17
THECOMMERCIAL GREENHOUSEGROWER • JULY 2017
NURSERY VISITS •
EURO FOCUS:
FLOWERS IN FASHION
Chrysanthemums areback in fashion again is the
messagewritesStevenVale.With fiveproduction
locations totalling 20ha and120 staff, Arcadia is certainly
well-placed tomeet the increasingdemand. One of the
largest players in the country, the company grows 21
different varieties, and a host of newmaterial; specialising
in the cultivation andmarketingof one-budded
chrysanthemums. Growing five crops a year the company
produces around 50milliondisbudded stems a year.
In theWestland, there are threebranches inDe Lier
andone inKwintsheul. The fifthbranch is inDeKwakel,
just belowAalsmeer, and all locations are close to
FloraHollands two largest distribution centres.MarcoSmit
is the greenhousemanager of the one-year old4ha site at
De Lier that we visited, which in addition to a shading and
energy screen, anddiffuse glass (lets in 97% light with
noplant shading), also features a series of plasticducts
above the crop for ventilation.
Cold air sucked in fromoutside the greenhouse is
mixedwithwarm air heated using a heat exchanger
to90degreesC. “We use this system to fine-tune the
greenhouse climate,” saysMarco.
GreenhousemanagerMarcoSmit looks after the4ha siteat
DeLier.
The company bought the site from a table-top
grower, and all the soil and compost required togrow
chrysanthemums had tobe trucked in.
On the ground, theblackplasticpipes are for CO2, and
Marco explains they alsouse growthpromoters to restrict
stem length to 80cm.
A teamof youngwomenwere removingonebud from
eachplant. Arcadia only grows chrysanthemumswithone
flower. “This ensures that all theplant’s energy goes into a
singlebed,” saysMarco, who reckons experienced hands
cande-bud around600plants an hour.
Elsewhere in the greenhouse, a teamwas cutting the
first stems from a section. The larger heads are removed
first. Then, threedays later all the remaining stems are
harvestedbymachine. All stems travel along a conveyor
belt to aBercomex Furora automatic sorting andgrading
system. Once the required flower head size has been
programmed, the systemdoes everything automatically
and is capable of outputs of around11,000 stems/hr.
This is the first of the five locations touse such a
machine. It remains tobe seenwhether theywill buy one
for eachof the other four locations. From here, the stems
are sleeved andboxed ready for transport.
Many of the systems are automatedbutmanual labour
Operating fromfivedifferent locations, Arcadiaproduces
around 50millioncut chrysanthemums a year.
