Sassenheim Estate
A 2.5-hectare cut-flower farm in the Western Cape — our first pilot project, documented from 25 February 2009. Within three months, soil rehabilitation cut chemical applications by 70%.
Client
Sassenheim Estates
Location
Western Cape, South Africa
Crops
Cut flowers — lilies, chrysanthemums, sunflowers & more
Setup
2.5 ha tunnels, overhead sprinklers, fertigation
Where it started
A farm locked into the chemical treadmill, on dying soil.
Heavy chemical load
Roughly five 15 kg bags of chemical fertiliser every week, plus weekly chemical pesticides for red spider, aphids, leaf miners, Botrytis and root rot.
Dying soil
Compacted soil with no sign of fungi, low water retention and large areas of moss.
Struggling crop
Uneven, underdeveloped growth and low resilience — it took 7 stems to make up a sales weight, with significant loss to pest damage.
Six weeks, side by side
Two bays compared after the first application (01/04/2009).
reduction in chemical applications after three months of soil-rehabilitation dosages.
The result
After three months of soil rehabilitation with Diverse Microorganisms (DMO), the estate achieved a 70% reduction in chemical applications and adjusted the chemical types still in use.
Roots could maintain growth, plant development became more consistent, and the soil began rebuilding the biology that makes a farm productive — with less bought-in input, not more.
From the field
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