GROWTH in EUROPE
Teagasc nursery stock/ornamentals advisor, Dónall Flanagan reports from IPM Essen and recent nursery study tour to the Netherlands and Germany DAY ONE: BOOMVELT DEN MULDER This was the first Teagasc nursery stock study tour after an absence of a few years. The focus of the tour is to introduce growers to new and innovative nurseries and take in IPM Essen. There were eight participants - a mixture of growers, suppliers and lecturers. The tour took place from 23 to 25 January, travelling from Dublin to Düsseldorf. Weather for the duration of the visit was about freezing point. The tour was organised by Dónall Flanagan.
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isiting six nurseries, one garden centre, one trade show and one trolley fair was very rewarding, not to mention good fun. Over three days we set out to see a range of nursery styles from young to finished plants, trees, shrubs and bedding. I had a few tips of places to visit and had seen one or two previously, and they were mostly very impressive. All sites were in the Venlo region of the Netherlands and Kempen region in Germany. Overall the impression from the sector is mixed. There is some concern about Brexit and the biggest tree nursery in Europe (just down the road) going into liquidation last October. We were told there are simply too many trees on the market. On the positive side, bedding and young plant growers were upbeat and this was evidenced by increases in glasshouse investment.
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Our first visit was to Boomvelt Den Mulder, a 200ha tree nursery producing trees from 8-10 to 35+. As winter daytime temperatures were only between -3oC and +2oC for about six weeks, no lifting was being carried out at that time. Plants had been lifted in November, rootballed and covered in straw to protect them. Another knock on of the cold weather was that it was too cold for customers to plant, so no deliveries were being made. The result will be a major bottleneck in March. At the time of visiting they were only able to prune and cane. Noel Kinsella noted, “It was interesting to see their approach to pruning their stock,” which was very tight. Rodge, who showed us around, explained the production cycles and sales aspects. Multistem trees are a key product. Trees are budded or grafted in their glasshouse and then replanted every two years in the field depending on vigour. Slow growing lines are grown on their own land. Land is rented at €2,000 per year so there is a need to get trees in and out as quickly as possible. Rodge pointed out that his Dutch clients were happy with three separate plants used as a multistem but that French clients wanted one true multistem plant. Den Mulden is launching a webshop this spring which will be available to the public and trade to purchase from. Webshops were a common feature of other nurseries visited. Treevention is a local trolley fair in Venlo with about 30 exhibitors. I believe we were not the only Irish visitors there, a free lunch is sure to bring in a crowd. The trolley fair was organised a little differently to our own. Exhibitors have their
HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticulture.ie / Spring 2017
PHOTO BY MAKAULE
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