14
THECOMMERCIAL GREENHOUSEGROWER • MAY 2018
• HORTICONTACT
as a rule of thumbplant numbers have fallenper order
but their frequency has risen. Just 10%of theplantswe
sawwere sold, and another 15% are sold via the auction.
As toprices, these vary between 50 to70Euro cents/pot.
“We are content with 65Euro cents.” Looking ahead, the
company is currently constructing a new4ha site inDe
Lier, whichwill not only have a faster internal transport
system, but alsoLED lights, whichMr Strijbis reckons is
the next stage for the company. The new structurewill
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9cmpots, leaving the sitewe visited todeal purelywith
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SV.CO’s production area to 20ha, staff numbers levelswill
rise to150, andpot plant productionwill increase to 25
millionplants a year.
15.5million roses a year
Roseswere on the agenda for the secondnursery visit
of the afternoon, and a tour of the 2006-built 4ha site of
FransenRoses. The focus here is onproducing11million
stems a year of the varietyRedNaomi (bredbySchreurs),
supplementedby another 4.5million stems ofMyrna
(Fransen is the only grower worldwidewith this variety)
from a 2ha site 500m away.Wewere greetedby company
bossAadFransen, who explained that the 4ha glasshouse
has a spanwidthof 12.80m, is coveredby threeSvensson
energy and shading screens, with climate control taken
care of withPriva. Filled entirelywith 325,000RedNaomi
plants, he reckons it ismuch easier togrowone variety
than10-12different ones. Stems are harvested every day
of the year. Formuchof the year stems are harvested
twicedaily, at 6am and3pm - evenonChristmasDay. On
NewYear’sDay they take just one cut at 9am. For 10-15
days each summer they take three cuts. Plant density
is 7.5/m², and average annual stemproduction is 17kg/
m², roughly equivalent to300 stems. Sold for an average
price of €0.45-0.50 cents, each sq.m. generates around
€150. However, the costs are high. For example, it is
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stems are taken fourmonths after planting, but it takes
18months for a roseplant to reach full production. On
theplus side, theplantswe saw havebeen in the ground
four seven years and the grower reckons he can continue
touse them for another 3-4 years. The stems are fed into
a 6,000 stems/hr capacityBercomex gradingmachine,
which sorts them into 18different categories of length
andhead size. Thismachine also handles rose stems
from the second 2ha nursery.Mr Fransen reckons he is
the only rose grower in theworld that can stamp text or
a logoon the rose heads. Theprecisedetails of how he
does this are under wraps, but it is increasing inpopularity
andhe reckons tohave supplied 10,000of them for
Valentine’s day. The grower is passionate about producing
the highest quality product in themost sustainableway
possible. “Growing roses is all about themajor challenges
ofmildew, sustainability and cost price,” he said.Water is
already re-cycled for 100%, andbiological control is used
whichhas replaced80%of chemicals, andMr Fransen
reckons if amedal was awarded for environmentally-
friendly rose growing then hewould currently be in silver
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325,000Naomi plants.
Sept 4-5
th
2018
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