Frequently Asked Questions - watering system
Rinse the water system thoroughly with water. Dose nitric acid in the system with a dosage of 3% At the same time dose Freebac in the system using a dos-ing pump, dosage: 1 Liter Freebac on every 1000 liters of water. This removes residues of fertilizers and loose biofilms. Leave this one night. Then fill the water system for at least 5 hours with Freebac-Clearoxyl 0.5% dilution. Vent the sys-tem during treatment.
Need too much Freebac? Ask your Freebac consultant about the most economical method for you, to clean your piping systems and to disinfect the greenhouse and make it ready for the new cultivation. Call: +31527 - 688 336.
Dosing Freebac in the water system prevents the development of biofilm and removes existing biofilm. As a result, he fertilizers and the water are distributed precisely across the plants. Also the pumps are spared because the pressure in the pipes does not increase.
The prevention of biofilm can be done by dosing 20 to 50 ml Freebac per 1000 liter water continuously in the driplines, depending on the pollution level of the water / driplines. That is maximum 17 ppm. At the end of the pipeline 3 to 10 ppm should be measured. Dosing Freebac in the water system will also prevent the spread of all sorts of Pathogens that spread through the water during the cul-tivation, such as Fusarium, Pythium, Phytophthora, and Pseudomonas.
The most effective way for this is dosed with the aid of a dosing pump (with automatic venting) coupled to a water meter. The pump should be installed just at the point where the water goes into the greenhouse. Adding Freebac via the A or B tank can be used as a temporary solution. De-pending on the size of the tank and the dilution with rain / drain water, you can calculate how much you should add . Do not add spores to the tank where Free-bac is added. Discuss this with your advisor. When re-using drainwater prefera-bly dose Freebac directly into the irrigation water to be sure that enough Free-bac is supplied.
Rinsing during dosing Freebac
If you already have contaminated pipes it is important to clean them in a phased manner. If you release all the biofilm in the pipes at once, this can cause clog-ging. If your pipes are severely contaminated, you should do a shock treatment or start with 25 ml Freebac per 1000 liters of water so that your pipes get cleaned slowly. You should rinse with the following scheme.
| In case of heavy contamination | Daily | |
| In case of contamination | Weakly | |
| After a clean start | Never |
Dosing scheme
If you would start dosing Freebac there are three different options, depend-ing on the advantages you aim for and/or the costs. The options, and their most important advantages are written down below.
1: Continuous dosing:
- To clean the driplines, and keep them clean.
- Switching on the peroxidase, which helps to strengthen the plant. Effects of this are a decreased amount of illnesses. Which ensures that the plant can focus its energy for the maximum production of fruits or vegetables.
- Extra oxygen for the plant, increasing the possibilities of maximum pro-duction.
2: Discontinuous dosing (dosing week one, three, five, and so on) :
- To keep the driplines clean.
- Switching on the peroxidase partially (decreased amount of ilnesses).
- In the week of not dosing Freebac, you could add a plant strengthening agent (like BioFirmit) which can not be used in combination with hydro-gen peroxide.
3: Use Freebac every day, but only in the last hours (recommended):
- Choose the number of drip sessions to add Freebac to the whole piping system at the end of the day. If the driplines are clean, the following advantage apply:
- Keeping the driplines clean.
- Acceptable plant strengthening by switching on the peroxidase, which helps to strengthen the plant. Effects of this are a de-creased amount of illnesses. Which ensures that the plant can focus its energy for the maximum production of fruits or vege-tables.
- Extra oxygen for the plant, increasing the possibilities of maxi-mum production.
- If the lines are not clean yet, you could clean them in this way. But it is very important to remove the polution by rinsing the lines before the first time you start to water the plants.
- During the day, if you are not dosing Freebac, you could add plant strengthening agents, (like Biofirmit) which can not be added in combi-nation with hydrogen peroxide.
Caution: Do never dose less than 25 ml per 1000 liter water. Only add more than 50 ml per 1000 liter after consulting with us. If you want a tailor made ad-vice, please do not hesitate to contact us!