At Waterdrinker’s Cash & Carry, in the coming weeks the spotlight will be on growers that contribute to a sustainable and healthy world in one way or the other. This has resulted in a story series, including this one: an interview with Jan Stolk and Marco Hartensveld of nursery Stolk Flora about their bee friendly orchids and sustainable mindset.
What do you specialize in?
Our nursery has 12 football fields full of phalaenopsis! Our range consists of different colors, lengths and maturities. In addition, we try to stay as close to nature as possible, so we use organic nutrients and excipients. All of these resources are also bee friendly. Our orchids are therefore called 'Your Natural Orchid'.
So you give great importance to sustainable development?
We place a lot of value on nature. We'd like to make the world a little better. Of course this takes time and money and it doesn’t always go well, but we always stick to our sustainable mindset. We obviously want to work towards a better world, but the quality of our product remains very important. That is why we regularly ask feedback from our customers regarding the quality of our plants.
How do you apply organic cultivation in the greenhouse?
Strong roots are important for the orchid. The pot worm is a malicious critter that nibbles at and damages the orchid’s roots. To combat this we use natural enemies and beneficial bacteria or fungi that boost soil life. One of these natural enemies is the macro-mite, a tiny animal that eats worms. We use tubes with about 50,000 of them which are placed in a kind of fan. The fan spreads the macro-mites evenly across all plants. This natural type of control lets the plant grow well, making for a good quality product. And you don’t have to worry, even the benign critters eventually die. You won’t be buying an orchid full of bugs.
Besides these natural enemies, what else do you do in relation to sustainability?
Organic cultivation comes down to a lot of looking around and scouting. The paths between our plants are a bit higher so walking between the plants has been made easier for our employees. And we also use essential oils against fungi. A sort of natural perfume that we can use against malicious critters. We also use a vitaliser to water our plants with vital water. Because of its structure vital water is much better absorbed by the plants.
So for you sustainability is more than a buzzword?
That's right, we try to work as sustainably as possible for people, the environment and society. Besides the plants our employees are also very important to us. And next to the use of organic resources we also generate our own electricity and deliver our surplus to the grid, which covers 3,000 households a year! We also recycle our rain water and separate all our waste. Finally, we try to support charities. Organizations, foundations and associations can count on our support, especially at a local level!