Florensis 75 years | 2. Years of growth

Florensis 75 years 2. YEARS OF GROWTH Period 1970-1990

A new phenomenon: seedling boxes!

Wim-Arie and Herman follow Jan into the business New, different, more

July 2016

INDEX 1 Introduction 2 A new phenomenon: seedling boxes!

4 Small, bigger, biggest 4 Manual labour 4 Calculator rolls 5 Large landowner 5 Guile and deception 6 Devoted to the business 6 Wim-Arie follows Jan 7 Then there was Herman 7 Stepping back 8 Interview Wim-Arie: A flower man through and through 10 Professionalisation 10 First takeover 11 Who dœs what 12 The first trial garden 16 Cut and dried flowers 18 Interview Janny Lagendijk: Job hunting with mum 20 Reckless or visionary?

21 Own nursery 23 Nursery gets a seperate name 23 New, different, more 24 Speedcell 24 Trailblazers in the sector 24 Figures 26 Langeweg office 28 Interview Jan Ammerlaan: The man with green fingers 30 Golden Jubilee 33 A short history of Hamer Flower Seeds 36 Catalogues 37 Germany & Austria

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2. YEARS OF GROWTH July 2016

Dear Colleagues, Thank you very much for all your enthusiastic responses to the first issue of our anniversary magazine. This made working on part two, which you now see before you, even more enjoyable but also an enormous challenge, because we naturally want you to find all the stories and anecdotes about 75 years of Florensis just as fascinating as the previous ones.

Part two is quite voluminous; it starts in the 1970s and ends in the early 1990s. This was a period of growth for Hamer; not only in terms of turnover and number of staff but also physically speaking. Time and again, plots of ground were purchased from neighbours to enable the company to grow.

This magazine will tell you how this growth came about, as well as much more, including the history of Hamer Flower Seeds: how we were the first to grow plants on ebb and flow floors, and the Golden Jubilee – the sundial in the garden is still a tangible reminder of this event.

Janny Lagendijk and Jan Ammerlaan have also dug into their memories for stories of the old days and, when looking for photographs and other material, we came across many more anecdotes, both funny and special.

“A period of growth for Hamer; not only in terms of turnover and number of staff but also physically speaking“

We hope that you will once again find this magazine a very enjoyable read!

Herman Hamer Wim-Arie Hamer

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A new phenomenon: seedling boxes!

In the early 1970s, J. Hamer Jr. Bloemzaden, Zaadteelt en Zaadhandel stopped selling packets of ower seed and started to focus entirely on the professional market by supplying seed and plant material. Hamer could not have chosen a better time to do this as the 1973 oil crisis highlighted the enormous dependence on energy sources, and starting the growing season in the winter was an expensive undertaking for the individual grower. That is, until seedling boxes make their appearance.

Pioneering

Piet van der Marel

In Germany, local seed suppliers and plant growers had been offering seedling boxes for several years. Buying seedling boxes meant that there was no need to heat the whole greenhouse for a relatively small number of plants. Jan Hamer, who had never baulked at trying something new, saw the potential of seedling boxes and had an initial series produced.

First seedling boxes at De Merel nursery

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Mini range The range he started with was very small compared to the range we supply now: three product ranges for seedling boxes and pricked out plants.

Initially, Hamer only offered the seedling boxes via separate order lists, but in 1975 they were included in the catalogue for the first time. He did the same with the first pricked-out plants: the Sprinter seed geranium which was introduced in 1973.

After that, the range increased annually. Soon, seedling boxes of Primulas followed in the summer.

Competition also intensified, initially with Pannevis (Sluis en Groot), now Syngenta. This didn’t discourage Mr. Hamer, and he focused not only on the quality and size of the range, but also turned his attention to the seedling boxes themselves.

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From the back of a lorry!

One temporary driver took things a bit too far. On the road in the North Dutch province of Groningen, he stopped a passer-by to ask the way. This man was curious about the type of plants the driver carried with him. ‘Geraniums and other bedding plants.’ was the reply, so the man asked if he could buy a tray. The driver was happy to oblige – after all, he didn’t mind earning an extra bob or two. The deception soon came to light. Later that same day, we received a phone call from a furious customer. A tray of geraniums was missing on delivery, something that could happen and was always noted on the packing slip, but he was dumbfounded when one of his acquaintances turned up with a tray of geraniums - the missing tray - and asked whether he could grow these plants on for him. It’s obvious that this particular driver was given instant notice to leave his job on his return!

Small, bigger, biggest The first seedling boxes were relatively small: 30 x 40 cm. They were produced for Hamer by the Schneider nursery in Ridderkerk and De Merel nursery in De Lier.

From 1974, a slightly larger seedling box measuring 37 x 47 cm was used, but bigger ones were needed in order to stay one step ahead of the competition. Hamer therefore introduced an extra-large seedling box measuring 38 x 54 cm which allowed the plants to develop even better.

The coloured plant labels on the seedling boxes were also distinctive. The colour of the label reflected the colour of the flower in the tray as closely as possible.

By hand

Coloured plant labels Col C

When Jan Hamer started his company, he filled the packets of flower seed by hand, and in the 1970s a lot of the work was still carried out manually.

The orders were received by post and were then manually tallied on tally lists. All seed bags were written by hand and even the labels when stocks ran low.

Janny Lagendijk, Jan, Wim-Arie and Herman Hamer all lent a hand during the delivery season. Together with friends and acquaintances, they collected the seedling boxes themselves, prepared the orders and then made sometimes a part of the deliveries themselves.

Calculator rolls Not a day went by without Jan Hamer Sr asking his staff to work out the exact invoiced turnover on a calculator. He compared the result with the daily turnover for the previous year. The calculator roll was then put away neatly.

Lodi Schneider

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Large landowner Growing bigger was in Jan Hamer’s blood, and when a neighbour’s land at Burgemeester de Bruïnelaan 1c came up for sale in 1979 with a house and industrial building, Jan wasted no time.

A year later, he applied for planning permission to link the old office to the industrial building, and by 1981 the building work was complete. With the additional land, the total work area increased by around 50%.

Arie Korteweg seen from the rear

Business card Wim-Arie

Guile and deception Purchase guarantee From the 1970s onwards sales became more professional, partly thanks to the appointment of sales representatives.

The first was Arie Korteweg, who had worked for Okkerse for a number of years. Mr Korteweg was an excellent worker and won a lot of orders for Hamer.

It turned out that large quantities of plants had been sold with a ‘purchase guarantee on flowering’. This wasn’t the only thing. This representative had sold large quantities of Viola seed to a customer in Beek en Donk, only on paper, because after his dismissal all this seed was found in the boot of his car.

Claims After some years, Mr Korteweg was joined by another representative. He also worked well for the first few years, winning one order after another. These were big orders, and confidence in his selling abilities grew correspondingly. But in the middle of April 1978 it became clear how he had gained some of those big new orders in that year.

This was the start of an extremely difficult time for Jan Hamer because customer claims ran to a million guilders, an alarmingly high sum for a relatively small business. It was impossible to pay compensation directly, but Jan solved the problem in a way which furthermore restored his customers’ confidence. Over a period of one - or in some cases - several years, he supplied seed or plants to the deceived customers free of charge; in the end his efforts paid off because they all remained as loyal to the company.

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Joint effort, lots of work!

Birth announcement Korteweg family

One of the permanent drivers was Jaap Visser, a good friend of Jan Hamer. One day, at one of his first delivery addresses – a sheltered workplace – the manager offered him a cup of coffee. The staff at the sheltered workplace would take the trays out of the lorry while Jaap enjoyed his hot beverage.

Later, he almost fell over backwards: instead of merely unloading the order for the sheltered workplace, the employees had unloaded the entire lorry, totalling some 600 trays!

Everything had been placed at random on the floor of the greenhouse. It was several hours before Jaap had sorted everything out and could set off for his next address.

Devoted to the business Representative Korteweg thought so much of his employer that he based the birth announcement card for his son Frank on the new Hamer logo.

Wim-Arie follows Jan Wim-Arie started working as a representative in his father’s company in 1976. He didn’t have a driving licence at the time, so for the first six months he worked with representative Peter van der Leer.

After failing his driving test in the Netherlands, he tried his luck in Belgium and worked temporarily for Okkerse. Once he had passed his driving test and completed his training period, the Northern half of the Netherlands, ‘above the rivers’ as the Dutch call this area, became his territory.

For the first ten years, Wim-Arie combined his sales activities with weighing and packing packets and taking care of professional seed orders. He then worked with Janny Lagendijk on scheduling young plant production for over twenty years. You can read more about his adventures and experiences on page 8

Wim-Arie and Lucie Kwikkers during staff outing

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Herman during his internship at PanAm

Then there was Herman In 1977 Herman also started to work for his father – unexpectedly early and against all expectations. For many years he’d let it be known that he wanted nothing to do with the company, but he started to show an interest shortly before he was due to start his military service. Because of an organisational error at the Ministry of Defence, his military service lasted a mere four days instead of fourteen months, so Herman came into the business.

After a few months of office work, Herman departed for a three-month internship with the PanAmerican Seed Company in Illinois, West-Chicago, USA, where he learnt the basics of the seed business. On his return, he started work as a representative, like his brother Wim-Arie, although his territory was the area south of the great rivers.

Stepping back Minutes of one of the first ‘directors’ meetings’, dated 13.12.1982. Agenda point 8, states that, probably from this date onwards, a monthly meeting will take place in the evening. Father Hamer was present and indicated at the end of the meeting that he thought it was a good initiative, but that he himself no longer wished to be involved. Soon afterwards, he took a step back and handed the daily running of the business over to his three sons.

Janny Lagendijk and Herman

News article: “But first, joining the army”

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A flower man through and through Wim-Arie preferred flower seeds to homework

It was clear from an early age that Wim-Arie would follow his father into the business. He was always there after school. Every afternoon, he left his bicycle against the fence with his school bag still on the luggage rack and dived straight into the business. Perhaps he managed an extra hour or so in the evening to get some of his school work done. Now Wim-Arie is gradually winding down.

“We sometimes worked 24 hours a day.”

As a baby, Wim-Arie used to sit in a seed box under the workbench at his parents’ company. From an early age, he worked in the business after school and on Saturdays, and was employed there fulltime from the age of 17. His first official job in the company was as a representative. Having failed his driving test in the Netherlands, he lived in Belgium for six months, on paper, because there he could take a driving test ‘every day’, whereas in the Netherlands he had to wait months for a renewed attempt. With his driving licence in the bag, he took on responsibility for the area north of the Dutch rivers Waal, Meuse and Rhine.

Wim-Arie quickly became involved with planning, which was still manual work in those days – tallying long lists by hand, preparing seed orders in the meantime, planning routes with a felt-pen on paper road maps, and finally delivering orders with family, friends and acquaintances.

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‘Once, a friend of one of my brothers seemed to have taken a very extraordinary route indeed.

He came back with flan from Limburg, in the very South of the country and cake from Deventer, in the North-East!’

‘We sometimes worked 24 hours a day,’ remembers Wim-Arie. ‘It was a game and a challenge to have as few plants left as possible. That was the case then and it still is now. I worked with Janny a lot, even when I was a schoolboy we worked together on the Okkerse orders. We had daily contact for over 40 years about orders and route planning, and every day we solved the puzzle of orders, shortages to make up and surplus that we had to get rid of. Our customer contacts weren’t always happy, because we were the ones who ‘brought bad news’ – such as the telephone calls when we had to tell them that we couldn’t deliver part of their order. Janny had a lovely expression to demonstrate her good will to customers. She always used to say: ‘If I were a baker I would bake all night, but plants take a bit more time’.

‘Despite increasing automation and the disappearance of some of the work, planning is still a job for humans. Besides, automation also made me into a source of information for the whole company for many years. Sometimes the computer can’t answer your questions, and a lot of knowledge was, and still is, in the heads of people who have been involved with Florensis for a long time.’

Wim-Arie has now worked for Florensis for 40 years and is gradually winding down his activities. ‘I don’t mind because I’ve got plenty of hobbies, including a one-acre garden where I’m currently building a greenhouse. I’ll always be a grower. I also devote a lot of time to several good causes. One of my projects is an organisation which is planning to open a shop for luxury second-hand clothing in Zwijndrecht. The profits from it will be used to educate girls in the Gambia.’

‘I thought the start of Florensis activities in Africa was a very exciting development. It was great because we were involved in a good cause. I go to Ethiopia and Kenya once a year because we have a group visit with customers to those countries, where we spend a week on the road. These visits are quite costly but they are very productive. It’s good to show that Florensis isn’t just about producing cuttings.

Three years ago we took a group of Austrian clients along and they were so impressed by what we do in Africa that six months after the trip, one of them spontaneously gave us an envelope with money to build a classroom.’

Wim-Arie is proud that his parents were involved with the company for such a long time and were able to build their own nursery and new offices. He is also proud of the enormously rapid development that Florensis is currently experiencing and the annual growth that is still being achieved. ‘This is partly thanks to an effective board and management team.’ Wim-Arie will take his leave in several years’ time and do so with complete peace of mind.

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First steps In 1984, both Herman Hamer and Adriaan Vonk took their first steps along a new path. Or rather, two different paths: the fatherhood and representation paths, remembers Adriaan.

‘I started my career with Hamer as a 21-year-old. I took over Herman’s territory in the south of the country.

To the customers, Herman was the real Mr Hamer. We visited the first few customers together so that I could get to know them. After a few joint visits I suddenly had to go alone. The reason: Herman’s wife Rian was giving labour any moment and when you were on the road around the city of Eindhoven in the days before mobile phones, you might well be too late...

For the first few weeks, I told our customers that Herman had planned to visit them, but that he was hoping to become a dad very soon. Still, after a few weeks my self-confidence had grown, and, likewise, Herman’s confidence in me, so I started to admit that I was the new representative.

Professionalisation The appointment of Arie Korteweg as a representative in 1971 heralded the start of a path towards professionalization which still continues today. Jan Hamer saw the appointment of representatives not only as a means to increase sales, but also as a way of acquiring in-house expertise

Simon & Johan Simon Eekhout was recruited as a representative In November 1980. Simon had worked for the Nederlandse Zaadcentrale and had specialised in selling cut flower seeds. He brought specialist knowledge of the cut flower market.

Johan van der Boom joined on 1 May 1983. He had previously worked for Tubbergen, one of Hamer’s competitors in the area of flower seeds and seedling boxes.

Adriaan Adriaan Vonk was the next representative to join Hamer on 1 August 1984. He took over Herman Hamer’s territory south of the Rhine, Meuse and Waal rivers, the Southern Netherlands. Herman then moved to work as sales manager and head of the young plant department.

The number of representatives rose steadily after the arrival of Simon, Johan and Adriaan.

First takeover Increasing professionalization and growth became evident with the first takeover by the Jan Hamer company in the early 1980s. In 1980 Hamer acquired all the flower seed activities of the Nederlandse Zaadcentrale.

Adriaan Vonk

First Fir paycheck Adriaan Ad

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Johan van der Boom at the nursery

Who dœs what Leo’s vision Leo Hoogendoorn, now an established figure at Florensis, started work on 1 November 1985 in the seed department to support Jan Hamer Jr with seed purchasing, stock management and packing and distribution. In those days, supplying seeds for young plant production was an important part of his job and he worked closely with Albert Scheurwater, who managed the sowing department of the own nursery.

“We should give everyone their own responsibilities.”

Letter from Leo

However, in a small company the tasks aren’t always that clearly defined. As a result, Leo quickly became part of the sales (support) team and developed his role from purchasing to selling at wholesale level to competitors, other plant growers and export customers. He added more and more customers to this last group. Arthur Baan then took over his purchasing role and Leo concentrated on sales and product management. He therefore experienced most departments within the company in just a few years and, because of this, in August 1989 Herman Hamer asked Leo to become involved in the general management of the business.

This request did not fall on deaf ears. Early in 1990 Leo had set out his critical vision for management of the business in the organisation plan ‘Wie is waarvoor’ [Who does what]. The title reveals the content of the plan, which was very well received.

Leo had been a member of the Hamer/Florensis management team since August 1989, after all.

Standing f.l.t.r.: Jan, Herman, Hans Veenstra (representative), Marco Zwaan (representative), Adriaan Vonk, Simon Eekhout, Johan van der Boom.

Sitting f.l.t.r.: Leo Hoogendoorn, Janny Lagendijk en Wim-Arie Florensis 75 years

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The first trial garden In the early 1980s, quality improvement and image made the company decide to conduct its own comparative trials, both greenhouse and field trials, which meant that the first trial garden was created in 1983.

Quality By conducting its own comparison trials, Hamer was better placed to assess genetics for earliness of flowering, consistency and garden performance.

In-house trials also made it possible to assemble a series from the wide range of genetics available. So they got to work!

“Our own trials made it possible to develop our own series.”

Rudolf Ernst Benary, Jan Hamer sr. and Herman at Benary Trial Garden (1984)

In the spring of 1983 the Schneider nursery cultivated the first pack trials for Hamer. Early in May, many of these were used to plant up the very first trial garden on Munnikensteeg in Zwijndrecht, a site which was close to the Kijfhoek marshalling yard close to the current Florensis site.

H

J v

Herman and Rian visit Benary trial garden, Germany (1982)

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Meanwhile, visits to (international) trial gardens and greenhouse trials became more and more important. An early awareness of introductions was, and still remains, an important part of what makes Hamer distinctive.

de op .�

Herman visiting Floranova, England (1982)

Jan and Herman visiting Royal Sluis’ trial garden

Jan, Herman and Wim-Arie went by private airplane to Norwich to visit FloraNova. Pilot was local BMW dealer Los.

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Company profile Having a trial garden also helped to raise Hamer’s profile because the company could now hold open days. Therefore it soon created a bigger trial garden. Jan Hamer spoke to the owner of the plot of land behind the office on the Bruïnelaan, the old trial garden belonging to seed merchant Jo’s Reijers, with a view to taking it over. Fortunately, the transaction on this piece of land concluded very quickly and in the summer of 1984 the first trial garden was established here.

In the autumn of 1984, a building to house the first company-owned lorry and a 1,000 m2 greenhouse were also constructed. This greenhouse was entirely dedicated to conducting trials on bedding plants and cut flowers.

The trial garden on the Bruïnelaan was used until 1991, when the first trial garden on the Langeweg was created.

First Trial Garden Bruinelaan

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First greenhouse Bruinelaan

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Before the days of corporate social responsibility Jan Hamer Sr was a committed cigarette smoker, a real chain smoker. Whatever he was doing, he was usually smoking at the same time. Even when customers first asked him to work with Carthamus seed that had been disinfected with Thiram. Within a short time, his face was red and swollen.

Smoking isn’t healthy, but this was an extremely unhealthy thing to do.

Cut and dried flowers

Letter to customers

In the early 1980s, cut flower activities were really dried flower activities. The focus was on selling seeds for the dried flower market, which was very big at the time and offered a choice of many suppliers. A limited number of crops, such as stocks, snapdragons and asters, were also sold for the fresh cut flower market. Hamer brought the first cut flower activities in house with the takeover of the Nederlandse Zaadcentrale in 1980.

Market leader Simon Eekhout, who came from the Nederlandse Zaadcentrale and specialised in the sale of cut flower seeds, was taken on as a representative and quickly found Johan van de Boom on his side. Their combined forces meant that Hamer soon became the market leader in the cut flower seed sector.

Contract take over Nederlandse Zaadcentrale

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First own truck

Summer flower exhibition Rijnsburg

Oh la, la Simon and Johan weren’t entirely responsible for this success. As usual, top quality also played a part in gaining the market leader position. Leo and Johan knew that they could find quality among French seed producers and they bought up the best selections wholesale. They also persuaded Karel Hoog, who then managed Tezier, a major supplier of dried flower seed, to focus mainly on Hamer.

With the introduction of new crops during the 1980s, such as Anemone Mona Lisa, Lisianthus, Trachelium and smaller varieties including Limonium Confetti and Craspedia, the cut flower activities became more and more important. These varieties were initially supplied in seedling boxes or as pricked out plants, but in 1988 they also became available in speedcell trays.

During the 1990s, cut flower production also grew thanks to Dutch growers in Africa, where Hamer was equally successful at selling flower seed. The company also worked closely with Van Egmond, later VEGMO, which was still based in Leiderdorp at the time. The collaboration came to a halt when Van Egmond started their own breeding and seed production programme for several large cut flower products Van Egmond brochure Florensis 75 years

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Job hunting with mum Janny Lagendijk worked for Hamer/Florensis for 47 years

Janny Lagendijk was fresh and green from secondary school when she joined Hamer – her first, and as it turned out, her only employer.

Joined by her mother, Janny went for the interview, and was offered a job in the office.

Her career at Hamer’s began with a day off because Mr Hamer thought it was pointless to start on a Friday. Her last job was with Florensis Customer Service, but in actual fact Janny always did what she most enjoyed: working with people. This lady with a mind of her own takes us through a brief history of 47 years at Hamer/ Florensis.

“ Everybody was always there and everybody did everything.”

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Let’s start at the end, by telling you about Janny’s retirement in 2014 at the age of 63. ‘Enough is enough. By that time I was Florensis’ granny, but when you start being irritated by small things, it’s time to stop.’

The lady who was never normally taken by surprise was promptly given a send-off in four acts, and each time she knew nothing about it. It started on the last day of the exhibition in Boskoop where champagne, nibbles and a dinner were on the agenda. Then came farewell number two, which she had some idea about, in the form of a high tea with the girls from the office, but this was completely and unexpectedly followed by a trip in a flat-bottomed boat, a barbecue and an overnight stay at a B&B with partner Cora in the Hook of Holland. The official farewell was a reception with a barbecue at Florensis. Of course, this event included speeches and presents, including the most special of all – a trip for two to Africa, being

g m the fourth and final farewell. ‘I am and always was very lucky to have an employer like this.’

Aside from all the parties Janny, Annie Vliegenthart and all the others who were with Hamer right from the start had to work hard. ‘Everyone, including Mrs Hamer, was there all the time. Mr and Mrs Hamer were my second father and mother; I even joined them for a hot meal at lunchtime. Our working day started at half past eight in the morning and went on until ten o’clock at night. But in the summer, when the weather was nice, Mr Hamer just as happily encouraged us to go swimming. I sat on the patio with Mrs Hamer doing the admin, or even shelling broad beans. Everybody was always there and everybody did everything.’

In the early years, ‘everything’ consisted of office work, household chores, filling seed bags, printing bags, making coffee on the electric plate in the little kitchen - which always took half an hour - gluing bags, making bundles and preparing orders in boxes.

When Hamer started using seedling boxes, more jobs were added to the list, including delivering plants, collecting orders and assembling orders.

Janny passed her driving test within three months of turning eighteen, so she was soon able to deliver orders herself. ‘Fantastic! Driving a van and meeting lots of customers. I’m still familiar with a lot of places because we used to draw the routes ourselves on Shell or Esso road maps.’

During the 1970’s most of the order picking and dispatch was still done by hand. ‘The Hamer family regarded Sunday as a day of rest, so we always

gathered at 23:45 on a Sunday and set off for the De Merel nursery, which grew our plants, at exactly 00:00. When we arrived, we started to assemble, sort, prepare and dispatch the orders for each customer.

At midday we quickly ate a portion of chips - no healthy substitutes in those days! - then slept for two short hours and carried on again until late at night.’

When automation was introduced, Janny and WimArie became more involved with planning and logistics. The working days didn’t get any shorter and in those days smoking was the most natural thing in the world. ‘When Wim-Arie and I had a long day at work and stress levels were high, we smoked so much that the smoke alarm went off!’

Besides her work in planning and logistics, Janny also took responsibility for the organisation and visiting of exhibitions and trade fairs. This was right up her street as she loved meeting customers. ‘I always had complete freedom and, partly for that reason, never felt the need to work anywhere else. The fairs were great fun, but I also enjoyed working in the Customer Service department later on. I helped train most of the girls who are there now. Still, my work is done now.

I’ve not yet had any regrets about retiring!’

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Worse than their bite...

Leo Hoogendoorn also has ‘good’ memories of this period. ‘At that time I was always a bit apprehensive of visiting the office of van Egmond in Leiderdorp, because Ankie Anker’s dachshund attacked visitors to the office. Ankie had no control over him and even before Jaap had come into the office, this dog had already grabbed onto your trouser leg.

However, I was far too overawed by this mega client to mention my anxiety.’

Japan Working very closely with the Sakata company in Japan enabled Hamer to build a very high market share in Lisianthus. This collaboration is still in place today, partly due to the many visits to Sakata in the late 1980s and 1990s.

In 1989 the collaboration with Sakata resulted in the biggest order of the century, one worth around 1.2 million guilders with Van Egmond in Leiderdorp. Jaap Anker, who later became a colleague, ordered 120 million Lisianthus pellets. A mega-order which further strengthened the relationship with Sakata.

Reckless or visionary?

Plug cultivation was a completely new growing method which crossed the pond from the United States at the beginning of the 1970’s. Instead of loose sowing in seedling boxes, each seed was individually sown in a cell. Not a simple process, and moreover a method which demanded serious investment in machines, trays and production techniques. It was a difficult and risky decision to move from cultivating on a contracting-out basis to growing plants in-house, but in 1986 the highly innovative Hamer company decided to move in this direction. Plug cultivation was the step that needed to be taken in order to future-proof the company, so they took it.

First trip to Japan (1989)

“The collaboration with Sakata delivered the biggest order in the century in 1989.”

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Planning for build of greenhouse and warehouse

Own nursery Starting plug cultivation meant that an own nursery was required, and soon after the decision had been made to move to plug cultivation, a suitable plot of land for a nursery was purchased on the Langeweg in Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht. The purchase was completed in August 1986.

Dedicated manager Once the land had been purchased, it was time to appoint a manager to lead the new nursery.

Hamer decided that Jan Ammerlaan, who had already been growing seedling boxes for Hamer at the De Merel nursery, was the person to take on this role, and he took up his post in May 1986. His job was clear: to establish a new nursery as quickly as possible.

Own expertise

Jan Hamer Sr inspecting the foundation of the greenhouse

Jan Ammerlaan already had a vast amount of cultivation experience and, based on his knowledge, decided that plug cultivation should take place on ebb and ow oors. Thanks in part to his foresight and progressive approach, which made him argue vigorously in favour of introducing the latest methods, Hamer Plant became highly successful at plug cultivation.

Construction project However, in the meantime it was necessary to build a greenhouse complex. VEK Adviesgroep supervised the planning permission process, design and construction of the greenhouses and production hall. The total investment, excluding purchase of the land, came to approximately 1.8 million guilders.

Planning permission was granted on 2 September 1986 but the preparatory work had already started long before then. The schedule was very tight, and became even tighter when suddenly, in September, the Schneider nursery announced that it no longer wished to grow for Hamer during the coming season. This meant that Hamer had to move from growing nothing itself to growing nearly 80% of its products. This was an enormous challenge as well as an enormous risk, and it was absolutely essential to stick to the construction schedule.

Building permission

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Close finish The first pile for the production hall was driven on 22 September 1986. It was essential to sow the first plug trays and seedling boxes of Begonias in early December. The heating boiler was lit for the first time on 5 December. Most of the greenhouses were ready and young plant production started in the same week.

During 1987 a house was also built for Jan Ammerlaan and his family.

Firs and

A

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First greenhouse, warehouse and house Jan Ammerlaan

First sowing line with Albert Scheurwater and Marcel van Valen

Nursery gets a separate name!

New cultivation methods, a new greenhouse complex, new employees – this all called for a separate name for the nursery. Hamer Plant BV was born on 18 July 1986.

New, different, more Following delivery of the company’s own greenhouse complex and production hall, the changes at Hamer Plant rapidly followed one after the other. Some of these changes were extremely innovative.

Plant Excerpt Chamber of Commerce Founding Hamer Plan

First of all, two new members of staff were appointed in the autumn of 1986: Albert Scheurwater and Marcel van Valen, who still works for Florensis!

The Flier company from Barendrecht supplied the first integrated seeding line which was suitable for filling and seeding seedling boxes and plug trays.

At the time, it was the first fully integrated production line.

With help from Kloer Gartenbau in Germany, Hamer Plant imported the first generation of drum seeders from the USA. These were big, very noisy machines but much faster than the seeding machines previously used.

Marcel van Valen and Albert Scheurwater

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And what about this idea of growing on ebb and flow floors instead of benches? Jan Ammerlaan’s positive experience with this system for vegetable plant growing persuaded the company to take this daring step. Experts from the Netherlands and abroad advised against it, but Hamer Plant went ahead with growing young plants on ebb and flow floors. The results of this decision are history.

Growing on ebb and flow floors brought another new invention: a tempex tray on legs. Hordijk Verpakkingen, a packaging specialist, would produce these trays in two sizes: 416 and 150 cells. A real challenge for Hordijk.

In 1987, the first year of production, Hamer Plant produced around 80,000 seedling boxes/plug trays.

Speedcell The introduction of plugs saw the advent of a new brand: Speedcell, the name used by Hamer Plant to supply plugs. Of course it needed a logo, and in 1989 a new, more modern logo was created.

Trays on floor with water

LOGO’S

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Trailblazers in the sector Growing young plants in plug trays on ebb and flow floors was a completely new idea. When it became apparent that this visionary method was working well, the trays were soon modified. Jan Ammerlaan and Herman Hamer enjoyed innovation and quickly got to work. The result was the Speedcell Stertray 264 in combination with a soil block, which was immediately a great success. The other tray types were quickly converted to the Stertray as well, which remained in use until the introduction of the New Florensis Tray in 2007.

“The Speedcell Stertray 264 is immediately a great success.”

Figures After the launch of the own nursery, production increased annually, and to make this possible Hamer Plant built new greenhouses nearly every year.

1986 – 7,000 m2 1988 – 5,000 m2 1989 – 5,000 m2 In 1990 Hamer Plant bought the land previously belonging to neighbour Van den Berg, around 5.5 ha in total. In the same year, the greenhouse complex doubled in size to approximately 3.7 ha. The total investment, including purchase of the land, was approximately 6 million guilders.

Florensis 75 years First Sterstray

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Langeweg office The number of employees was increasing steadily and Hamer Bloemzaden was outgrowing its available office space. In 1990 plans were therefore made to build a new office.

On 14 January Jan Hamer Jr signed the contract awarding the work to Hijbeek construction company, and Jan Hamer Sr drove the first pile into the ground in the spring of the same year. The office was ready in 1991.

First sketches of Campman Tennekes de Jong architects Jan Hamer Sr places first construction pole Langeweg office

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First ideas for Langeweg office

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Permission contract

“Hamer Blœmzaden was outgrowing its available office space.”

Office in construction

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The man with green fingers Jan Ammerlaan – co-founder of successful plug cultivation

Jan started work on 1 May 1986 as project manager for the new Hamer nursery, after Herman persuaded him to leave De Merel nursery. Moving to Hendrik Ido Ambacht was a big thing for this Westland local. His boss at De Merel was also extremely annoyed. ‘Yes, it was going to be an enormous challenge’, says Jan, ‘but we really clicked.’

“Yes, it was going to be an enormous challenge.”

The project management post was a tough one.

‘Suddenly I had to make decisions about someone else’s money, and I had never managed a project before. I was thrown in at the deep end, but I managed to keep my head above water.

Hamer always had a lot of confidence in me. Everything was possible, however big the investment.’

For a year and a half Jan commuted backwards and forwards between the Westland region and Hendrik Ido Ambacht, but then a house was built adjoining the nursery. The yellow house was completed and Jan moved there with his wife and daughter, after which he worked ‘day and night’ for many years on the new nursery and all the extensions which followed.

‘In those days vegetable growing, which I had come from, was about ten years ahead of orna-

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mental horticulture. It therefore made sense to apply the methods which had proved successful in the vegetable sector to flower and plant growing. My whole life consisted of making plants, talking to the lads and building. I was always busy but there were plenty of compensations.’

The project that had started with the construction of an own nursery quickly expanded to include more.

Hamer was growing all the time. ‘The site on the Langeweg was soon built up completely, so we talked to our neighbour, Van den Berg, who didn’t want to sell initially. In the end, he did fortunately. This gave us another six hectares and we could carry on building, including the current offices. We rented space in Bleiswijk and later bought the land owned by our neighbour Wim Los for future expansion of the nursery, as well as land belonging to another neighbour, Niek de Koning, to build a seeding area.’

‘Time flew by. At different times we added the cuttings market, in Kenya and later Ethiopia. Everything was getting bigger. In the end I ground to a halt. I wasn’t living, but being lived by my work. Things had got too big. Perhaps I should have defined my area of responsibility within the business more clearly, but once I had the idea in my head that it would be better to stop, there was no going back.’

In 2004, Jan Ammerlaan, the man with green fingers who was the co-founder of successful plug cultivation at Hamer/Florensis, said goodbye to the company.

He bought a 2 ha greenhouse in Barendrecht and started his own business. His oldest daughter, who grew up at the nursery, had the same green fingers and love of plants as her father. They run the business together. ‘We’ve had some difficult times. In retrospect you wonder whether it was the best decision to walk away from a company where you enjoyed working so much, but luckily we’ve always maintained a good relationship. We still have that connection, and it’s closer than ever as I’m working for Florensis again, in a way. Alfons Hegele, Herman and I are looking at the opportunities for Florensis in Turkey.

When I was a young project manager the Hamer family welcomed me with open arms, they involved me in everything. They made me feel like one of the family and that’s still the case. True love never grows old.’

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Golden jubilee The official opening of the new office and nursery took place on 8 February 1992 and Hamer Bloemzaden also celebrated its 50th anniversary.

The founding year was cleverly ‘adjusted’ to make it possible that opening of the nursery and 50th anniversary could be celebrated together.

Special attachement in Blœmisterij

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Advertisement in Blœmisterij

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Congratulatory wishes suppliers

f.l.t.r.: Jan, Jan sr., Herman en Wim-Arie

Silver hammer, specially made for Jan Hamer Sr

“A touch of royal colour to the golden jubilee.”

Wielding the Ha(m)mer

Ribbon of honour

Naturally Jan Hamer Sr carried out the official opening and Dick Passchier, then a well-known television presenter on big game shows such as It’s a Knock-Out, was the master of ceremonies.

During the opening ceremony the mayor of Zwijndrecht, Mr Corporaal, left Jan Hamer Sr absolutely speechless. He awarded him the Gold Honorary Medal of the Order of Orange-Nassau, adding a touch of royal colour to the golden jubilee.

Gerda Pons on an electric car

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The mayors of Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht and Zwijndrecht both attended the opening.

Hamer started out as a Zwijndrecht company but the nursery was built right on the boundary between Zwijndrecht and Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht, on the latter’s territory.

That’s why the mayor of Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht was at the opening. But it was the mayor of Zwijndrecht who presented the ribbon of honour to Hamer Sr.

Jan Hamer Jr used the occasion of the opening of the new premises and the jubilee celebrations to present a cheque for 15,000 guilders to the Botanical Garden of the Vrije Universiteit van Amsterdam. Garden Manager Daan Smit accepted the cheque and gave a heartfelt speech of thanks.

Sundial The staff also had a surprise up their sleeves. On behalf of the staff association, Teun Nugteren presented a sundial. The same sundial still stands in the office garden.

“The sundial still stands in the office garden.”

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A short history of Hamer Flower Seeds As we reported in the first issue of the anniversary magazine, Hamer looked beyond the national borders to sell its goods at a very early stage in its history. In 1985 Hamer appointed Bert de Kruijk, thereby sowing the first seed of what later became Hamer Flower Seeds.

BGIA exhibition (1985) Bert de Kruijk, who had already spent several years working in England for Handelskwekerij M. van Veen from Rijsenhout, also started working for Hamer on 1 August 1985. Bert wanted to sell a wider range of products and found himself in the right place at Hamer.

Business card Bert de Kruijk with 2 different sides

“Hamer looked beyond the national borders.”

s ”

Bert de Kruijk at M. van Veen’s stand

Cooperation agreement

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Armed with one of the first ‘mobile’ car phones, Bert spent several weeks a month travelling round England. He had boundless energy and brought in one order after another. The Hamer range quickly gained the upper hand in his sales and plans were made to take a more serious approach to the business in England. The result was an English subsidiary of Hamer Bloemzaden.

In 1988 Bert de Kruijk moved to 153 The Sycamores, Milton, Cambridge which was also the official business address of the budding Hamer Flower Seeds. The first English-language catalogue was published in 1988 and Simon Early was appointed as representative for the south of England. The catalogue was launched and the formation of Hamer Flower Seeds was announced at the BGLA show.

“Bert spent several weeks a month travelling round England.”

34 Florensis 75 years Invoice Bert de Kruijk

Philip Bailey with Ian Howard standing in the background 31 March 1989 was the official date when Hamer Flower Seeds Ltd. (HFS) was founded. Because of the company’s unstoppable growth, Bert and Simon were then joined by Ian Howard as representative for the north of England. HFS also sold Van Veen products on a commission basis. To avoid the two companies being in direct competition with one another, a collaboration agreement was drawn up to specify which products would be offered by HFS and which by Van Veen.

By 1990 Bert de Kruijk had seen enough of England and wanted to work for Hamer Bloemzaden in Germany. His successor was Philip Bailey, who had worked in the flower seed market for many years with Nutting and Thoday. In a letter dated 26 May 1990 he confirmed that he accepted the post of UK Marketing Manager with Hamer Flower Seeds. His first working day was 1 July. At the same time, HFS rented a proper office at Sheraton House Business Park, Office 29, Castle Park, Cambridge CB3 OAX. Bert went on to use his experience in Germany.

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CATALOGUES

w

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A big mistake

Germany & Austria The collaboration with JULIWA GmbH in Heidelberg was Hamer Bloemzaden’s first step into the German market. JULIWA specialised in vegetable and flower seeds and did not have any young plants in its range. JULIWA started as an agent, but it was as early as April 1989 that they started presenting the Hamer products in a special young plant catalogue.

The collaboration with JULIWA had a glorious start. One of the first orders was for 3,500 seedling boxes of primulas spread over five different varieties, two times 1,000 trays and three times 500 trays. But shortly before dispatch it became clear that a huge error had been made. JULIWA had stated the number of plants rather than the number of seedling boxes. The order should have been for seven seedling boxes ... a big mistake!

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In May 1989 Eric Herget, who worked for Zwaan Pannevis (Sluis en Groot) and was responsible for Pa the Austrian market, paid a visit to Hamer Bloemth zaden. Eric said he was interested in an agency za for Austria and began a close working relationship fo which eventually lasted about twenty years. w

Growing reputation G Th Marketing & Communication department did The not yet exist but that didn’t stop Hamer from fean turing in the news. Over the years, the international tu media published a large number of articles about m the company, especially about its innovative th strength, rapid growth and export activities. st

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British Junior Minister with Jan Ammerlaan, Jan and Herman As a result of these reports, on 1 February 1990 Mr Curry, the British Junior Minister at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, paid a visit to Hamer Plant. Through various sources and channels he was advised to visit Hamer so that he could learn about the latest developments in Dutch horticulture. Hamer was naturally very honoured to receive the visit.

“Hamer was naturally very honoured to receive the visit.�

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Cannabis fact Hamer has always led the market. Even where cannabis, which is still legal in the Netherlands, is concerned! From 1964 to 1987 the Hamer Blœmzaden catalogue included Cannabis seed with the following promotional text: ‘to eliminate unsightly areas’. Clearly a useful plant for everyone in different ways. Cannabis eventually disappeared from the range because there was a ban on export.

Formation of Hamer Bloemzaden BV Jan Hamer Jr, Herman and Wim-Arie signed before notary Loeff & Van der Ploeg to set up Hamer Bloemzaden BV.

From father to sons On 30 September 1988 Jan Hamer Sr transferred his shares to his three sons who were working in the business: Jan, Herman and Wim-Arie.

Hamer then had a turnover of around 8,000,000 guilders and around 25 employees. But Jan Senior never really said goodbye, at least not in his heart.

He used to tell friends and acquaintances: ‘I still keep an eye on things’. And that’s what he did, even when the turnover volumes and sums of money eventually made his head swim.

Hammer and nail as give away

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Curious what happens next?

This year, we will publish four magazines, describing Florensis’ 75 years of history.

The next edition will appear at the end of September and will cover the period from 1990 to 2000.

Te last edition will follow in December.

Curious what happens next?

EDITORS Regina Dinkla (managing editor) Herman Hamer (editor in chief) Wim-Arie Hamer Anne Nootenboom (design) HortiTaal (Translation) Carola Aardenhout (Beebuzz)

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