Floriade 2012

We set off to the 2012 floriade this morning, and after a fast car trip we arrived at the location in Venlo, Netherlands.
Floriade is a 'world' horticultural expo with a stack of gardens, installations and a fully landscaped surround that stretches over 66 hectares.
The amount of work they put into this show is immense and seeing as it is every 10 years it should be rather big!
There were some very interesting plants and gardens,with a few exceptions that were lost on me due to lack of imagination.
There is a fully enclosed gondola ride that takes you over the show which was fantastic. Unfortunately a local recycling factory went up in flames and plumes of plastic smoke covered the show in the arvo, that was our cue to leave. I hope you have been enjoying reading my blog, as this was our last day I will be bidding you goodbye as I'm off to Germany for some fun !

METAZET

METAZET
Metazet is an 11 year old company that specialize in the demonstration and testing of Horticulture products.
The Showroom has a section for gutters that are hanging and on stands at various heights, strawberry guttering which they have started coloring green for aesthetics,
plant media set up, advanced hanging basket displays with sections that harness height adjustment, to make it easier to inspect the crop and much more.
Full demo set ups for chemical trials, and biological tests on hydroponic tomato crops and flower crops. L.E.D set ups, experimenting to find out which color the different crops like the most, still very experimental though.
They have a very interesting tomato hydroponic set up with no substrate media, finding a way to eliminate the need for rock wool, and also increase crop growth speed, needs to be flushed out every 8 hours. They are also growing two crops at once, using a pulley system, this raises yearly crop yield by 35%
They take practical Tafe classes in there sections that are fully set up, and have over 11,000 visitors a year.

Top Krop floating nursery

The nursery systems they are promoting from this location are Deep flow systems, in 40cm deep pools built to what ever size you need whether it's 25m x 50m or bigger.
All floating, the plants are in specially made high quality polystyrene moulds with a slight raise on the plants side in order to let air flow around the roots, the media remains dry, the roots grow down to the water, it's brilliantly simple, and it works!
High density floats until the foliage touchs each other then they space it out.
It's a slow system but it is very stable and works well for them. The uniformity is perfect, and the root system is great on all the mature plants. This way of growing is very predictable, we asked what EC he runs and he said he didn't care because you can't just change it half way through the growth when all the crops are overlapping in growth.
The more varieties they grow, the more pools they need to balance the needs of each crop.
Although they are starting to find that they can get away with growing a mix, basil, iceberg.
Their seedlings come in crushed peat, but also rock wool. They are not to concerned about which media they buy in the seedling, but they do like organic material.
They are still an emerging company, I think it's a great way to grow and they will go far in the industry.

Grape Museum

The grape museum is just 15 minutes out of delft and is a strong tribute to the pioneers of early greenhouse growing in Europe.
When the volunteers took over the vines they were 10 years old, now 20 years later some of them are 30 years
old and producing great fruit.
The museum is littered with old tools of the horticulture trade, one that particularly intrigued me was an ancient tomato grader that was very simple in design yet advanced and practical for the time.
The glass houses were very interesting as well, situated against brick walls to utilize residual heat absorbed throughout the day.
It was great to see the volunteers keeping this place going for the public to enjoy.

C. V Van Winden

C. V Van Winden tomato growers have been around for 30 years, owned and run by two brothers. They harness Under ground water storage for summer, and use it to irrigate the enormous 5.5 hectare site. They employ 50 workers who maintain the crop and pick the 8000 tonnes this tomato factory pumps out annually.
Picked in 5 kg boxes, 5 to the truss, they were harvesting today and it was a serious operation.
They distribute to Europe and internationally to super markets for a price which is currently on the rise of €50-60c per kg.
The machines they use to pack costed around 350,000 euros, they put together boxes, help with quality control, they pack and crate up also. It's a big investment in arms with the tens of millions it costs to build the glass house, the turnover is very good though and efficiency is always getting better.
They have rolling machines to collect the tonnes of leaf matter that accumulate under the plants over the season. They utilize numerous biological control , mycolovas are a great way to keep aIot of pests under control.

Naaldvijk Flower Auctions

Naaldwijk flower market is 'the' Dutch flower auctions and the place to be if you are a florist, flower dealer or middle man of any sort. This controlled manic ism happens everyday, 5 times a week, 52 weeks a year.
Roughly 3 billion flowers and pot plants are sold here every year, purchased by the plastic box full from 1 upto however many are available.
It's a visual feast, the arrangement of colors and varieties is intoxicating, the trolleys are being moved around by a sophisticated mechanical track which covers the whole buildings floor as well as the 100's of floor workers whizzing around on stand up buggies.
As you enter the bidding rooms it becomes apparent how huge the competition is and you start to realize why every flower sells everyday.
There are 8 screens spread across four rooms and most bidders have their own laptop in front of them, simultaneously bidding on numerous screens, this is an art not easily perfected, but surely made easier by those who play video games.
The bidding system is amazing, the bidding clock starts from a high price then runs down and whichever bidder hits the button first has the winning bid, this keeps the pace up and the competition fierce as there is a ridiculous amount of plants to get through by the morning.
A whopping 5000 people work for Flora Holland around the 35 hectare facility, no amount of words can do justice to the sheer size of this operation, to see it is to believe. The efficiency and planning that is executed on a daily basis is incredible, flora holland really has the wow factor, I loved it.