NL: Van der Voort Potplanten - world's largest spathiphyllum grower

In December, we proudly present Van der Voort as grower of the month. The nursery in Honselersdijk is specialized in the production of Spathiphyllum, Azalea and Ludisia. With their four locations and 8 hectares the grower is capable of a production of 10 million plants per year, which is about 200,000 plants per week. Van der Voort is thus the largest Spathiphyllum nursery of the world.

Van der Voort is a family company, the nursery now exists more than 40 years with Chris van der Voort as founder. His son Olaf took over from his father Chris, but Chris is still almost found daily in the nursery.

Through the years, van der Voort cultivated various types of potted plants. Spathiphyllum from the beginning, and Ludisia is now grown over 20 years. Azaleas are fairly new to the nursery, they are grown since 2015 at van der Voort.

Van der Voort is a special grower, because the company also takes care of the breeding and propagation of the plants. That's pretty unique in the horticulture industry. This process takes place in the Netherlands and at their own breeding company in Tanzania.

Azalea
Because Azalea is the plant of the month, we'll focus a little more on this plant. Van der Voort grows Azaleas, which are grown in general in Belgium. The pre-production of the Azaleas by Van der Voort takes place in Belgium as well. After the pre-production the Azaleas will grow further in the nursery in Honselersdijk. The advantage of the nursery in the Netherlands is the location, the plants are quickly transported to Westland and around Aalsmeer.

The nursery started cultivating Azaleas when Azalea grower Maurice van der Meer had to stop due to economic reasons. Van der Voort could continue the grow of the Azalea’s at that time, including Maurice van der Meer himself who is still in charge of the whole growing process of the Azaleas.

During the visit, sales manager Mark van Dijk announced that they will start with growing garden Azaleas in the nursery. The variety that will be cultivated is evergreen and hardy, so that customers can enjoy the flowering of the plant for a long time. The first crop is expected to be delivered in February 2017

source: OZ Planten

Publication date: Mon 5 Dec 2016