Bloemen Young Plants
Bloemen Young Plants, supplies more than 2 million P9 pots of shrubs and soft fruit planting material to the better grower every year. Distributed all over Europe. In the past, founder Maarten Bloemen focused mainly on acid-loving crops. But that market proved too small for the ambitions of Father Maarten and now also Son Merijn Bloemen. Several years ago, the latter joined the company. And that shed new light on the future. The company was given a new, international name and expanded considerably. As was the assortment. Which now includes, in addition to acid-loving shrubs, a wide range of ornamental shrubs and soft fruit planting material.
‘We apply the Growcoon mainly in slow-rooting crops. But in our shrub crops also in some coarse-rooting varieties. Depending on the cost price. After all, it has to pay off.’
Bloemen Young Plants about Growcoon
'We want to distinguish ourselves with an exclusive assortment. This consists largely of patented varieties. Quality is our top priority. We really want to excel in this. This means that we are always looking for ways to achieve this. We look forward to innovations and keep a keen eye on the latest developments. For example Growcoon (then called Spiderplug) came our way years ago. Previously, we applied other plug forms. For example, glue plugs or paper pots. But there was always something wrong with these. Growcoon immediately produced a very good result; it produces a nice, firm and compact root ball, which in turn results in a healthy and uniform crop and significantly less wastage.'
Bloemen Young Plants is ready for the future
‘The Bloemen Young Plants site includes some 2 hectares of greenhouse and 1.5 hectares of container field. On this we currently produce 2 million P9 pots of planting stock. All shrubs; both evergreen and deciduous. We ourselves produce about 1.5 million plugs for this purpose. For the remaining half million plugs we call in the help of cutting companies who assist us in this process. We have scaled up considerably in recent years. Our business area has almost tripled in size. We now have 14 permanent employees with whom we run a yearround program. Bloemen Young Plants has become an ultramodern company, I can say... We are ready for a sustainable future.’
‘Of the 2 million pots we deliver annually, we propagate about 1.5 million ourselves. The rest are grown by cutting companies. But we also ask them, when necessary, to grow the cuttings in Growcoons.’
Faster transplanting
‘Actually, we were immediately extremely excited about Growcoon. We start taking cuttings after the longest day of the year. Because of Growcoon, we can transplant in as little as eight weeks. The net supports the root ball. Thanks to the Growcoon, the roots are much less attached to the tray cell. The pot performance per day increases tremendously because of this. The Growcoon also works very pleasantly in terms of handling. It connects seamlessly to the borehole. So the plant grows undisturbed after repotting and shows no stress reaction.’
Growcoon & Biodegradability
‘It’s nice that you can decide for yourself what substrate to fill the Growcoon with. This does not apply to a glue plug, for example. At the time, we noticed that these plugs were too dry because the air bridge between the root ball and the tray cell was far too wide. The Growcoon fits much better in the tray, preventing the root ball from dehydrating and creating a natural microclimate. Currently we fill the Growcoon with a substrate with a low PH value (about 4.5 + 5.5). But that makes little difference to the Growcoon in terms of degradation. As soon as the cutting anchors itself in the substrate, decomposition begins. Our crop is in the greenhouse or field for six months to a year. At that point, there is no trace of the Growcoon. So we never get any comments from our buyers.’
