled and swollen as a dormant

• Bacterial canker of tomato

  structures Use a crop rotation in field crops of at least two years and alternate with a non-host crop Apply deep-ploughing to stimulate the decay of crop residues [...] General Clavibacter is a quarantine organism in Europe, which means that strong efforts are used to prevent the bacterium from entering. When the occasional [...] usually white with a brown centre. In potato, the disease usually only occurs in the second half of the season. The first symptoms are wilting of the lower leaves

• Loose smut of wheat

  emergence. The first sign of infection is the appearance of a smutted ear. Instead of normal tissue, the ear contains a mass of olive-brown smut spores. [...] and within one to two days after pollination. How to prevent Loose smut of wheat Use clean seed: Apply systemic fungicide treatment of seeds. Contact [...] within a day and infect the inner tissues of the newly infected seed. During maturation of the seed, the mycelium becomes thick-walled and swollen as a dormant

• Foot rot of cereals

  diagnostic features for identifying the presence of the pathogen in affected cereal crops. How to prevent foot rot of cereals Avoid following maize with wheat [...] the point of infection around the milky ripe stage (GS 75). Later infections may result in infection of the grain without obvious bleaching of the ears [...] shrivelled grains with a chalky white or pink appearance, although this is not always the case. Life cycle and appearance of Foot rot of cereals Microdochium

• Black root rot of cucurbits

  disease is usually restricted to a few of the roots but in severe cases all roots may be infected. At the final stage of the disease, only vascular tissue [...] in this stage may kill the plants. In case of a less severe infection, the vines may wilt at a late stage of the crop, but when water supply is in any way [...] later black with amber-coloured exudations of spores. In the early stages of wilting it is hard to distinguish from other wilt diseases. The fungus can also