The 2025 planting season for early potatoes is coming up! The Gecko is a machine specifically developed by ROPA to minimise sprout breakage when planting pre-sprouted potatoes. This innovative solution sets new standards in the cultivation of early potatoes and ensures optimum conditions for growth.
Last season, we intensively studied how the laying technique affects the growth of early potato crops. Particularly noteworthy is the significant growth advantage of the potatoes planted with the Gecko. The innovative technology ensures that the machine is particularly gentle to sprouts when laying seed potatoes, which results in higher yields.
ROPA Gecko in action
On 20 March 2024, we visited the farm of the Großhans family in Reilingen. They specialise in the production and packaging of vegetables, especially carrots. The product range also includes scallions and onions, radishes, parsnips, early potatoes and cereals. With approx. 1,000 hectares of farmland, around a quarter of which is cultivated according to organic standards, the enterprise is one of the most important growers of vegetables in Germany.
Visit to Großhans Gemüsebau where innovations perfectly support traditions
In the high season, Großhans Gemüsebau employs up to 800 people, including 75 permanent employees. Around 50 Fendt, Valtra and John Deere tractors are used for the field work. The enterprise values quality and sustainability particularly highly. The in-house washing and packaging facility enables fresh and direct packaging after harvesting, which reduces transport distances and emissions. Optimised logistics with the company's own fleet also ensure efficient planning of routes and optimum loading of the transport vehicles.
The company considers both ecological and social sustainability to be a central guiding principle. Regional production reduces transport routes and creates transparency and reliability between growers, buyers and consumers. All of the products grown by the enterprise are traceable and subject to regular quality controls that guarantee fair working conditions and high standards in production and management.
The ROPA Gecko ensures precision and efficiency in planting early potatoes
One of the biggest challenges when planting early potatoes is to prevent the sensitive sprouts from being damaged. The ROPA Gecko offers a customised solution unlike the conventional planting technologies that have their limits. The hand planter developed by ROPA in collaboration with Farmsupport combines a particularly gentle laying system with high performance and ergonomic working conditions for the staff.
Two workers per planting row carefully lay the pre-sprouted potatoes lengthways on special sprout-protective belts. In this way, the tubers are laid precisely in the soil without any rubbing contact. This technology allows planting of potatoes even with a length of up to 12 cm without any problems. The planting distance can be variably adjusted in 16 stages, and the planting performance can reach up to six hectares per eight-hour working day. Thanks to its drawbar steering, tramline control and proven mechanical drive, the Gecko offers high flexibility and efficiency.
Pre-sprouted early potatoes for higher yields
At Großhans, early potatoes are cultivated on an area of approx. 80 hectares. The seed potatoes undergo a special pre-sprouting process before being planted, which is crucial for future yields. Markus Unger from Farmsupport explains: ‘The potatoes are stored in special pre-sprouting boxes in no more than two layers. Optimum ventilation, minimal shade and temperatures between 4 and 10 °C are essential. We use 360° LED lamps to ensure that light is distributed evenly.’
Pre-sprouting boxes from Farmsupport
Seed potatoes during the pre-sprouting process
Pre-sprouted potato on the day of planting
Pre-sprouted early potatoes - planting with the Gecko
The first early potatoes were planted on the 14th of February 2024. The ridges were then milled and covered with fleece and foil. The Colomba tubers were ripe for harvesting at the beginning of June. For comparison, Dennis Großhans and his partner Tanita planted some of the early potatoes using a conventional cup planter.
The result as of 20/03/2024
During our visit in the middle of March, the difference was clearly visible. The potatoes planted with the Gecko had already reached a growth height of approx. 20 cm, while those planted using the conventional system were only half as high. Even at this stage a significant yield advantage from using the Gecko was apparent.
Pioneering potato planting with ROPA
The results speak for themselves. The ROPA Gecko offers a gentle, efficient and yield-boosting solution for early potato cultivation. Thanks to its precise laying technology, the system protects very sensitive sprouts and ensures uniform crop distribution with considerable growth advantage.
The family enterprise Gemüsebau Großhans combines traditional methods with state-of-the-art technology and shows impressively how sustainable and efficient farming works in practice. The ROPA Gecko is a significant step to forward-looking cultivation of early potatoes!
See for yourself in the coming season and follow the entire planting process and the vegetation development of the early potatoes all the way to harvest.
Our ROPA area managers and sales partners are always available for consultation. Should you have any further questions about early potato cultivation, please contact our expert Markus Unger from Farmsupport at +49 157 75067659.