Horticulture is the art of growing plants in gardens for food and medicine, as well as ornamental purposes. In addition to growing flowers, fruits, nuts, vegetables, and herbs, horticulturists can also cultivate ornamental trees and lawns. Horticulture water treatment requires extreme vigilance when it comes to chemical contamination. Horticulture water use can be treated without chemicals using ozone for horticulture, which is an excellent option.

When it comes to horticulture, how does ozone act so powerfully? Keep reading to find out!

Water of high quality is extremely important for the horticulture industry. Climate change, increased droughts, and increasing water demands have led to each drop of water gaining more significance and value.

Ozone can eliminate all of these concerns since it is a 100% natural agent, prevents plant diseases, sanitizes recycled water and provides a barrier against chemical contamination as well as increasing crop yields and productivity when water is recycled.

What is ozone?

There is a distinct scent to ozone, a pale blue gas. At concentrations of 0.1 ppm in the air, ozone has a smell similar to that of chlorine which can be detected by many people. Clinical environments, medical and aesthetic treatments, or merely to disinfect and sterilize instruments and rooms can use ozone. At the domestic level, for treating drinking water, for washing fruits, vegetables and other ingredients, for purifying the air and for treating swimming pool water or at industrial levels. Ozone has many other applications besides those mentioned above. It is increasingly being used today. Ozone is becoming one of the most important aspects of solutions that are being developed, and is used in increasingly more applications. The effectiveness of ozone is being proven every day in new studies and research.

How does ozone generator work in horticulture?

Providing high quality water in ample amount’ is essential for the production of high-quality vegetables. Horticulture preserves water resources by preserving current and future water demand, decreasing quality, and increasing urbanization in many areas.

When contaminated water is recycled, it commonly contaminates plants that are sensitive to growth regulators, or plants that are not intended for growth regulator use. Beyond contaminating nearby water, the discharge may also have unintended downstream effects.

Unlike chlorine, ozone has no toxic by-products and does not degrade into harmful chemicals.

Ozone destroys pathogens in water and then converts into oxygen safely. Once it has been dissolved in water, it destroys pathogens and converts oxygen back into water.

There is an increasing resistance of plant pathogens to many traditional fungicides, and the application of chemicals to plants causes undesirable side effects.

Ozonization is an option to be considered as part of an overall strategy to eliminate plant pathogens from recirculated irrigation water, although it may cause an increased risk of disease outbreak.

In order to make the ozonization process more efficient and profitable, factors such as the quality of recirculated irrigation water, water volume to be treated, as well as the physical characteristics of the area (terrain, layout of the plantations,) should be considered.

Applications

Ozonated water is used in the following horticulture applications

1.       Ozone is now gaining traction in the horticulture industry. Water (either recycled or fresh) is now being disinfected by ozone treatment.

2.       As water policies become more stringent, farmers are finding it increasingly difficult to find alternatives that are environmentally friendly.

3.       As a result of the use of plant growth regulators during horticultural production, irrigation water may become contaminated with these chemicals in order to control the growth of plants and increase their yield.

5.       Watering to kill bacteria and microorganisms that have damaged the plant from the time of germination onward, plus removing molds, root rot, and fungi;

6.       Stubbing soils with sterilized water before sowing;

7.       Cuttings are disinfected by immersion in ozonated water;

8.       Water used for irrigation should be treated to remove algae, heavy metals (such as iron and manganese) and related bacteria (e.g., iron bacteria, manganobacteria, etc.) present in artificial basins and maximize the likelihood of reuse;

9.       Spraying greenhouses for pest control and insect reduction;

10.   The washing of fruits and vegetables to extend the freshness of the fruit and vegetable after harvest, as well as ensure maximum hygiene;

And much more!

Benefits

1.       Ozone is a naturally occurring gas that kills microorganisms in water by oxidizing them.

2.       Internationally, ozonated water has been used to cultivate plants in greenhouses, in open fields, without using chemical products, and is now becoming increasingly popular.

3.       Horticulture has been proven to benefit from ozone in the following ways:

4.       Oxygen and air are easily converted into ozone;

5.       The ability of ozone to dissolve in water is 12 times greater than the ability of oxygen;

6.       It is effective against pathogens (ozone does not leave a residue like chlorination, which is effective against pathogens, but leaves a residue like chlorination).

7.       The elements ozone and chlorine are non-toxic and neither creates more toxic compounds than they remove;

8.       Due to its high reduction potential and reactivity, ozone readily reacts with organic and inorganic compounds;

9.       Oxygen reduces the color, odor, turbidity, and COD of the treated water in addition to disinfecting it;

10.   Water with potential excess ozone quickly decomposes to oxygen, leaving no residue;

11.   As oxygen levels rise, many plants recover quickly from disease, while pathogens have less chance of taking hold of healthy plants;

12.   Nutrients in plants are not harmed by ozone.